Launch

[Troy Lim]

~Shot taken at first light, with a little bit of side lighting. Caller was used.
1Dx, 70-200 IS II, 1/1250, f/2.8, ISO4000, Manual

[gail bisson]

Very nice Troy.
I like the incoming pose and the amount of wing blur is good. I like the view of the feet as well.
You have added enough environment on the RHS to balance out the "weight " of the image on the left.
I am OK with the BG but I find my eye drifting to the white strand on the left of the bird that goes from wingtip to fork in perch. I would tone that one down.
Gail

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the wing position/blur, fanned tail, sharpness and setting. I would take a little off the left side of the frame but fine as presented. Well done Troy.

[keith mitchell]

Troy it's fine by me as posted, I'm amazed how you manage to get these shots of Owls in the daytime, like this a lot.

Keith.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Nice take off pose and love the setting here. Agree with Jim on a slight crop from the left.
Agree with Gail on the oof white strand in the bg.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Neat pose that echoes the shape of the perch. BG a bit busy, but it does show the habitat. Agree with Gail about the brighter streak...easy to tone down.

[Marina Scarr]

This image isn't one of my favorites, Troy. While, I like the flight pose very much, the perch is quite large and distracts in the FG and while I am an environmental lover, the BG combined with the large perch is just too much for me.

[Jonathan Ashton]

It rings my bell! I love the action and the surroundings, I find the bird fascinating as are the mosses on the tree (or are they grasses?). I can agree about the two vertical pale strands to the left of the image being a little distracting and yet they look as if they belong there, I think this is a great natural history image just as it is.

[Troy Lim]

Thank you all. I will tone down the bright spots. It is one of my favorites so far. More to come.

[arash_hazeghi]

pretty cool pose, I would crop tighter and sharpen a rad more
TFS

[Marina Scarr]

Not until I just read your title did I realize he was launching and not coming in for a landing with the perch in Front of him. I like it better now that it makes sense.

[Troy Lim]

Thank you all.
Marina, I don't believe the raptor would have that type of wing position during landing. That's from my experience, I could be wrong.

[Aidan Briggs]

Great stuff troy! I like the loose crop and setting. Looks great for ISO 4000. The soft light is sweet too.

well done!