Short-eared Owl at Dusk
Boundary Bay, Canada.
January 2013.
This wild short-eared owl was photographed at Boundary Bay in British Columbia, Canada. This owl and several others were constantly flying around quickly in search of food and battling with northern harriers. This speedy owl did a hard bank to the right and headed straight toward me directly into the final low rays of sunlight, with the grasses in front and darkening blue sky and trees behind creating a nice palette of pastel colors and blurred layers thanks to the low f-stop and fast shutter speed. Wild, not baited, no compositional elements changed.
An original processed version of this image was #1 on 500px for a day and has done quite well for me (http://500px.com/photo/25107901/colo...y-mark-needham). But, I have just done a major overhaul on the processing given that I have learned tons about the world of processing since this time. This is the revised version.
Equipment:
Canon 60D camera (I have since upgraded to the 5D3).
Canon 500 f4 Mark II lens.
F5.6, 1/2000, ISO 1250 (about as high as I could go with the 60D).
manual mode, evaluative metering.
spot focus.
Jobu Jr. gimbal on Oben carbon fiber tripod.
Post processing:
Lightroom 5.6: basic global adjustments, crop, etc.
Nik Viveza: a few minor targeted adjustments.
Nik Dfine: noise reduction.
Photoshop CS6: additional targeted adjustments, luminosity mask, selective color enhancement, resized and sharpened using Hougaard Malan’s actions.
edited on a color calibrated NEC P241W monitor.
What a terrific image. I can see why it's done so well. Terrific composition and pose, and your owl really pops against that terrific BG. Love the environment elements and IQ looks good.
Hi Mark,
This is a terrific image and I can see why it has done well.
I really like the BG . It doesn't overwhelm the owl but rather showcases the owl.
You have great details in the owl and it is nicely separated from the BG.
Nice light as well.
I like your composition but could see a version where he is more centered (gasp, that is against all the rules I know!!) with a bit more room on the left,
gail
Hi Mark,
This is a terrific image and I can see why it has done well.
I really like the BG . It doesn't overwhelm the owl but rather showcases the owl.
You have great details in the owl and it is nicely separated from the BG.
Nice light as well.
I like your composition but could see a version where he is more centered (gasp, that is against all the rules I know!!) with a bit more room on the left,
gail
Hi Gail -- Thanks for your feedback; much appreciated. I had thought about that too, but there is a huge tree stump to the left that really distracts from the image (looks like a big black blob), so I chose to crop that out and stick with the rule of thirds for this one with the bird flying into the frame. That said, however, the one I posted on 500px last year is an even tighter crop, but I prefer the revised version here giving the bird a little more "space." Thanks again for your great comments
Looks pretty darn great!! Love the angling towards us flight pose. Super habitat in the BG. Perhaps a tad bright in both upper corners but that certainly does not detract from the awesome subject. Well done!
That's a super image. I don't see many owls here on a blue background, But it sure works well, Nice job on the processing and as everyone has mentioned, it really pops.
Hi Mark, this is a fantastic image. Nothing significant for me to add, but just wonder if you have tried a version with a slightly brighter BG. TFS. Loi
Thanks for the excellent feedback, everyone! I have made a few tweaks by slightly darkening the top corners as suggested by Daniel and also by slightly lightening the rest of the background, as suggested by Loi. These were both great suggestions and I think the revised version takes it up another notch - what do you think? Thanks again!
Colorful Flight
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Originally Posted by Stuart Bowie
) with a bit more room on the left,
