What a fantastic way to finish the year 2013! On New Year's Eve the whole afternoon was yet again cloudy and snowy (and very cold again!!) with pretty much mostly white-on-white stuff (which I do like, but I was longing for a bit more variety). When the light was getting too low for flight the sun almost broke through the clouds creating a diffused pink glow towards the west. We managed to get the owl to perch on a low fence post and took some flashed images of it in front of the nice colours. Literally the last light of the year!
Canon 7D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/200s., f/8, ISO 800, flash @ -1 FEC, full frame, removed a strand of barbed wire below via patch and clone tools, a larger patch of snow on the perch's side also removed, and a blue cast on the owl tamed via "Selective Color" and sponge tool. Lastly, red-eye caused by the flash removed via Hue/saturation (selectively reduced the saturation of the red channel)
Happy New Year everyone
Last edited by Daniel Cadieux; 01-01-2014 at 06:07 PM.
Dang! This is stunning. Looks pretty perfect - no crits from me.
You've had a great year with the Great Greys and the Snowies, and what a way to end the year.
Nice colors Daniel. Great use of flash, as in I cannot tell you used it, unless you told me. Super sharp and intense eye contact. Nice way to end the year!
How much flash to use is very subjective. Jim likes the way you used it but I don't. For my taste it was a bit too much. When I look at the picture I say "Looks like he used flash" ; it makes the owl look pasted into the picture.
But hey, if I had seen that bird here in Missouri I would have been so excited I probably would have dropped the camera. However, I was just reading that about every 4-years there are "irruptions" caused be declines in lemmings. When that happens immature individuals can be seen in northern Missouri. I can only hope...
Thanks for your wonderful posts and comments!
Happy New Year!
Love the sky, the eye contact, and the perch. I might have backed off on the flash a bit, or at least warmed up the owl some; it looks too white for the warm sky BG. I sure wish I could pay you a visit!
Killer static Owl image Daniel. The setting sun colors are beautiful and it showcase the owl in a great way. Techs look perfect and I think it dosnt looked flashed at all. One of your best. Think about printing it!
Gorgeous Daniel, the light really makes it, your series have been very engaging and this just tops the series.
I agree on just backing off on the flash, just a tad. Was the Snowy spooked at all, or did it just continued to sit there, worth knowing for the future, well for next month anyway.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Cheers Dan, I'm always very cautious with flash & avian, however it's good to know.
I think the west coast owls are a bit more 'spooked' as some areas are for duck hunting, so to say they are nervous is an understatement, but perhaps we may try once we get some shots in the bag, thanks for the reply.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Nice flash work..if you didn't say you used one I would have never guessed one was used. I like the soft colors of the background as well and the eys of the Owl...well, just beautiful. How in the world did you get this Owl to sit on this perch? I have not come across a Snowy Owl that will listen to my commands and pose for me.
Last Light of 2013...Snowy Owl.
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