Northern Pygmy-Owl

This is my Christmas Pygmy-Owl, captured while participating in a Christmas Bird Count in Northern CA, Alpine co.
He has a bit of his lunch still above the bill. The snow was really supplying alot of light as he was in the shade. I cropped a little for comp, cloned out one small OOF branch in the BG, ran Noise Ninja on the BG and selectively sharpened the bird and the perch. C&C welcome. Ps. I had to resharpen after previewing here, as the jpeg upload was not sharp? Happy Holidays to all!


Camera Model: NIKON D300, handheld
Shutter speed: 1/500 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Spot
ISO: 400
Lens: VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D
Focal length: 400mm
Focal length: 600mm (in 35mm film)
VR Image Stabilization: On
AF mode: AF-S

Dan:

Great eyes. It is amazing how soft the feathers look compared with the sharp eyes. Was there some wind blowing them around a bit?

From a comp. standpoint, I would be inclined to crop out some of the massive trunk. It tends to overpower him a bit. That would also reduce the impact of the lighter branch coming forward towards us.

Perhaps a wood pecker crop, 1/3 sky 1/3 bird 1/3 trunk

Cheers

Randy.

Happy Holidays to you Dan..what a cute little Owl...still on my wish list...I'd also probably go with a vertical crop....TFS

Lovely image! I tried a tight vertical and it works really well.

Nice find and capture, Dan. Agree with the comments above. Never seen a pygmy owl before; TFS.

Cute owl you have here . I agree on the vertical crop adding to the image . This one has a very busy BG . Merry Christmas to you too !!

Congrats, Dan, on this wonderful find. You were working with difficult light and I like how it is hitting the side of his face. Agree 100% with the idea of a vertical crop.

Dan, Really great capture. I love the eyes. I agree a vertical might look nice. Happy Holidays to you also.:)

Thanks all for the comments and suggestion of a vert. crop. I agree and I actually printed a "woodpecker" crop 8x10 last night and it is nice!

I like the original posted comp for some reason though? Maybe because it is OOTB:D

Happy and safe holidays to all!

Hi Dan! Cute little owl you captured there, very nice indeed. I tend to agree with the vertical concept, and would also suggest a blur on the bg to take out some detail.

Hope you have a great holiday season and hope to see you in 2010! :D