March Theme: Straight Down the Barrel

[Andrew Merwin]

Tripod mounted Mark III, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/100, +1 ev, 700mm
I shot this last May about 30 min. before sunset. It is nearly FF. This GHO nestling (aka tiger owl) was about ready to fledge.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Lucky to see one so close!! Quite the characters these young owls are and they almost always show lots of personality in photos. I like the matching setting, and the one claw sticking out. Just a bit light overall...for this image I found that toning down the midtones to about 0.85 (using levels) was just about right. Being 30 minutes before sunset was the original file's WB warmer?

[Arthur Morris]

Great bird, great claw, great eye. Is the other one injured or closed? I might look at toning down the whites rather than the midtones....

[Herb Houghton]

Nice capture, I like the one eye look and good sharpness. I agree with Art, the whites look hot in the tree bark.

[Andrew Merwin]

Thanks for the suggestions. Here is a repost following your advice.
The owl was winking. The closed eye is ok. I have images of him/her with both eyes open.
The original WB was 5290K. I changed it to 5500K. The nesting cavity was heavily shaded by the left side of the cottonwood tree.