Florida Burrowing Owl

I captured this image in 2018 in Cape Coral, Florida. The image you see on your screen is about twice the size of the owl, a large Burrowing Owl is only about nine inches tall including the feet. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing. Stay healthy everyone...

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED + Nikon 1.4 Teleconverter III, image captured at 550mm
1/2000 F/9 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 1250 Auto 1 WB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Croppeed slightly for composition and presentation

Nice head on portrait of this little beauty. Love the loose back feathers. TFS

Hi Joe, I feel the light was getting a bit harsh, plus coupled with any Contrast/Clarity things look a bit 'crunchy' to me if the light was better everything would have a softer look & feel. I would also look at f/11 depending on distance and as it's such a close up there should be a bit more detail in the eyes. If they are like our Little owls the eyes almost have this 'onion' skin texture, well the ones I've been photographing have.

TFS
Steve

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Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski

Hi Joe, I feel the light was getting a bit harsh, plus coupled with any Contrast/Clarity things look a bit 'crunchy' to me if the light was better everything would have a softer look & feel. I would also look at f/11 depending on distance and as it's such a close up there should be a bit more detail in the eyes. If they are like our Little owls the eyes almost have this 'onion' skin texture, well the ones I've been photographing have.

TFS
Steve

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Hi Steve, thank you for viewing and commenting. I had another go at the image, this time being more conservative with the sharpening, also I eliminated texture that I had applied to the feathers with the adjustment brush. I captured the image about 8:30 AM which was 2 hours after sunrise, so quite bright. I guess the pupils don't lie. I will remember F/11 for next time. Here is a repost.

Hi Joe, if you can get there earlier then the light might be more favourable. I'm normally an hour or so in situ, allowing things to settle down and then it's just a matter of sitting and waiting having spent time taking notes & habits of the owls I have photographed so you have to a degree, a pattern, but NOTHING is cast in stone. F/11 was just a thought, no harm in rattling off a few frames. Good luck.

Nice portrait with great stare. Good detail. I hadn't noticed that the OP was crunchy, but the RP does look a bit better. The bird's left iris seems lacking in detail; was it worked on or is it just the light?

It's another nice portrait Joseph!
I think Steve addressed a good point and I think it has been handeled nicely in the repost. I do think the saturation from the first post looks better though.
Anyway, very good background, pose and comp. Have you cloned out the catchlight from the eyes?

Love those eyes and that stare. The crop works well for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ivan Sjogren

It's another nice portrait Joseph!
I think Steve addressed a good point and I think it has been handeled nicely in the repost. I do think the saturation from the first post looks better though.
Anyway, very good background, pose and comp. Have you cloned out the catchlight from the eyes?

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Hi Ivan, thank you for viewing and commenting. You are knowledgeable and observant to notice that I did clone out the catchlights. I wasn't fond of the catchlights because the light was slightly from the right making uneven catchlights. I wasn't sure if it made the image better or worse. Here is a version that I worked on today with the catchlights. Thanks again...

The last version is my favorite due to the re-added catchlights. Much livelier!

nice head shot Joe, sharp with plenty of details and a nice BG. last post is the best

TFS

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.