Blakiston Fish Owl in Monochrome **copied from Avian**

Hi
Sharing an image taken recently in Rausu,Hokkaido. Would appreciate your comments please .

Image details; 1dm4 FL 200mm f2.8 1/800 ISO3200 handheld floodlights

Loong-Tat,

Very very nice. The contrast is excellent, as is the feather detail. Great focus on the eye. I'm surprised the wings at the edges of the frame are in such sharp focus with f/2.8. Is this image full frame or a crop? I would like to see this image in color too.

Roger

An obviously lovely image. Sharp with lots of detail and a nice landing pose.

Help me out here. I had heard that it is not against the law to use flash on these birds. Is that true? Do you know any specifics?

Hi Roger
This is a minor crop for composition and I have attached the colored image as well.Love to hear your thoughts :)

Hi Arthur
They have banned the use of flash photography in this location for the last few years. The feeding location is lit by two pairs of mercury vapour floodlights which leaves an unpleasant green to magenta cast(varies from image to image) on yr images and not to mention some harsh shadows as well. I gather if you shoot at the cycling speed of these floodlights,it can be better.Otherwise PP is a must to get rid of the casts.Hope this helps.

Very dynamic image here. Love the extended talons. Think monochrome was a good decision on the processing.

Many thanks Loong-tat. You did quite well in difficult conditions!

Actually, we were allowed to use flash Feb of last year. The new ordinance went into effect shortly thereafter in April 2011. Mercury vapor lamps are now used to illuminate the feeding area. No flash allowed!

Wonderful image, especially considering the circumstances involved.

Chas

Hi Chas
Thanks for the correction. The innkeeper at that location seem to think that the ban has been imposed for the past few years!:e3

Thanks for the update Chas. When will you be home?

Chas, I saw a great owl image that looked as if it were made with flash in the gallery that you linked to in your preening crane post and assumed that it was created this year.

Are the images from that (fabulous) gallery from trips made over several years?

Excellent composition, and I love that you kept the landing strip in LRC. On the B/W version the texture looks canvas-like...was that effect added by you?

A fantastic capture and beautifully processed.:S3:

Excellent capture and lovely processing! I like this a lot.

I really like this shot. Either B/W or Color.