Great Horned Owl
I took this photo of a Great Horned Owl this morning around 8:00. Wandering through a local park looking for songbirds, I heard this owl hooting and was able to track him/her down getting ready to sleep in a cottonwood.
Camera 7D
Sigma 400mm with 2x TC
ISO 500
Handheld
Last edited by Peter Kes; 10-25-2012 at 07:07 PM.
Alison:
Always fun to get a nice surprise visitor.
You did a good job holding that rig steady.
The image is underexposed as posted, and would present better with increased exposure. You may need to do a little dodging of the sky areas when you bring it up, but the bird will show much better.
Perhaps your choice of exposure was a creative choice to give a sense of him hiding in the shadows, with just the bit of light striking him, but I would at least try bringing up the exposure some.
Cheers
Randy
PS: I had a second, and did a very quick touch up, selectively brought up the exposure on the bird, dodged some of the lighter areas. You can do a much better job on the original. I still left it a bit dark to hopefully maintain the original feel.
Last edited by Randy Stout; 10-25-2012 at 02:26 PM.
Alison McCoy thanked for this post
Thanks Randy. I appreciate the comments and critique. I will try making some of the adjustments you mentioned. I sat on the ground and braced against a log with the camera and lens on my knees. Just learning the tricks of manual focus.
Lucky you to find this beauty on your morning walk. Randy made a good point on the exposure of the bird. I would run a little noise reduction (NR) on the background (BG) only b/c I am seeing noise esp on the upper right side.
Looking forward to seeing more of your images!
Love the eye contact...really makes the steep shooting angle work better.
I also like the sqarish crop. Good idea regarding some selective NR.
Looks like a hefty crop to me, as fine detail seems scant sketchy.....?
I absolutely love this one, Alison !
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