Pearl - spotted Owlet

[Carl Walker]

This is one of many images that I took of this owlet and it has been bugging me whether to post it or not for various reasons - mainly the bg distractions. It was either post it or not. So I did as i love its beautiful pair of eyes. It was FF with a bit cropped on the RHS. This bird perched right in front of me 15 feet away so I felt I could not move position without disturbing it. Even if I had the opportunity, the surroundings were not favourable either way. I tried to shoot to blur bg but it never worked for me at the time. Although in winter at 7.30 am it was great light there was intermittent cloud cover that I had to contend with.

Bean bag support
Canon 1D MK 4 - 300mm f2.8 plus 2 X extender Mk III - ISO 800, f6.3, 1/2500 sec -

Did basics in LR5
PSE 9 - LM - Levels - USM - small amount of cloning on bg. I could have cropped it more but thought I would hear what you all have to say.

[arash_hazeghi]

this is sweet! love the pose and details. those big eyes really stand out. On my screen it looks a tad over-sharpened and the red channel is a bit blown in some of the highlight areas like the beak or far eye. I like that we see the talons too. perch and BG are both a bit busy and distracting but nevertheless a cute owl

TFS

[HadiAnsari]

Hi Carl.love pose and details.I agree with Arash about highlight areas and over sharpened.
TFS

[Girish Prahalad]

it looks very similar to our spotted owlet in India. You have got a very nice pose here with a complete view of the bird.
the busy surroundings doesn't bother me. the details are there but looks over sharpened as pointed out.

[gail bisson]

I am glad you posted this. I think it is terrific.
I don't ind the BG distracting at all. The tangled perch is quite pretty.
Love the clear view you got.
Great light. You just need to fix up the beak and you are ready to print!
Gail

[Satish Ranadive]

Superb image with very nice IQ. Love the pose, beautiful eyes,BG and square composition.

Regards,
Satish.