Baby Season - Great Horned Owls

[Vince Maidens]

Camera - Canon 7D
Lens - 300 2.8
F 5.6
ISO 800
1/1600th

Lovely day of shooting yesterday. Very inquisitive babies! Any help with improvements appreciated!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/4575826615_6829524110_b.jpg

Vince

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cute guys, good angle, BG and I also like the honorary owl on the left. :) I would sharpen the birds more and tone down the whites. Maybe a bit more room at the bottom and a slight contrast boost?

[Troy Lim]

Wow, nice shot. Did they fledge already?
That is wide open. Agree with Axel's suggestions.

[Markus Jais]

Very cute and great eye contact. I agree with Axel about a little boost in contrast.

Markus

[Hal Everett]

Nicely done. I would separately sharpen the eyes a bit, and maybe brighten them. That fluffy down never looks totally sharp.

Hal

[Gal Shon]

Wonderful image, there eyes and the eye contact makes this image standout
The snail is a lovely bonus.
It looks like the critical focus is on there talons

[Vince Maidens]

Thanks folks, I'll make some changes and repost tonight. Looking at the focus point in DPP the its right between the pairs wings in the middle. I used expanded focus on this one, had to act quick they were bobbing and weaving all over the place.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Vince

Firstly, if you are using DPP can you open the file and either do Command J or Apple J depending if you are PC or Mac. This will show you where you had the focus point (s). Personally speaking I would place the point on the right eye of the right owl as you view it. Perhaps open the F stop up & drop the ISO, sharpness with this lens is the best, probably the best Toll Canon has!!!

This was a tweak in levels, courves, colour & USM. Hope this helps and will look out for your nest posting. By upping the saturation the BG has become more defined & noisey, not ideal, plus the highlights at the top of their heads is also too burnt out sadly.

TFS
Steve