Great Gray Owl

[Ashleigh Scully]

Hi - am posting for Ashleigh today.

Just returned from a fun weekend in Jackson, WY where she was lucky to have photographed a pair of Great Grays.

Canon 5D Mark III
Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II

Manual Exposure: 1/250, 500mm, f/4, ISO 800

She cropped out the perch which was a golf cart crossing signpost. About 30% of the image was cropped out.

One round of noise reduction on the bg and no other adjustments made. We were very close to this awesome bird.

She's interested in your feedback on the composition and exposure.

Thank you, Ashleigh's Dad

[arash_hazeghi]

you got great eye contact from the owl! what was the background? I would increase the exposure a bit and sharpen him a bit more.

Your settings were not exactly optimal, with the 5D3 you can easily increase the ISO to 1600 or 3200 to gain more shutter speed and avoid softness that comes from subject movement.

I like the composition, good work

keep it up

[hennieloots]

Hi Ashleigh - Very nice image of a awesome bird! I like the composition very much. The BG also looks great and the colors are very pleasing.
Cheers
Hennie

[Karl Egressy]

Great looking bird and nice background. I wish for more space around, maybe a wider, shorter crop, like 8"x10".

[Marina Scarr]

Wonderful capture. The bird sure is giving you a stare down and it's nice to have such a tight portrait. Super BG. To my eyes, the bird needs a lift in exposure and sharpening. I would also crop some from the bottom and add a tad to the top and left, as I feel the comp is a bit elongated and tight as is.

[Loi Nguyen]

Ashley, great capture. Love those eyes. You got good advice above already. I'd suggest next time for a close portrait such as this one, go for at least F5.6 to have good DOF. Loi

[Greg Oakley]

Super portrait - gotta love those eyes!

[vishaljadhav]

Nice engaging eyes and you got a good head angle here cheers to that
i like the composition very much here, agree with arash with lifting the exposure a bit on the face will brighten it up a bit making it more pleasing
very nicely done over all

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the eye contact, details and BG colour. Good advice above to improve this image. Well done Ashleigh!

[Ashleigh Scully]

Thank you all for your comments.

Arash - the background was yellowing aspen leaves. She specifically sought this background out as she thought it complemented the owl's eyes.

She changed the canvas size to 700 x 900 and added room to the left and top, per Marina's suggestion.

Also used the magnetic lasso to isolate the background, noise reduction, then inverse to lighten the bird using levels. Also did some sharpening of the owl's face.

Thanks again!

[Marina Scarr]

This is an improvement in composition. I still feel the owl is undersharpened and underexposed. Here is my version with more sharpening, and I lightened the owl and darkened the BG just a tad. With just a little more tweaking here, you have an awesome image. What do you think of the RP?

[arash_hazeghi]

Marina's repost addresses all the issues

[Ashleigh Scully]

HI Marina -

WOW! I dont know how you did that so fast. the owl looks so much better! At first I think it looks too bright but then I see so much more detail in the feathers.

Thanks so much for commenting,

Ashleigh :)