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Thread: Burrowing Owl- up close and personal

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    Default Burrowing Owl- up close and personal

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    Taken in January in SW Florida. I had to stand back a ways to get this shot, as there were about 20 other students all standing about eight feet from the owl's nest with long lenses. I was a bit non-plussed that the owls (there were two of them) were getting a bit alarmed and said something to the person leading the group. But they were being quiet and respectful. I did a tight crop because of the blurred grass in front and white flowers in the BG.

    Canon 50D, ISO 400 with 500 mm f/4L IS + EF 2x TC II; f/11 @ 1/500 sec.

    The owl was staring directly at me and the setting sun. There was no flash used. I did clone out a partial white flower at the URC. C/C always encouraged and used as a learning experience. Thanks for looking.


    Last edited by Peter Kes; 12-29-2012 at 06:37 AM.

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Hi Dennis,
    This is definitely up close and personal! For my tastes, the bird is too big in the frame and I find the reddish OOF grass under the right eye distracting.I would work on that and clone out the white branches on the left hand side of the frame.
    This picture is all about those beautiful eyes so why not really make them shine-since the bottom of the frame has all that distracting grass, what about going for a tight pano of the eyes and beak only. I would also crop in from the left.
    Good F stop,
    Gail

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    I'm liking the crop, and the eyes are very mesmerizing! I would definitely eliminate the horizontal bright grass at left (a combination of patch and clone tools should work handily). As posted I would also apply an additional judiscious round of sharpening to get the fine detail on the face sharper (it is well focused, it's just to have that extra pop).

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    Thanks Gail and Daniel. I will definitely work on those aspects. I could back off on the crop, but that introduces more OOF grass to deal with. Thanks and will repost in a few minutes.

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    Default repost with BG and sharpness adjusted

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    Thanks and I hope this addresses the excellent suggestions so far!

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    The repost is a definite improvement, Denis. Very nice portrait.

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    Thank you Karl!

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Yes...the repost does it!

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    Thank you Daniel!

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