Eurasian Pygmy Owl in evening forest

[Janne Heimonen]

http://www.janneheimonen.net/BPN/03.jpg

Adult Eurasian pygmy owl in evening forest.

D700 + AF-S 300/4 + monopod, f4, iso1600, 1/50s

[Markus Jais]

I like that one. shows the habitat of this little fellow. The dark light shows the time those owls are most active. The yellow in the eye isa great bonus.

Markus

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

That is a tough image Janne. Well done under those conditions. In the thumb I thought I will see no bird on this image :D As Markus mentioned the eyes pops up nicely.

Szimi

[Juan Aragonés]

Composition works for me but I think that it would be even better with the owl placed at the right of the frame. The image is a bit dark to my taste.

[Randy Stout]

Janne:

I agree that the image is too dark. I appreciate imparting the mood of the dark forest, but this makes it hard to see the bird at all. I also don't find the out of focus foreground on the right adds to the image.

I have incorporated some of the suggestions from above, esp. Juan's, into the repost. Just an option for you to consider. I found if I went too much lighter I stated to lose the mood.

Randy

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I Iike the pose and the eye contact,the bird looks a bit small in the frame!

[David Thomasson]

Wonderful capture. Here's another crop and attempt at bringing the owl out while preserving the sense of darkness.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7484/owl3j.jpg

[Doug Brown]

I like the idea of bringing the owl out while preserving the overall sense of darkness. Kudos to Randy and David for a couple of nice reposts. I would probably brighten the bird and leave the rest of the BG untouched. I prefer Randy's crop.

[Janne Heimonen]

Thanks for the comments and different propotions! But this time image stays as it is.
The owl does not glow in a forest in real life, and it is quite hard to find actually... he is only about 14cm high without a tail.