The day of the owls

There have been so many owl photos here lately, I thought I would add one more. I went looking for burrowing owls in Cape Coral, and found this little fellow hunkered down at the entrance of his burrow. I got down low for a long while, hoping he would emerge a bit further, or fly up to one of the perches nearby. After about an hour, I raised my tripod about halfway up in order to get a better angle, as I could not see anything but the top of his head. This little guy would not come out further though. So I raised my tripod even further, and got this shot, heavily cropped. C/C welcome and appreciated. Thanks for viewing.

Canon 1D Mark IV, ISO 400; 500 mm f/4L IS; 1/60 sec. @ f/8.0, on tripod. No flash, although several others were flashed with a better beamer on tripod. PP in LR 4.3. I had to even out the sidelight with shadow enhancement on the left side and highlights on the right.

Dennis:

The catchlights are great with the horizon, and probably you showing well. The dappled lighting was a challenge, but I think you made the best of it.

Well exposed.

I will miss seeing these little guys this year, so am enjoying folks images of them.

Cheers

Randy

Good one Dennis! Your patience paid off. We were in Cape Coral last month just before dark hoping to see some of these guys but arrived a little too late unfortunately. Some of the locals told us many of the burrows are empty. Wondering if you went to more than one site and if you could advise best time of day to go. We are in Sebring for the winter about 2.5 hours away from Cape Coral.

Thanks.

Hi Dennis, love the inqisitive stare, and good pp work to even out the lighting challenge. I agree, the horizon in the eyes look good, and as they are fairly large, we get to see quite a bit of the horizon. I would maybe tone down the BG a touch more.

Love the eyes and the clear horizon! I think you have done very well given the situation. Well one.

nice head shot with good eye contact, I think you were too close and some parts are falling out of DOF (beak and chest). I wish the BG was softer

TFS

Excellent portrait with nice eye contact, Dennis. I was wondering if adding some canvas to the top would be a good idea.

Mark,

I arrived in the Cape Coral area about 4:15 p.m. (16:15) and drove around the area near the Library (area just West of Skyline & Mohawk). Although I found many burrows, only one was apparently occupied at the time, of which its current occupant was the one I photographed. I was there from about 4:15 as I said, and took the last photograph around 5:42, just about sunset. I stayed a while longer past sunset, hoping to see more owls but no luck.

I have heard that there are burrowing owls on Marco Island too, but I haven't explored enough around there to tell you where they are. Perhaps someone else can chime in on that.

I will tell you it's thrilling to see and photograph these amazing creatures as they are so beautiful close up.

Mark,

Here is a map I found online of owl locations in Cape Coral.

Attachment 124501

Thanks everyone for the helpful comments. Here is another try. I added a little room at the top and darkened & blurred the BG just a bit. I also added a tad of extra sharpening on the end of the beak.

I like what you did to the BG in the repost. I'd try warming up the WB, except for the part that is already warm with sunlight. The guys have lots of character, and this image, although a static portrait, shows that well!

Thanks, Daniel...I warmed it up a bit...is it enough?

It's better!

Here's what I had in mind (starting from version in pane #10). I added red and yellow in "Colour balance" then in Selective Color I reduced the cyan in the white channel, then added back some cyan in the red channel as it was a bit too red from the color balance I did. I played around, to taste, but of course I was not there to see the scene myself.

Thank you Daniel...I do like your rendition. Besides improving the color balance, you managed to mute the sunbeam on the left side of the owl's face (right side of the bird in the photo). Was that done in LR or Photoshop?

My pleasure Dennis! That was in photoshop. As for the light beam, that is why I wrote in pane #11 " I'd try warming up the WB, except for the part that is already warm with sunlight ".

Excellent head shot.
I really like it's expression, excellent details, and nice light.
Daniel's repost is spot on.
Very well done.