Great Gray at rest

[Dan Busby]

This Great Gray Owl was being seen fairly regularly within Algonquin Provincial Park, northern Ontario, Canada. I was able to re-locate the bird and spend some time photographing it as it went about its business. I think it's a sub-adult bird. Just a simple portrait of the bird in its habitat, with that classic yellow-eyed stare.
Canon Mark IV, 500mm f/4L IS II, ISO:400, f/5.6@1/250, EC: +0.3, AP, AI Servo AF, evaluative. Gitzo 3530, Jobu HD2. Vertical frame with about 20% crop.

All comments welcome and appreciated.

[Tim King]

Beautiful all-round. Fine job.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice perch and an excellent sense of habitat. Great feather details and sharpness. Great find and work, Dan.

[Arno Ellmer]

Beautiful , Dan ! I would give a lot to photograph this magnificent bird . I just love it and the striking facial disc and piercing eyes. Very well presented to show the environment .

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, good eye contact, and love how the feet are covered by the plumage. Comp works well with the placement.

[laurie golden]

Beautiful bird. I love how they pick a branch in the open next to the trunk of a tree. For you, this guy picked a very attractive tree, it adds a lot to the photo.

[Robert Holguin]

Very nice shot.
I just love the stares from owls and this one is no exception. Great perch and very nice details.
Well done.

[christopher galeski]

nice image Dan,good pose,like the perch.thanks.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Hi Dan. I love the stare with those awesome eyes. The grey makes him look like a wise old owl

[Randy Stout]

Dan:

I would say this one checks the eye contact box pretty well! Sharp,well exposed, environmental feel without being overpowered. In a perfect world, would prefer the two dead branches pointing right at him not to be there, but works very well as is.

Did you get any of him flying on the perch?

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely pose, Dan. You must have been absolutely thrilled to have found this owl!!! The environment works well for me. The tree and branches add a lot of texture and character. I am seeing a slight magenta cast. A quick fix by adding a few points of green in a color balance layer.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It's looking quite majestic perch on there. Nice find and photo. That is a neat tree it chose, I would only tone down the brighter branch and it's lichens at left.

[dankearl]

I would love to see one, the snag is a perfect setting.

[Dan Busby]

Dan:

Did you get any of him flying on the perch?

Randy

Randy - I did get a few flight shots but none sharp enough to post. Lighting was very low during the times I had a shot at flight images.

[arash_hazeghi]

totally love this one, excellent pose details and a great display of ambiance. I see a subtle magenta cast

[Dan Busby]

Thanks for comments everyone. About the magenta cast Marina and Arash - here's a repost where I tried to adjust the colour balance as per Marina's suggestion (add a few points of green). I wasn't really seeing the cast on my setup and I think the owl has an almost inherent magenta sub-tone. But I agree that it sort of looked magenta so thought I would give this a try. Any better?

[arash_hazeghi]

repost is better, here is one with magenta cast eliminated, I used curves the set the neutral tones

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the setting, eye contact, sharpness, details and composition. Great image Dan!