Great Gray Owl

[Harry Colquhoun]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my first photo of a Great Gray with useful comments and critiques. I spent an entire day with 4 Grays hunting in a relatively small area (roughly 2km x 2km patch of farm land and wilderness), so I have more than a thousand pictures to sort through, many of them what I would consider "wall hangers". Unfortunately the one shot I really wanted, a Gray with wings spread and legs stretched out facing the camera, did not happen. I did get the pose, but under horrible lighting conditions and with wings and tail feathers clipped. For some reason I wanted to see if I could salvage the shot, so I put a few hours of editing work into it and the result is below.



This is my most-heavily edited photo: canvas extended considerably on left, right, and bottom, wing tips on both wings and tail feathers rebuilt, background inserted, and lots of dodging on the bird to bring out some depth.

I'm really interested to know if my edits are obvious. Any C&C most appreciated!

Thanks for looking,
Harry

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Very nicely done. My eyes can't see the rebuilding as obvious, but let's wait to hear back from some of the other members. I would add a tad more room to the bottom and sides (that should be easy and not time consuming).

[Randy Stout]

Harry:

I think you did a good job on the reconstruction. No obvious repeating patterns or processing issues on a quick perusal. Yes, some blurring of wingtips, but easily dismissed as motion blur.

To give us a better sense of what was done, it would be interesting to see the original file. You can add it to this thread, just use the reply box, hit go advanced on lower right corner, and it will allow you to attach the original file(it will have to be hosted off site like the above image, since you aren't a member yet.

Cheers

Randy

[Harry Colquhoun]

Harry:

I think you did a good job on the reconstruction. No obvious repeating patterns or processing issues on a quick perusal. Yes, some blurring of wingtips, but easily dismissed as motion blur.

To give us a better sense of what was done, it would be interesting to see the original file. You can add it to this thread, just use the reply box, hit go advanced on lower right corner, and it will allow you to attach the original file(it will have to be hosted off site like the above image, since you aren't a member yet.

Cheers

Randy

Thanks Miguel and Randy. Here's the original as requested:



Cheers,
Harry

[Dennis Zaebst]

Spectacular shot Harry...well done; I don't see obvious evidence of rebuilding either. I agree with adding additional room at the bottom and sides (easy canvas extension). One more thing, can you give us some techs on the shot? It would help us understand the photo and what you did. TFS.

[Harry Colquhoun]

I made a post a few hours ago with the original image attached and I guess the forums ate it or it still is waiting to be approved...?

Anyway, here's a link to the original, unprocessed image: http://colquhoun.smugmug.com/photos/...-tGNtJcn-L.jpg

1/3200, f/4, ISO 640
Canon 1DX, 600mm v I

Cheers,
Harry

[Karl Egressy]

The pose is excellent and the PP work is great, Harry. There is nothing obvious. This is the pose I always wanted. and I still do.

[Harry Colquhoun]

I'm not sure what it is about this forum but I don't seem able to reply to my own thread here. I've tried a few times to post the original image now. On the off chance this reply actually makes it through, thanks for the comments.

Cheers,
Harry