Great Grey owl close flight

[arash_hazeghi]

Here is another Great Grey image from trip to Ottawa last month with Dan. I chose a pano crop to show the details better. You can see the HD file which is pretty much straight out of camera in the link below

link to HD

I hope you like it.

I have also been working on a comprehensive flight guide for Canon EOS cameras. It took much longer than I thought but it is finally available. It covers how to setup various EOS bodies for flight and a few general tricks shooting flight and choosing the right gear. You can get it here if interested: EOS AF guide to flight photography.




The image above was made with EOS 1DX, 300mm f/2.8 II at f/4 1/2500sec ISO 640 handhold. Hope you like the image.

[Frank Schauf]

Fantastic. Wonderful flight pose.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Arash, awesome flight pose, nice details as well. I have been observing you, Doug and even Artie using the 300 II for flight photography! Is there any reason why you chose this lens over the 600II? Does it mean the 300 II is more suited to handheld shooting? Or is it that if the birds are baited, it is better to use this lens?
Regards
Sanjeev

[PhilCook]

Looks great as is, but for my own personal tastes I think it could do with a very slight contrast tweak...but as i say..." my own tastes "

Either way...another stunner Arash

[vishaljadhav]

Hi Arash,
The bird , feather texture sharpness and details are fantastic, but then its more a hallmark of a Arash Image.
In term of the image feel i liked the original composition i viewed in the HD file with the cattails, i guess thats what the reeds are called, in the above image the cattails would have added a lot in terms of determining the height at which the bird is flying with respect to the land under, however its just my view . would like to hear your thinking on choosing the above composition .
In the above presented image as the cat tails are removed the tips of few are remaining which can be cloned .
Even the suggestion by Phil i like here about a bit more contrast , just may give it more pop,
Its fantastic as the way its presented.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice pose and exposure. Love the full stretch of wings and the fanned tail.

[Bill Dix]

Another Ottawa beauty -- can't get enough of them. Wonderful detail as usual. Great incoming flight pose, and beautiful background with a hint of habitat. I also felt the image seemed a bit light -- my first reaction was that a few points of black to the neutrals might help give it some punch, or just a tiny reduction of highlights.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Arash, awesome flight pose, nice details as well. I have been observing you, Doug and even Artie using the 300 II for flight photography! Is there any reason why you chose this lens over the 600II? Does it mean the 300 II is more suited to handheld shooting?

No.

Or is it that if the birds are baited, it is better to use this lens?
Regards
Sanjeev

When you use baiting, calls or a blind the birds come close to you, so can't use a long lens.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Arash,
The bird , feather texture sharpness and details are fantastic, but then its more a hallmark of a Arash Image.
In term of the image feel i liked the original composition i viewed in the HD file with the cattails, i guess thats what the reeds are called, in the above image the cattails would have added a lot in terms of determining the height at which the bird is flying with respect to the land under, however its just my view . would like to hear your thinking on choosing the above composition .
In the above presented image as the cat tails are removed the tips of few are remaining which can be cloned .
Even the suggestion by Phil i like here about a bit more contrast , just may give it more pop,
Its fantastic as the way its presented.

I chose a pano crop to shows the details better when posting 1024 pixels.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Superb full wingspread...looks like it wants to come over and give you a hug Awesome BG.

[gail bisson]

Hi Arash,
This is great.
I love the wing spread and the IQ.
Agree on a bit more pop- adding a couple of points to the neutrals in selective coloring would reaaly help I think,
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

thank you all for comments/suggestions

[David Salem]

I like the tighter pano crop on this one. Shows the feather detail very well. Nice work

[Shawn Zierman]

Awesome image. Full flight impact here and the composition is perfect.
I disagree with your assertion that you cannot use long lenses when feeding owls, particularly if one
person is doing the feeding and another person is photographing. You have not exactly stated wether
or not you fed this owl,(?) though to me it certainly appears that way...

[arash_hazeghi]

Awesome image. Full flight impact here and the composition is perfect.
I disagree with your assertion that you cannot use long lenses when feeding owls, particularly if one
person is doing the feeding and another person is photographing. You have not exactly stated wether
or not you fed this owl,(?) though to me it certainly appears that way...

yes owl was baited.

Yes of course you CAN use a telescope too, what I meant was there is really no point in logging a long lens on the snow when the bird comes to you. why make your life difficult? BTW, we were shooting together with Dan, we did not hire someone to bait the owls for us as it does requires some skill and Dan surely has figured out all the tricks to perfection.

[Shawn Zierman]

Hi Arash, since this is a learning forum, would you please share the "tricks" that Dan taught you?

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Shawn, I cannot speak of other photographers' field techniques, it belongs to them and if they like to share it they will do so.

[Shawn Zierman]

Hi Arash. Oh well, can't blame a brother for asking. I'm just betting there aren't any YouTube videos of you and Dan out there floating around.... :)

[Corey Hayes]

nice shot, I need to get my self a 300mm.