Great grey owl after sunset

[arash_hazeghi]

One way of cooling off on a hot summer day is to go back and look at my files from Ottawa. This is a great grey that I photographed with Daniel back in Winter 2013. It was taken after sunset when an opening in the clouds let some golden rays reflected from the sky in which created the orange tones in the BG. The original scene was a bit darker to the naked eye as you can imagine but the high ISO literally turned night into day.


1DX 300 f/2.8II f/4 1/1600sec ISO 6400, handheld. owl was attracted by bait. Hope you like it.

[Ian Wilson]

Beautiful work Arash. This is a splendid illustration of what can be done with the correct exposure using a high ISO. It is coming on for winter here and I find myself practicing BIF in overcast conditions, often in the late afternoon, shooting a lot of frames at ISO 5000 and ISO 6400. Naturally, there is some noise with the 5DIII and I expect also with the 1Dx. Can you give us some idea of how you processed the image, especially any advice on managing noise in this situation? Thanks, Ian

[dennis greenwood]

Love it,just enough movement in the wings to make it work for me

[Anil Skumar]

Lovely Arash.. It has that 3d look.. Fantastic job with a difficult subject.

[Bradley James]

My fav bird of all time. Such a great image and I love the slight motion blur on the wings

[John Robinson]

All been said. Excellent. Looks like he's got winter boots on too !
JohnR

[John Rowell]

Excellent job. Love the eyes grabbing your attention from all the muted colors. I've ready your ebook on noise reduction, and clearly it works when combined with good exposure and focus. Thanks for sharing.

[Binu John]

Stunning shot, Arash! The IQ is excellent @ ISO 5000. Keep 'em coming.

[Joe Galkowski]

A spectacular image! The eyes, the color pallet that is so typical of cold winters, and the body position are all perfect. I like the slight blur of the wing tips but I have to admit I am surprised to see it at 1/1600 sec. I would not have expected subject motion blur on a large bird at this high of a SS.

This was a good way to make your point about higher ISO. The noise seems well under control.

[Daniel Cadieux]

2013 and 2014 were two memorable winters for owls! Excellent pose, techs, processing.

[Ashley Cohen]

Excellent image and processing. Fantastic capture

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice one Arash, I guess it shows that with proper knowledge and technique one can shoot in almost any situation. Thank you for sharing.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Excellent shot all around, Arash. Nothing but positives from me.

[Dvir Barkay]

Great shot, I would be tempted to make it a bit darker and more moody like it was, would be worth a try to see which would look better.

[David Salem]

Great looking shot Arash. The pose and the wing position look cool and the eyes are riveting. Love those bunny feet too. Awesome job on the processing. Looks great, especially for ISO 6400!! Well done.

[gail bisson]

This is excellent.
I like the subtle vertical lines in the BG.
And those sweet little feet really make this picture for me!
Gail

[arash_hazeghi]

Great shot, I would be tempted to make it a bit darker and more moody like it was, would be worth a try to see which would look better.

Thanks Dvir, you don't want to make it too dark because it will not look good on a computer screen.

[arash_hazeghi]

Beautiful work Arash. This is a splendid illustration of what can be done with the correct exposure using a high ISO. It is coming on for winter here and I find myself practicing BIF in overcast conditions, often in the late afternoon, shooting a lot of frames at ISO 5000 and ISO 6400. Naturally, there is some noise with the 5DIII and I expect also with the 1Dx. Can you give us some idea of how you processed the image, especially any advice on managing noise in this situation? Thanks, Ian

Thanks Ian,
I use DPP for RAW conversion and then neat image in PS. details of my workflow are explained in my guide

http://www.arihazeghiphotography.com/AH_NR_guide/

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment

[Gabriela Plesea]

Exceptional image Arash! Congratulations, another stunner

Kind regards,

[Ian Wilson]

Thanks Ian,
I use DPP for RAW conversion and then neat image in PS. details of my workflow are explained in my guide

http://www.arihazeghiphotography.com/AH_NR_guide/

Thanks Arash, I appreciate your help. I have just ordered your guide. Regards, Ian