Spot- Bellied Eagle Owl (Forest Eagle Owl)

Dear All,

Made this Image last week in K.Gudi (BR Hills Tiger Reserve), a unique Tiger reserve in India where the Eastern Ghats Mountain range meets the Western Ghats mountain range. A hilly terrain, which is the home to various exotic birds, such as this.

Made this image at around 10:00PM. Focus was achieved through Maglite.

Gear : Canon 1D Mark III + Canon EF 500 f/4 mounted on Wimberly & Gitzo tripod
EXIF : Aperture Priority ; f/4 ; 1/5 sec ; ISO-2000 ; -1 EV

No major PP done on this, except BKGR noise removal using NI.

Your comments & Critics are highly appreciated.

Thanks & Regards,
Subbu

Subbu, you have done exceptionally well with the available spot light, together with the slow ss. I like the slight tilt of the head, and his detail blends in with the tree nicely. Pretty large feet and talons he has.

Subbu interesting looking owl here.

I'm viewing this on my uncalibrated office monitor but I might adjust the gamma correction and contrast a bit because I find the bird's head gets a bit lost in the darkeness.

Fantastic capture, considering the shooting conditions. I agree with Stephen about the bird's head getting lost in the BG. I would have liked to see the bird a bit higher in the frame, or more of the tree's trunk below where the perch emerges from the tree - just seems a little tight at the bottom.

John

Subbu, I really like the expression on its face and would like to see it with some of John's suggestions. Great capture with lots of potential.

Hey Subramanya you have a steady hand at 1/5th even with a tripod. The defenition and colour is amazing considering the light you had to work with, well done.

Very tricky image, I too find the top of the head a little too dark, maybe a quick mask and levels could fix that.