Look Out Below!

[Ashleigh Scully]

Another Great Gray from my files this past October.

Canon 5D MIII
Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4xTC

Aperture Priority 0.67 EV

ISO 800
f/5.6
1/400s

This owl was in the shade sleeping and then suddenly switched positions after hearing a mouse below. So my settings were not great for this position. I did not have enough time to increase my ISO more to prevent the bird from being a little soft. Next time I will :) I still like the stare and position though.

I cropped about 50% off and did a USM on the owl.

I had to reduce this to 600x800 and a Save for Web quality of 82 to get under 400 kb.

[Arthur Morris]

Nice bird and pose. A bit darker overall would work for me. You could also lighten the shadowed side of the bird a bit in one of several ways. I like the sharpness and the raised feathers on the back.

[keith mitchell]

Hi Ashleigh ,might I suggest just making the Owl itself a little darker to give it more body ,then I think you have a winner.

Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Ashleigh, I like the stance and body posture angle, the habitat/environment makes for a lovely change too, nice work. I agree, either slightly darkening the overall image, or perhaps adding a little mid tone just to create a bit more tonal depth. I might even be tempted to up the saturation, but all personal taste.

TFS
Steve

[John Robinson]

Doesn't look too bad to me Ashleigh. That's what I call a background too !! Bird fits into it like a glove.
Well done
John

[Loi Nguyen]

Ashleigh, what a great find! I like the crop here and the expression on the owl. You had excellent suggestion here regarding making the owl a little darker on the LHS (our left) to give it more structure. Giving it a little mid tone contrast would serve the purpose selective;y. Reducing the overall exposure would also darken the shadow side. You could also try to sharpen the face a little more. TFS. Loi

[Marina Scarr]

Agree that it's a tad soft but here's how it looks after darkening it a little, dodging the right of the owls face and saturating the eyes just a tad.

[Holger Leyrer]

Very cool pose (i love it) and the eye contact is great. I like Marinas repost and wish it was mine

[Ashleigh Scully]

Thank you everybody for your comments and feedback. Thank you Marina for your repost it looks a lot better. I will try to do a repost by tomorrow night. :-)

[Ashleigh Scully]

Hi -

I darkened the overall exposure, then selectively adjusted the right side of the owl's face using Shadows.

I then saturated the eyes a bit and then did a magnetic lasso to select the owl, darkened it and adjusted the Contrast a little. I am learning how to adjust mid tones soon.

Thank you everyone for your nice advice.

Ashleigh