I was at my favorite Avocet spot last spring at the crack of dawn with birds all around me, it was going to be a good morning. Then a farmer drove up in his clammering diesel truck to see what I was doing and make some small talk. As I sat cordially talking to him, every bird in the county flew away. I was bummed out and had to make a new plan at 7am. As I was driving out of the area this beautiful Barn Owl flew right in front of me and posed. Sorry about the perch but the area I live in dosnt have many trees so posts, barb wire and assorted man made perches are the norm.
1DMKIV---700mm---f7.1---1/1600---ISO400---car as blind w/BLUBB@ 7:10am---25% crop
Thanks as always for looking and for your input. Appreciated
Exposure: very nice
Detail: okay - there seems to be either noise reduction or a crop obscuring some of the finer detail possibly
Light: beautiful
Pose: very cool pose, and a great species too by the way
Composition: as you said we all would want a better perch, but what can you do. The crop is tighter than many photographers would make it, but I think there is still enough room in the frame that it works for me.
One of my favorite birds, very interesting pose, great eye contact, well exposed. Agree with Matthew about the slight softening of some detail. I might try another light pass of sharpening.
The perch is what it is, but I think you can help minimize it a bit by lowering the luminosity and saturation of the upper part to match the lower. Red tends to draw the eye and appear more 'forward' in an image, where the darker color of the lower post recedes a bit. Subtle difference, but I think it would help.
Thanks Randy and Matthew . I didn't want to over sharpen due to the beautiful feathers on the back.l thougbt it would easily become crunchy. Guess it needs a hair more. Thanks.
I generally prefer less sharpening than more, so appreciate your concern about overdoing it, but it sure looks like there is a little room to work with here.
Thanks again Randy. The original is sharp so I will look at the original when I get home tonight and sharpen a little more after downsizing for the web.. Thanks for the tip on the luminosity of the perch too.
I may just never look or comment on another owl image on here again....soooooo envious !
Loving the pose captured, he/she looks like he was caught out unexpectedly having a preen, great character shot David
I like the perch, no problem for this rusty perch lover hehehehe.....and my eye goes straight to the bird anyway. Maybe a tad more sharpening, but I think maybe if you did so the face area may look overdone, my only thoughts were to try and tweak a little more detail from the head by reducing the brightness in that region, but the overall image is very nice, darn near perfect.
David:
Excellent image.Very nice pose showing wing pattern,beautiful lights and great colors.
Agree about a little more space around.Love the face and black eyes.
Really like these owls and you go this one in an unusual pose. If you frequent this area on a regular basis and the landowner is okay with it, attach some branches to the top of the fence posts with some string/baling wire to "top" it off. Looks better in photos and easier for the birds. Works in my area (lots of barbed wire fences).
This image deserves more careful processing. As noted, there is a lack of detail most noticeable in the face area. Upper right has clear evidence of cloing, there is a halo on his back, and posturizing going on, especially on the right side as viewed. I surely would like to see a rework of this because the subject is super special.
David, I do agree with the comments on image quality/sharpening and needing just a touch more space on all sides. At the same time, it is a gorgeous bird, with a perfect head angle, and a very interesting wing stretch that really shows off the feather coloration. He looks as if he has turned toward you, and is ready to ask if there is anything else he can do to improve the image!
Don't have much to offer that has not been said. I do find myself once again agreeing with everything Grace offered
in her excellent critique. Look forward to a repost with improved IQ...
Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. I processed this image quite a while ago before I had learned PP skills very well. Not that Im much better now but getting better thanks to your input and help.
Here is a re-post with most of your suggestions noted. I darkened the face a little and sharpened it. Sharpened body a bit and added a little contrast. NR on BG and gave it a bit more breathing room. I think it looks much better, Thanks again.
Also this image had allot of work to do to it in the cloning department. I am posting the original for comparison. Hope its ok to do so.
Hi David, firstly, no problem posting your original, and it now shows how much you had to work with to produce your final version. I feel you have done well removing the distracting parts. Great eye contact and pose, and I do like the BG. With regards to your repost and additional sharpening, I just feel you may have overdone it in places - just a touch. If you resharpened all of the owl, I would maybe selectively sharpen in areas for taste.
I like that you included the original so we could see how this image evolved. There was a lot of work involved! You might be able to crop more for a vertical with more room on top and to the left if you want to try. But that would be another batch of PS work. I think you made some sweet lemonade here :)
Barn Owl
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