Burrowing Owl (Lechucita de las Vizcacheras)

[Ramon M. Casares]

Hi everybody! I am sorry for the almost total lack of participation but I have been so bussy lately that I didn't even have time to go out in the field for the last 3 weeks, until yesterday when I could finally go out with a good friend of mine and to a place where we found a nice couple of these Borrowing Owls, this is my first image with the 300 f4 I bought last week!!!! (I am saving for a longer lens). Hope you like it! Enjoy!

MarkII
300 f4
580EX with better beamer
Hand held
1/1600 sec
f7.1
ISO400
Exp Comp +2/3
Raw

Comments and critoques are very welcome and apreciated!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Que buena Ramon!
Really nice owl, good flying pose and sharpness. I might suggest you to desat. the sky a bit and get rid of the twig. Great job.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Ramon! Congrats on the new purchase. Agree with Juan's suggestions about removing the branch and desaturating the sky some. I would also place the bird lower in the frame.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great light, underwing details and pose. I like the branch assuming he took off from it. I wish there were a bit more eye contact but it is quite rare to see in-flight images of this species. I agree regarding desaturating the sky. There may be a slight magenta cast. Enjoy your new lens!

[Nancy A Elwood]

Ramon this is just wonderful!! A burrowing owl image is one thing, but one in flight with the nice wing spread in another. Great exposure on the bird, but agree with the others about the sky.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ramon,
i like the sky....but that might be because I am patial to blues! I would probably get rid of the twig also.....as it doesn't look sturdy enogh to hold even the small owl. I like the underside lighting and flight pose of the owl....very nicely done and way to get back into it!

[Don Lacy]

Love the pose could either way with the stick and sky, still very nice.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Hi all, thanks for your kind words and suggestions, I didn't clone out the stick as it represents the branch from where the Owl took off. The sky in my monitor doesn't seem oversaturated, but I'll try another PP and respost it as soon as I can.
Thanks again!

[John Blumenkamp]

Hi Ramon... dynamite timing and capture of this little guy in flight! I might desaturate the sky some too, but overall this is great.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Hola <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CDONATA%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5 Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.EmailStyle15 {mso-style-type:personal; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-ascii-font-family:Arial; mso-hansi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; color:windowtext;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->Ramón !

If that's your first image with that lens, let's see your stuff in a month's time mate. This is great! While a better head turn would be better, the angle of it banking dictates the direction to which it must look. You caught a beauty man! I would though, clone that little branch. :)

[Ramon M. Casares]

Ok, here it is, I did it kind f in a hurry, but let me know if you think the colors look better, I have also removed the twig and recomposed it. Comments and thought are of course, welcome!