Snowy owl on ice

[Grace Scalzo]

This image pushed the limits of both my skills and my equipment. Taken from car as blind on blubb, 50D, stacked teleconverters, manual focus. I liked the scene with the ice, but the owl was far away. So this was my solution, and after some time in PS, this is the result. Thanks for looking and as always, for your valuable critiques.

50D, 500 f4 + 1.4tc + 2.0tc + blubb manual focus
1/800, f11, ISO400

[Keith Carver]

Holy Cow, Grace, this bird is amazingly sharp considering your setup on blubb and stacked TCs! Looks like you've done some PP sharpening on the bird, as the surrounding ice looks a little fuzzy. There is also a slight bluish color cast. Would wish for a little better eye contact, but overall this is a fine image, congrats on a challenging shot!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This looks great considering the harsh light and stacked TCs. I might lighten the shadow of the bird a bit.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful subject in a beautiful setting. Well done in pushing your limits too...that is what photography is all about! Although having a bit of blue in the snow is a natural thing I agree with Keith that it could be tamed a bit. There is also actually some magenta in there giving it a "mauve" hue...not much but it is there. A bit of tweaking of the magenta and blue channels in saturation will take care of that. I'm liking this one alot!!

[Randy Stout]

Grace:

The light was obviously way to your right, but the snow acted as a giant fill reflector and filled in pretty well.
I agree about the eye contact. With owls, it is the eyes which often define their look, so I miss that. Maybe it was so bright he was squinting!

Great to be pushing yourself. I would have probably just said I can't get a good image in that situation, but you did very well.

Cheers

Randy