I captured this image at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. The background is the environment where the owls live, never out in the open, most times under the canopy of Live Oak trees. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.
Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S ED + Nikon 1.4 III Teleconverter, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/250 F/8 Matrix Metering EV -1/3 ISO 500 Auto WB, image captured at 550mm (825mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2023 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped slightly for composition and presentation
12-16-2022, 06:12 PM
Dorian Anderson
Such a classic setting for this species. The moss is kinda all over the place, but this is an accurate depiction of the habitat. Would be interesting to see a comparison frame at f/5.6. Sometime more DOF helps these busier images; sometimes it hurts. Regardless, the bird stands out nice as present. The issues for me are the slightly soft face and the slightly disoriented gaze. Neither s a deal breaker, but neither is perfect either.
12-17-2022, 10:13 AM
Jonathan Ashton
Super shot Joe, I like the habitat too, the owl looks good pleasing colours.
If you felt inclined a gentle brush at raw conversion with a little Clarity brings the eyes alive.
12-19-2022, 07:02 AM
Andreas Liedmann
Sweet shot Joe ... i really like the setting and you have created a wonderful composition .
Owl does look good on all counts , agree that a bit more sharpeing would help the face .
Cool image and TFS Andreas
12-21-2022, 02:59 PM
Joseph Przybyla
Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.