Golden Light Snowy Owl.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Here is one last Snowy Owl from me for this season as spring slowly creeps in (I hear an American Robin singing outside my window as I type this woohoo!!). For this image the sun was near the horizon line in late afternoon on a very cold and very windy day...I think Loi's fingers are still numb from that session I love how the face feathers look like fur when pressed against wind like this!

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/2000s., f/8, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, cropped for composition but still about 80% FF ( I was deliberately going for tight flight close-ups). Baited.

[Mike Poole]

I'm a bit split on this one. On one hand, I love the light, the detail in the face, and the shadow in particular works well. I've nothing against tight crops, but on this occasion it seems a little uncomfortable to me. I'm not sure you could have gone in any closer, so while I like the close up of the face, I think the full wings would have been stronger this time

[Ashley Cohen]

I think sometimes you have to go for a tight crop to really get the detail visible on the face on web size images. I like the composition on this one, the birds stare and overall quality, always a high standard with you Daniel. The light quality is great and exposure is spot on. Looks like there's a little nose but could be the icy snow. Overall an image I'd be extremely pleased with.

[gustav kiburg]

great picture , the crop works very well , you had great light , and its taken very low above the ground

[ramesh anantharaman]

I just love the Exposure and low flight and the eyelevel shot and the whites are sooo beautiful!!!. But the real deal here are the eyes in my opinion. All other techs are overshadowed by those brilliant eyes, and this I think, it is a real good composition to bring out this effect. Splendid.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice one Daniel!
Lovely face, I agree that those facial feathers look like fur, the tight crop brings this one into a personal look of the bird. Also, the warm light is sweet!

[Andrew Robinson]

Hi Daniel. Wonderful. I love the intensity of the eyes and their focus on the prey. The detail in the snow and what is presumably a shadow on it add to it all. You almost get the feeling of wanting to duck to get out of it's way. It must have been an amazing Winter with these guys.

[Richard Flack]

Great image Daniel. Love the detail and look in the owls eye. (Must say I am super jealous of you having these owls as subject matters :)). Thanks for sharing

[shane shacaluga]

Really like how the background has a cool blue colour to it but the owl has a warm golden light. As mentioned above the eyes are killer and that shadow gives a sense of how close to the ground it was flying

Personally i like this crop

TFS

[Rob Melone]

Super in your face perspective Daniel and nicely captured too. At f/8 I'm guessing you had an idea that the Snowy would come your way. Any closer and he could have given you a shave. Super shot!