About To Pounce - Snowy Owl.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Getting tired of Snowy Owls yet? This one, a neighbour of Clementine that has yet to be named, is looking quite cat-like...and coming closer than anticipated therefore I clipped the wings. I cropped a bit closer to make it appear as a cleaner deliberate "cut". Still about 70% FF. A bit colder than California eh Loi!

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/3200s., f/7.1, ISO 400 (settings histogram checked), natural light, handheld, burned the legs a bit as they were way bright. Baited.

[Mike Delgado]

Awesome picture and colors!

[Don Railton]

To answer your question Dan...NOPE..! this is magnificent..!!

DON

[Iain Barker]

Superb Daniel I don't think I will ever tire of them.
Can't find anything to fault. The exposure, sharpness and crop are all first class.

TFS
Iain

[Mike Tracy]

I like all aspects of this particularly seeing the one sharp talon.

[eddyswan]

Killer pose, great sharpness and i like the intense look of the owl.

[Karl Egressy]

Great pose, very powerful image of a hunting Snowy Owl, Daniel.

[Randall Farhy]

Dan-The clipped wings are a non-issue here as doing so forces the expression, body and fine details to become larger in the frame, really making them pop. Simply put, this is a superb image.

[Enrique Patino]

you are right... very cat-like. I like it a lot

[David Salem]

Nice looking capture Daniel. I like "creative crops" like this one. If the wings are clipped, but the shot is sharp and has some good action, then tighten it up to concentrate on the pose and details, and I love the details. Well done.

[Diane Miller]

Incredible! Keep them coming! Perfect detail in the whites!

Looks like the 7D does very well following focus on BIF -- is it better on bright subjects like this, or with the good contrast against the sky? I assume you're shooting in burst mode -- do you get some in focus and some where it drifts? Just curious how it would compare to the 1DX, as I've been considering upgrading my 5D3.

There have been some suggestions that the aux battery grip might improve things -- do you use one?

[arash_hazeghi]

Love the pose and exposure and the dangling talons. excellent details. A head-on view would be even more dramatic, I'm sure you have one of those in your files too. man wish I had such opportunity at my doorstep :)

Diane, battery grip on Canon cameras does not help focus drive speed as the camera uses only one battery at a time.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks guys!!

Diane, I do find the 7D adequate, but the 5D3 is better...and if you can spring for it the 1DX is the best out there with a very noticeable difference. I do shoot in burst mode, and I do get my fair share of deletes :-)

The grip only helps in battery life since you can put two in there and in comfort with the additional buttons for vertical shooting.

[Loi Nguyen]

Dan, I remember this pose. I have it too, but a bit too loose with my 70-200 and 1.4X. It was a gorgeous afternoon and most productive with the sweet light and cooperating owl. It was SO cold though and near the end I had a hard time FEELING for my index finger inside the frozen glove. Somehow I could still will it to shoot. The 500 gives such a great details view of the owl. Love the pose and the crop. TFS. Loi