Short eared owl - Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon

[gareth thomson]

Was shooting egrets at the MNWR this summer when this SEO appeared out of thin air. He came over because he had heard I was shooting a Pentax and had to see it for himself to believe it. When he saw the logo he stuck out his tongue and dared me to autofocus. Miracle of miracles the rig did autofocus, but I did not have enough time to stop down (and decrease shutter speed) to gain d-o-f. He was no more than 10-12 feet over my head, so I think I probably needed f/10 or more to do a decent job.

Due to the d-o-f, I doubt there's any way to improve the underwing details, but any suggestions/advice are appreciated.

I've cropped very tight for dramatic effect, but could go wider if anyone thinks that would improve the image.

Anyone feel it's over-sharpened?


Thanks gt

Pentax K-5
PENTAX-DA* 300mm F4 ED
f/5.6
Focal Length: 300
ISO Speed Ratings: 400
Shutter 1/2000th sec
Manual exposure

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I really like the angle here with the head turn at you. It is a little tight as you said and I can se it with a little more room but like as posted. If mine would maybe lighten the eye shadow just a bit.

[Don Nelson]

Nice one, especially under the circumstances you descibe :-)
I'd not only lighten the area around the eye's facial disk (left eye of owl) but also under the wings. Be wary of too much - it looks like some noise is lurking there.

[David Salem]

Very Nice. Great stare at the Pentax. Vivid blue sky sets the owl off nicely. Another vote to lighten the eye disc. Nice work.

[gareth thomson]

Hi

Thanks for the advice. I tried lightening under the wing and around the eye... and reposting. Not sure any better. As Don said, there seems to be noise lurking in the shadows, so I had to tread lightly. (I thought that the K-5 was actually supposed to have great dynamic range - and I hear a lot of people say you can really pull up the shadows... so it must be something in my initial exposure or processing technique that's creating all the noise. cheers, gt

[Randy Stout]

Gareth:

Nice job capturing this unexpected visitor. The repost helps considerably with the dark shadows, so I like it. Too tight from a framing standpoint for me.

In regards to noise, whenever you bring up the exposure in shadowed areas, you are at risk for aggravating noise. Even the D3s and D4, which have great noise performance, can show noise if the shadows are lightened significantly.

Cheers

Randy

[Don Nelson]

I like the repost. Well done!

[Don Lacy]

A little tight for my taste and the repost has a bit to much noise you could run some NR on a layer mask to clean it up.

[arash_hazeghi]

it's great that you got a close flyby, it's a handsome owl and you have a nice head turn, the main issue here was the harsh light and the shaded parts but owls fly very rarely on daylight. As presented it's a big in the frame and I would desaturate the sky so it doesn't distract from the subject.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gareth, great eye contact, and well timed to capture the head turn. Your repost looks better, and agree, maybe a bit large in the frame. A subject I wish I had in my files, as I dont have a single one.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Really nice pose that you captured. I will agree with Arash about the sky, I would desaturate it quite a bit.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Gareth I saw the shot soon after you posted it but I had to go out, my initial reaction was wow well caught. I had a couple of reservations: first too tight in the frame although I do agree it provides impact, and secondly I would desaturate the blue sky and if necessary adjust the brightness subsequently. Your repost looks good and I suspect the noise will be much less apparent if you reduce the crop size.

[Peter Seidel]

Well shot. Really like how you've captured that stare. I agree with others' comments - it is a bit tight, so I'd crop less tightly if possible, and the sky is a bit bright. I have shot with that same combo (K5 + DA 300) quite a bit - and also agree with earlier comments - shadow areas under wings will produce noise when you boost them, regardless of camera. It's not an issue with that K5 sensor. Depending on the time of day, I'd switch between spot and matrix metering to see which give you best results for the bright whites. For the bright white birds I normally shoot (herons and egrets), for both Pentax and Nikon, I tend to get better preservation in bright whites when the sun is bright with spot metering, and a -0.3 or -0.7 exposure comp.

Pete