Great Horned Owl

[Ryan Schain]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/4257784102_61fa59c7b9_o.jpg

Today I found one of the least obstructed Great Horned Owls I have ever seen. Unfortunately, the lighting on the perch was absolutely atrocious. I added a slight vignette to offset the overpowering white in the background.

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6
Manfrotto 190PROXB Legs and 488RC2 ballhead

320 mm
F/6.3
1/250
ISO 400
+ 1 1/3 EV

[Jeff Cashdollar]

I like the exposure techs, did you mention shutter?

Steep angle is working against you, but what a find. Like the + stops of light to help meter with BG - well done.

[Ryan Schain]

I like the exposure techs, did you mention shutter?

Steep angle is working against you, but what a find. Like the + stops of light to help meter with BG - well done.

ahh sorry I forgot and just edited it...1/250

[Arthur Morris]

You chose your position carefully to get a relatively clear line of sight to the bird but the tree was much too tall....:)

[Ryan Schain]

You chose your position carefully to get a relatively clear line of sight to the bird but the tree was much too tall....:)

Would this one have been better? I thought the branch that went across the breast/covered one of the talons was too distracting..

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4257784218_6e058ea2c1.jpg

[Peter Coskun]

Great captures Ryan, I like the expression on the second one a tad more, but the first one does have less obstructed branches in front. Have you thought about trying to clone them out? and possibly the surrounding branches so its just a clean background? It's a bit of work but i think it will help make the owl pop

[Arthur Morris]

Would this one have been better? I thought the branch that went across the breast/covered one of the talons was too distracting..

The angle is much shallower so the image is much more pleasing to the eye despite the foreground and other clutter. For me I like the second one much better. Now just go out and find the bird on a clean low perch :)

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Second image is better despite the BG clutter (which is distracting). The first image was just too steep.

Hope you can find him again with a clean BG and as Artie mentioned, a low perch.

[Ted Willcox]

Hi Ryan I like your second post. Try recropping leaving less room on the left and more on the right. I believe the image will look much more interesting if you do this.
Ted.