Great Gray Owl

[Jon Swanson]

Taken in northern Minnesota on a cold, snowy day this winter. D800 300VRII 2.8 ISO 1250 1/800 @ f5.6 +2/3, FF.

[Randy Stout]

Jon:

Lovely light on the bird, good eye, well exposed.

The rear wing position is less than ideal, and I might consider trying to tone down the luminosity of some of the brightest areas in the BG, but nice as is.

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

You did a terrific job capturing this GGO in flight, Jon. The angle/pose on the head and near wing make up for the less-than-ideal rear wing pose. The snowflakes add a lot of interest.

[Randy Stout]

Jon:

Perhaps a tweak along the lines I mentioned, such as this. I would also consider toning down the white branch intersecting the face, but will leave that to you if you want to give it a try.

Lovely shot.

[Karl Egressy]

Excelent flight image of this great looking Owl, Jon.
Randy's tweaking did a great improvent to it already.

[Jon Swanson]

Randy,

That was a big improvement! Thanks a ton :) I was considering cloning out the branch to the face but only do it about 40% of the way back to the end of the frame so it didn't look too unnatural. Is that what you were thinking Randy?

[Corey Hayes]

Awesome SHot

[Randy Stout]

Jon:

I think your plan on the face branch is good. I would take it back to the same length as the small diag. branch just beneath it, I think that would look natural.

Lots of potential on this one!

Cheers

Randy

[Uri First]

beautiful capture

[David Salem]

Very nice capture. Ya, the right wing isnt perfect but, wow look at the rest! Randy's handy work took a great image to the next level. It needed to be toned down. Well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jon, I do like the flying pose with a great view of the near wing ( far wing noted already ) and overall, nice and sharp. Love the eye and hint of the beak, and I like how Randy has improved the image. Well captured.

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!!
Excellent shot.
I really like the flight pose, excellent details, very nice light, and great comp.
Randy's repost really made an already great shot pop.
Very well done.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Wow that's a gem - lovely shot, I like Randy's repost and your own suggestions with his modifications will make an exceptionally good image.

[arash_hazeghi]

this is awesome! love everything here. I like the highlights in Randy's repost

[Marina Scarr]

Repost looks even better. Good job by Randy.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Killer image Jon. Love everything about it. Randy's repost is excellent. Nice work!

[Shawn Zierman]

Really excellent image Jon.
But what I really want to know is...did you get any frames of that wolf?!

[Jon Swanson]

No I didn't Shawn:( Only the 2nd one I have seen up there and he was right in front of me off Arkola. He was too quick at running before my window rolled down.... Oh well.