Florida Burrowing Owl

Same owl as my previous post. I moved closer for a tighter image. I had to balance between going lower so the shadows on the eyes would be minimal while staying high enough so the feet would show. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED, Oben CTM-2500 carbon fiber monopod, Wimberly MH-100 MonoGimbal Head, Kirk Tripod Collar
1/1250 F/5.6 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 140 WB set with eyedropper, image captured at 400mm
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped the vertical image slightly for composition and presentation

Hi Joe, I like the very central POV and colour looks good. Being on a monopod and at such a low ISO I think you could have afforded to just go to 200 or 400 just for a faster SS to avoid any shake, with no harm to IQ. Although the light looks bright, the eyes appear good and quite natural with the depth of colour, not 'pushed' IMHO. May be being a fraction higher to have seen the talons may have helped? I think it could do with a fraction of a CCW rotation, easy in LR, but use the vertical of the LHS of the post and perhaps a little sliver off the foot, WDYT? Personally I might have been tempted to blow some colour over the brighter parts of the grasses just to tone them back. Reducing the Blue makes some of the chest and plumage caught in the wind better in colour.

TFS
Steve

I like it very much I get the impression there is a slight blue cast particularly in the feathers standing proud on the LHS of the image., other than that I think it is very good indeed. The angle from which the image was taken looks good to me.

Loved both of these images, Joseph. The first one a little better because of the flowers on bottom and better separation from the twigs on the left (which I love in the BG). Both work well with hand of man elements. TFS

Hi Joseph,
I like both images too. If it were mine, i'd crop to just above the barbed wire on the left. Other than that I love the detail and those eyes! I do see a slight blue cast too.

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Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski

Hi Joe, I like the very central POV and colour looks good. Being on a monopod and at such a low ISO I think you could have afforded to just go to 200 or 400 just for a faster SS to avoid any shake, with no harm to IQ. Although the light looks bright, the eyes appear good and quite natural with the depth of colour, not 'pushed' IMHO. May be being a fraction higher to have seen the talons may have helped? I think it could do with a fraction of a CCW rotation, easy in LR, but use the vertical of the LHS of the post and perhaps a little sliver off the foot, WDYT? Personally I might have been tempted to blow some colour over the brighter parts of the grasses just to tone them back. Reducing the Blue makes some of the chest and plumage caught in the wind better in colour.

TFS
Steve

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Hi Steve, thank you for viewing and commenting. I had not noticed the bluish cast to the wind blown feathers till reading your comments. After reading and looking at the image I knew when the bluish cast entered, I had pushed up the vibrance which seems to target blues and greens the most. I set the vibrance back to zero and lowered the blue saturation. Here is a repost.

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Originally Posted by Paul Burdett

Hi Joseph,
I like both images too. If it were mine, i'd crop to just above the barbed wire on the left. Other than that I love the detail and those eyes! I do see a slight blue cast too.

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Hi Paul, thank you for viewing and commenting. I did a quick edit to crop as you suggested. This post reflects your suggestion. A couple thoughts why I did not do this in the other images posted. To me this image just becomes a bird on a post, the owl is shown larger but because of the large crop the image quality has declined. Also, in most images when possible I try to tell a story, show what the bird is doing etc.. In the other images I posted the bird is on a post part of a fence surrounding a pasture. They also show that it is the time of the year when the wild flowers are blooming. I also think that showing more of the post shows how tiny the owl is in relation to the height of the post. What I regret is that because of the light angle I could not get square to the barbed wire making the wire on the left side of the image out of focus, I would have liked both sides of the wire to be in focus. Thanks again for commenting, much appreciated.

Hi Joe, pane 6 for me, the other is just way too tight. I also agree that it illustrates 'scale' compared to the tighter crop and shows habitat.

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I had pushed up the vibrance which seems to target blues and greens the most.

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Not noticed that before Joe, for me its more Yellow, plus Saturation only targets the top 50%.

Just be mindful of any adjustment, as its either Global, or targeted ie via Layes, Masks & Blend modes, so just step back for a moment and always think - 'what is it I'm trying to achieve and what is the best route?'

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Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski

plus Saturation only targets the top 50%.

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Hi Steve, not sure what you mean by the top 50%

From 50% to 100%, that is all that Saturation affects, nothing below, it’s only the top 50%. :S3:

Light looks like it was getting high. But you handled it very well. Framing works as is for me. Love that color in the bottom of the background.

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.