Barred Owl with a few problems

[Jack Breakfast]

Hello folks
This picture was taken the other day with the Canon 7D and 70-300L at 300mm. iso500, 1/1250, f8. Here we have roughly 85% of the original capture. Aesthetically speaking, I wasn't too tickled by the light or the beautiful beast's setting and I'm still not, but a barred owl at eye level (more or less) is nothing to sneeze at. Fill flash would have helped but I'd sooner destroy a heritage building than shoot a sleepy owl with a flash...shall hopefully get something better in the next week or two...light, light, always light. I don't consider this a good photograph by any stretch but do consider it a nice look at an excellent bird. I have many other shots from the same visit and I tried many different angles, but I had to take what I was given in the light department. Will welcome your thoughts and ideas if you'd like to share them. Many thanks...

[dankearl]

I think the Owl looks great, nice detail, I like the foot in front.
The BG is what it is, busy and not very attractive, but I would have taken this in a heartbeat.
Nice that you got that close, and the exposure and IQ are fine.

[Peter Dexter]

Always nice to see a Barred Owl. Thanks for posting. I don't mind the background per se but the shadows of branches especially the one accross the owl are unfortunate. I don't think a little bit of flash to eliminate it would have ruined his day. Barred Owls are pretty active in the daytime.

[Grace Scalzo]

Really Jack, I think you are being way too hard on yourself. All I would do to improve this is trim from the top to eliminate those harsh shadows and then rebalance with a little off the left side. I suppose that the shadows on the owl maybe aren't ideal but they don't bother me much either. (He is in the woods, after all). I love the detail, the talon, your eye-level encounter and the sleepy look. I would not have used fill here either. (I don't appreciate bright lights when i am napping....)

This is an image that I would love to call my own.

[Jack Breakfast]

Peter, perhaps you're right about the fill flash. I've heard over and over how stressful and damaging flash photography can be to owls, but whether or not this is actually the case is beyond our realm of knowing...

[Jack Breakfast]

Well done, Grace! Common courtesy is the order of the day! I don't like being flashed when I'm getting into my good naps either! You should have seen some of the other jerks there, one of them was playing the damned who-cooks-for-you audio call over and over again. I would sooner eat a bag of bees than use audio recordings to entice a subject, and I became angered and wanted to give the infiltrator a piece of my mind, but instead I remembered about being peaceful and luckily my ladyfriend, who is much smarter than I, was there and she said "hush hush" and she squinted her eyes and so did I, it's an old birdwatcher's trick, we lost our peripheral vision and we ignored everyone else and stared straight ahead and the forest disappeared and the background went white and it was just us and our owl, pious and serene...

[Peter Dexter]

Jack sounds like you might enjoy Bird Sense by Tim Birkhead.

[Jack Breakfast]

Thanks Peter, I shall check it out presently. I much appreciate your recommendation. I'd seen an excellent talk from the man once and here is a link to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSJas9P4uPY

[laurie golden]

Jack,

I agree with Grace on cropping. And he is a beautiful owl, love the feather fluff. He looks a lot lighter than our barred owls but maybe I have never seen them in the sunlight. I have never flashed an owl or any bird in the sunshine so agree with your decision on flash. I would not have been silent regarding the bird calls. You did a good job getting the one large branch shadow in a good position on the bird.

Let's hope some cloudy days are coming your way for your next encounter.

[John Cooper]

A lovely portrait of the Barred owl Jack with excellent feather detail. I see you had to contend with some difficult habitat, but the image is nothing to be sneezed at..!! I'm thinking that as the owl is in quite bright light whether a fill-flash at say minus 2 stops would even be noticed by the owl.
I must say you guys over there seem to get a bit of competition from other photographers. In the 23 years of bird photography I have never encountered another photographer in my vicinity....touch wood..!!

[Jack Breakfast]

John: you are the luckiest man on the planet! I dream of your situation!!! Anyhow, you're probably quite right RE the fill flash, but better safe than sorry, I figure. The thought of upsetting a noble beast is difficult to bear. That said, I'm sure the BO wasn't thrilled to have me (and the other boneheads) there in the first place. I suppose all bird photography is at least somewhat intrusive. It's fun to be a tortured bird photographer! Anyhow, thanks for the comments, and please continue to enjoy and cherish and revel in your sweet solitude...

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jack, love the lazy look, especially the protruding foot. Im fine with the shadows, as the light is cast in all the right places. Comp wise, I would take a touch off the left, a little more off top and right, and add to the bottom. Maybe a version with the eyes lightened ever so slightly.

[Jack Breakfast]

Thanks Stuart. I'm inclined to agree with you and others RE the composition and display of this shot. Since the owl is good and the background is not, it would be prudent to have as much owl in the frame as possible, within reason! I have no more room at bottom, but did try this out. I'd welcome your opinions and ideas. As for me, I much prefer the shot this way, and I'd like to thank you all for your help. Normally I'd much rather have plenty of SPACE but here it does seem sensible to keep things owl-centric...

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Love the fluffy pose and the tighter crop works great

[Karl Egressy]

Nice picture, Jeff. The repost looks even better. Sometimes when you guys posy an image of this nice looking Owl, I wonder if it is the same I had photographed in three years in a row at the same place in the same tree.
(Halls Road.)

[Jack Breakfast]

Thanks Karl! I'm changing my name to Jeff and that's final. Ah the Halls Rd barred owl, I've heard lots about that bird...

[Karl Egressy]

Thanks Karl! I'm changing my name to Jeff and that's final. Ah the Halls Rd barred owl, I've heard lots about that bird...

Sorry Jack. I know the feeling. I have been called Carl sometimes but it is OK. Sounds the same.

[Jack Breakfast]

Karl, I was teasing merrily. Mixing up people's names is easy and it's almost insane to take it personally. Fellow owlmen of Ontario must always be of good cheer...

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image of owl in environment.Love pose fluffy pose and expression of owl.

Regards,
Satish.