Great Gray Owl

[Jeff Parker]

From Yellowstone this past July. It was a backpacking trip, but after we hiked out I got permission for an afternoon of photography:)

Camera Model: Canon EOS 7D
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec
Aperture: 4
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 1600
Lens: EF600mm f/4L IS USM

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a nice sighting! Beautiful perch, and a good BG too (although I'd tone down the pale streak just above the head). I find the owl a bit bright though...try darkening the plumage and see that improves the overall look of the image. You may need the burn tool, or reprocess the lights during raw conversion...

P.S. Good comp and head turn too...

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Dan's excellent critique. How large a crop is this?

These birds have been hard to find in Yellowstone in recent years....

[Jeff Parker]

It's cropped a very little bit off the top and right. Yeah, I was pretty excited to find it! It was at the edge of a meadow above Pebble Creek campground.

[Arthur Morris]

Great find. I was thinking of eliminating the the trunk in the lower right corner....

[Jeff Parker]

You would eliminate the trunk entirely and just leave the perch?

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Agree with Daniel re exposure and Arthur re eliminating the trunk. Great situation though! Congrats. JR

[Jan Fourie]

great image and comp,ditto darkening of plumage

[Arthur Morris]

You would eliminate the trunk entirely and just leave the perch?

Yes sir. That would be my call.

[Jeff Parker]

Reprocessed. Cropped tree, not as light and darkened area above head.

[Arthur Morris]

Compositionally I like this much better. Could use a contrast mask on the feathers.....