Barred Owl, the arboreal noble

[Dorian Anderson]

I spent the last two weeks on the East Coast (Philly, NYC, Boston) visiting friends and family. My wife gave me plenty of leash, and I used 99%
of my allotted time for pure birding, this example appearing when I ducked into a New Hampshire thicket to take a leak. It was pouring rain, but
I walked back to my car, fished out my rig, and returned to capture a few frames of this cooperative subject.

I deliberately shot through a window of foreground foliage to create the blur which surrounds the subject. This bird is a deep forest species,
and I wanted to represent depth in the shadowy habitat which it occupies. So, something a bit different from my usual, super-clean frames.

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II on EOS R5
1/200 at f/4 at ISO 3200
Processed in LR CC. NR in Topaz. Cloned a few distracting specular highlights. Knocked down luminosity in green channel to enhance the spotlight effect.

192316

[Steve Kaluski]

I like the head on look Dorian, but just wished you could have seen the feet here, even just some hint of the claws grasping the branch.

I find the top patchy green parts odd in appearance as it doesn't reflect the rest of the foliage canopy. 1/200 HH good luck, as you can easily get pixel blur in conditions like this, just my take, as you are tarting to get into harder territory here with the R5 Dorian. Darker backdrops like this can produce some awkward patch colour noise especially in the greens irrespective of NR. There is more you can extract, especially in the eyes, just to give some life in them.


Knocked down luminosity in green channel to enhance the spotlight effect.

Novel, not sure it works here, personally I would have gone a different route, but hey...:S3:

Enjoy the R5. :cheers:

TFS
Steve