Back at the dumpsite with this SNOWY OWL

[Jack Breakfast]

Greetings! I took a second crosstown trip to the local construction dumpsite/bird sanctuary and spent a short but mesmerizing visit with this very placid and beautiful owl...although I wish she were looking straight at me and singing "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano" I am rather fond of this image. But obviously no-one posts pictures they hate. I ask respectfully for your comments, ideas, suggestions, insults, lifestyle tips...
Shot with the Canon 7D, 200mm f2.8 + 1.4, iso400, 1/1000, f4. Many thanks for your consideration...

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[Marina Scarr]

You have a lovely pose on this bird, good exposure and nice details. I like the composition you chose and I actually like his perch and think it works well with the cracks in it...gives it character. I simply wish the background slabs were not in the capture b/c I find them distracting making it too busy for me.

[Mital Patel]

For me any SNowy is a lovely image. I loved this habitat shot showing the Owls presence in man made habitat too.

[Jack Breakfast]

Thanks folks...I'm with you Marina, but given that such a shot would have been impossible, I am learning to accept the image as is...I'll post another one tomorrow that's a little bit different...and Mital, you're quite right, I'm also a sucker for snowy owls...what a wonderful bird...

[Bill Dix]

How can you not love Snowy's. Wish to photograph one some day. I, too, agree with Marina's comments, but you take what you can get. (One could always clone out the BG pipes, but that's not everyone's cup of tea.)

[Jack Breakfast]

Thanks Bill...this is one of those pics wherein I actually like the pillars behind the bird, and I enjoy the 1-2-3-4 sequence. Would I have preferred no pillars behind my girlfriend? O indeed, but there's something appealing (to me anyhow but my brain is screwy) about the 1-2-3-4, which is to say that I wouldn't clone them out. And what segue...while we're on the subject of cloning, I'm looking for an excellent resource on cloning tips, simple cloning but with some fine points and hot tips...if anyone can recommend such a resource I would be most appreciative...but I digress. Thanks again for the comments, folks.

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the owl, but the rest does not quite work for me, the perch is unnatural and the concrete slabs in the BG are distracting...

[Jack Breakfast]

Hi Arash...what doesn't work for you is what makes me like the image...the perch is far from natural and yet my snowy sits there every day, all winter long. Or anyhow she sits on other unnatural perches at the site...but I see your point and part of my brain agrees with you just as the rest of my brain does not and wishes to document this strange owl who lives at a construction site...but thanks for taking the time to comment, it's much appreciated :bg3:

[Robert Rommel]

I feel this image works great to show the interaction between nature's beauty and the realm of man. The low contrast of the scene also works with the construction site theme. Compositionally, I'd take a little off the top and would like the owl a tiny bit more to the right. I think it could also benefit from some more sharpening on the owl and possibly lightening the eyes. It's an interesting photo.

[Jack Breakfast]

Thanks so much, Robert, I'm glad you like it. I'll try out your ideas, they sound good...