Another owlet

[Steve Kaluski]

For me, this is just a little too big in frame, so I've gone for a square crop, taking the full width of the image and working from the foot of the frame up. I wasn't expecting 'Squealer' to come so close, as he/she is the oldest out of the three and also the boldest, ensuring at feeding time he/she was first in line. If I had the time I would have turned the camera to horizontal and placed the subject better within frame, but hey...

Thanks to those who posted a reply or looked at the previous image.

Steve
Subject: Little owlet running (Athene noctua)
Location: UK
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 500f/4 Gitzo tripod/Wimberely head
Exposure: 1/800s at f/5.6 ISO2000 0 stop compensation

[Andrew Merwin]

Hi Steve, I think the square crop works very well here. I like the subject size in the frame because it shows the detail so very well. I also like the visible feet. Superb techs as usual.

[Rob Hartley]

Steve,
lovely image but I am puzzled by the iris colour. All my little owl images have a bright yellow iris, is the green tinge a juvenile thing or the light?
Rob

[Sidharth Kodikal]

It's a sweet owl, Steve and I like your comp. I'm on my crappy work monitor and I know you're the master of color correctness so I should be doubly hesitant, but I'll go out on a limb and say that your bird could be warmed up a bit. Nice clean bg.

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers Andrew, Rob, all the owlets I have seen are very pale yellow, almost lemon, the more brighter/deeper tends to be the adults IMHO. I leave the eyes as is, a lot of people 'tinker' with the eyes and push them to what they 'think' they shoot look like and I feel they over cook things, but just my take. The slight green tinge is both the owlet being about 8-9 weeks old so the colour will be paler (yellow) and the surrounding light.

Hi Sid, I hate working on the laptop, so I appreciate your 'candid' reply, but never fear in saying what you think . FYI I tend to work on the mid grey principal to get my WB starting point (50/50/50), however we all work differently in our workflow, I then, unless far off in it's look 'As shot' setting, I will either tweak the Temp cooler or warmer, however this is very close to the colours available at shooting. At f/5.6 and having the BKG about 15m away and using the 500, it compresses the BKG as you know, giving a nice diffused backdrop, although this was shot around 5.00pm so light avoided any hard highlights and offered a more softer look & feel. Hope that helps.

cheers
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Steve!
...I have been waiting to see this image in avian
Did some reading on these little guys, I like them so much and wanted to know more about them. I am no expert in owls but regarding eye colour, I'd say it is probably a juvenile thing, although light might have played a part as well (I see this was taken with ISO 2000 so I gather the conditions were not great). The beak also darkens a little with age. The Athene noctua hunt at dusk and dawn as well as during the early hours of the night. It is said they were introduced into Britain around 1889 and originate from Holland. They feed on reptiles, insects, small birds and mice but they also eat fruits, berries and grasses. I love their playfulness, their wide-eyed, wise looks (kind of serious but also funny at the same time), and I like the way you captured them in each and every image. You obviously put a lot of thought and time into this, and it certainly pays-I just cannot have enough of these guys! I like the narrow depth of field here and especially the eye contact. The IQ is great, judging by the clarity of the subject's eyes and the feathers. The sharpness is there, colours are very natural- this image looks as if it wasn't touched by any PP work. This is lovely Steve, it really is, and looking at your posts I can only hope to produce work like this some day

Warmest regards,

[Karl Egressy]

Beautiful Owl well captured.

[keith mitchell]

Hi Steve, hope your not getting into the square crop habit(only joking) as you know I have spent a bit of time with Little Owls this year I would say that the eye colour looks spot on to me in fact the colour of the bird looks just right,Quality image I would be well pleased with.

Keith.

[Richard Unsworth]

Nice Steve...no sign of my target over last 2 days, 3 days ago it scooted as I saw it lol
I didnt alter eye color with mine! Documented widely as pale yellow, my subjects eye darker for sure

[Doug Brown]

Hi Steve. Very serene feel to this frame; I like it. Good sharpness and eye contact. The WB, as pointed out above, doesn't seem correct to me. A little too blue IMO. What do you think of this version?

[Doug Brown]

Here's a side-by-side.

[Jamie Douglas]

Hello Steve, I've been looking at a lot of little owl images this week after a friend of mine picked me up a signed copy of Andy Rouse's little owl book at Wild Photos. This would stand up well in that book and even surpass a few images

As for WB, somewhere between the op and rp would seem right to me.

Framing looks great and it would have been all too easy in the moment to include too much of the log in the FG, or try and cut it off at the bark layer. A frame filler but that isn't a bad thing IMO, not here anyway.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Stunning image Steve, so pin sharp with lots of detail. I also like the BG and eye contact. I like Doug's version as I feel your one is slightly to blue, nicely done.

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Steve

Love this Owl/Image!

Agree with Jamie about WB somewhere in between 2 posts.

My only crit is that after enjoying looking at the owlet, my eye goes to the cut part of the log in the FG.
A tighter crop would upset the Balance, Blur tool?

TFS
Andre

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the shot very much, I am not entirely happy with either white balance I offer this for your consideration ( -it should be accurate I hope! New monitor and just calibrated! Hope I haven't scored an own goal)

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks folks, hopefully an interesting and informative thread with members chiming in, great.

Cheers Doug, appreciate the time. Personally I like the warmer feather detail you have achieved, but the more cooler log/BKG, I guess all personal taste, will revisit the Master file cheers. Having the two side by side certain helps when comparing, as you can see the differences easily.

Jon, no own goal and I think there is food for thought overall, no excuses now on colour.

Hello Steve, I've been looking at a lot of little owl images this week after a friend of mine picked me up a signed copy of Andy Rouse's little owl book at Wild Photos. This would stand up well in that book and even surpass a few images

LOL Jamie, yep Alison has got that on order, should have got one at the Wildlife Awards and also said hi to Conner too. I'll let Andy know your thoughts next time we speak, at the end of the day, he's taught me all I know.

cheers
Steve