7,500th Post - New Kids on the Block

My entire day was planned when I received a frantic, mid-morning call from a friend that these owlets were in the process of branching. An obvious change of plans was in order, since within hours, the owlets could render themselves out of sight in the thick canopy above. When I witnessed the owlet on the left leaning over to contemplate its leap from a nearby limb, I quickly removed my TC to allow for more SS for any action and b/c I was hoping to have both chicks in the frame. Once the older chick landed on the tree trunk (just above the top of the nest cavity), its younger sibling falteringly joined it. Only a few shots were possible before both climbed straight up the tree.

This was a very difficult frame to process. I must have processed it approx 5 times before settling on this version. There was a slight bit of steel eye adjusted but nothing else. Thanks in advance for any comments and/or critiques. They are most welcomed and much appreciated. Happy Easter everyone!

Canon 1D4, Canon 500L
F6.3, 1/400sec, ISO 1250, manual mode
Fill flash w/BB @ probably -2
Feisol tripod, Jobu head

Marina
it is fantastic situation and shoot.
For me all is ok becouse is also necessary to take the right idea about the difficult of the moment and of the shhot
The only noise, for me, is the white insite BG and more in the up side on the left...but it is only a little

What little darlings! Beautiful capture and timing to get both together. Nice work, not easy with the bright background. Happy Easter Sunday...

What a great moment. And a great Friend to call you. Congrats on 7500 posts, you are real asset to the board.

Good 'just in time' behavioural shot Marina and well controlled fill flash, and to celebrate 7500 posts. Wow that is some achievement!

Thought I'd post an image of the nest tree so you can better visualize what I was dealing with here. If you look closely you can see one owlet perched at the top of the long cavity, and one sitting at the bottom a bit hidden behind some vegetaion. The image I posted above was taken above where the top owlet is sitting in this capture. It's amazing how well a long lens aids in cutting the angle of a high shoot like this one.

Love the shot, having both in the frame is a great plus. I have to check it out next season for sure.
Keep the shots coming.

Excellent shot, Marina! Very cute! Brilliant use of fill-flash! I would try to clone out those 2 leaves slightly overlapping the Owlet on the right.

Great image. And great series. looks like a challenging situation for sure. TFS and congrats!

Great story and great series of posts which I have enjoyed very much - thanks for sharing.
Ian

Lovely image Marina. Really enjoyed the environment shot. And congratulations on your 7500th post! I have really appreciate your input and photographs. (In terms of the first photograph, the only distraction for me is the green leaf above the right hand owl's head... but that is how things go). Thanks for sharing.

A big congrats on 7500 Marina. Your contribution to this forum is greatly appreciated. Your critiques have really helped me get better at this hobby/passion and I thank you for that.
Lovely shot. I like the little leaves above the owlet as they add a punch of color to the image. I might clone out the extra catchlight in the right owl's eye.
Great behavior captured and thanks for showing the tree. It gives a good sense of the situation you had to deal with,
Gail

Hi Marina - Congrats on 7500! Great to see both owlets in the same image. I thought it looked like there was a yellow cast to the image and this was confirmed by seeing your post of the tree and bringing the image into PS. Btw your op does not have an embedded color profile. Try dropping the yellows by about 25 points.

TFS and congrats again on 7500,
Rachel

Think that it's all been said, great shot. Your patience and persistence in watching these little fellows has really paid off. Contratulations on reaching 7,500 posts. Remarkable.

Every thing has been said about this Marvellous image of two curious little kid about new world.I would like to congratulate for your 7500th post with this and will just like to say....

Attachment 140258

Regards,
Satish.

Hello Marina,

i like your images and the stories to the images very much. The two owls are another wonderful image.
TFS and congrats on 7500.

Hi Marina, big congrats on your 7500 posts, and your hard work and continued participation is much appreciated by all.

Great sighting here, and I do like how both are holding on with their tiny claws. Your post of the tree shows the perspective nicely. Well captured.

Well done Marina. Your help always been appreciated. All been said about the the shot and I can't really add anything
. I presume the image is showing in SRGB. Anyway whatever - looks good to me.
Cheers
John

Congrats on reaching your 7500 post milestone and thanks for all your hard work on BPN Marina! You've been a great addition to our mod staff!

Marina, well done and congrats on your 7.500 posts. The tree looks pretty tall, so even with the 500, I assume this was a big crop? IQ looks pretty good to me and your use of fill flash was great. The highlights on the BG is just a tad distracting, but very minor, and probably nothing you can do about it. Loi

Congrats on 7500 posts Marina!! Your help on BPN has been invaluable.

Cute image of these youngters, well balanced comp, and I like the forest feel of the image. A bit of an easily correctable yellowish cast, but all else is awesome..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rachel Hollander

I thought it looked like there was a yellow cast to the image and this was confirmed by seeing your post of the tree and bringing the image into PS. Btw your op does not have an embedded color profile. Try dropping the yellows by about 25 points.
Rachel

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Thank you Rachel for the advise on the cast. I think I worked on this image for so long that I could no longer see what was right in front of my eyes! I have adjusted it accordingly and it looks much better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loi Nguyen

The tree looks pretty tall, so even with the 500, I assume this was a big crop? Loi

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This was actually a very small crop, Loi, probably 20%. The left side is untouched, I took a tad off of the top and bottom and a larger amount off of the right to remove an offending twig.


Thank you all for your comments, critiques and kind words. I have formed some special friendships as a result of being a BPN member and moderator and learned a ton about photography. Nothing like having fun and learning!

What a great image to celebrate 7,500 posts. That represents much work and effort and congrats on a job well done.

Congats on the 7500th post Marina. Love the shot and the whole scene. Your hard work has paid off with many beautiful images and I look forward to many more. See ya soon.

Just lovely, the image shows perfectly those first few precarious steps in life in the big world.

Andrew

The photo would have been appealing to me without (1) the great background story you told about your change of plans, (2) the story of your difficulties processing the shot, (3) the great followup image showing tree and habitat, and (4) knowing that this was your 7,500th post. With all that added, I appreciate the photo even more. Your experience shows through not only in the 7,500-post milestone, but also in your instinct to change your plans when you heard the owlets were branching, your struggles processing, and your comment about how a long lens eats up that high angle. Just a great post through and through.