Great Grey Owl -Grand Teton NP

[PeterGruener]

Hi,

I have not been here for a while actively but read once in a while. Going through some of our pictures from this year. Today, I wanted to share one shot of a Great Grey Owl taken in the Grand Teton National Park.

Actually, we were looking for moose but we were unlucky. Luckily, we spotted this fellow and though conditions were not perfect we managed to get this picture nicely framed:

http://gp-photography.de/photokorn/photos/205/49518451/06032009_GTNP_e0519.jpg

C&C are greatly appreciated.

Take care and keep on the good work here.

Peter

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the pose here...the head is turned in a very pleasing way. Tweaks I would suggest to apply are: running NR on the BG, eliminating the OOF twigs at bottom, smoothing out the larger one near the head, and cropping a bit more above. I like the very subdued/sombre light. Very pleasing.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the soft light, sharpness and look and agree about NR, including color noise and maybe removing the OOF branches. I might lighten the face a bit and put the bird a bit higher in the frame. Great find, even you didn't see moose. Please post the techs.

[Nate Chappell]

I like your comp and the fact that something other than you has the owl's attention. I'd run some selective nr on the bg.

[bobby]

Greys are a most handsome specie of the owl family. Agree with others on NR and removal of distracting branches. Love the pose here.

[Steve Large]

Minor nits have been noted. Nice head angle and feather detail.

Steve

[PeterGruener]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback so far. I will get back to you with some details about the shot, circumstances and Exif data.

Peter

[PeterGruener]

Hi,

As promised some of the the technical details along with some additional information about the shot:

Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Focal length: 500.0mm
Exposure Time 1/200s
Aperture f/4.0
ISO: 1600

Eva and I were driving along the Moose Wilson Road near the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center looking for Moose in the early evening. We stopped at the little parking lot where you could look down the into the little valley with the creek but did not see anything. As always with big gear several people stopped as well asking us if we were seeing anything spectacular but after discovering that nothing is around they usually do not have the patience and move along.
We have seen the owl two days ago with even more difficult lighting and rain and with night falling taking pictures was getting more and more difficult but some of the shots turned out nicely. I remembered the talk we had with Henry Holdsworth in his gallery and this nice little shot he took of an owl flying directly in his direction. It took him appr. 3 months to get this picture.


Peter