Northern Hawk Owl

[Shawn Zierman]

Many thanks goes to Jason Mandich for showing me this owl. This bird was photographed recently in woods of Northern Minnesota. Canon7d, Sigma50/500os, iso800, f8, 1/160, small crop for composition, selective NR to the bg, perch and subject sharpened selectively on seperate layers. Live mice were fed to the owl as part of the image making. Perch is set up. Comments and critiques welcome.
Regards,
Shawn Zierman.

[Randy Stout]

Shawn:

Beautifully exposed and well processed. Comp with slight offset of bird to left works well. Soft bg. Nice perch for a setup.

Magnetic stare.

Cheers

Randy

[Raybel Robles]

Beautiful image. I don't think I have ever seen this owl before, very impressive Owl. The perch is perfect for the bird and the image IQ is superb. Those yellow bright eyes are captivating. Well done.

[Jim Crosswell]

A real beauty Shawn! The perch, pose, BG and composition work perfectly. One of your best. I would print it and hang it on the wall.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Shawn, I can't help but stare into those eyes! The perch is nice and the contrast on the bird is just right.

[Diane Miller]

Beautiful! Perch and BG colors are perfect!

[Robert Kimbrell]

A very pleasing image, I like the comp, as the owl is the right size for the frame, Beautiful eyes and a nice perch,

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Spectacular owl Shawn. Congrats on getting this. Awesome stare, cool perch and good exposure on the owl. TFS.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Really nicely done. This fella seemingly has a more pronounced "goatee". Neat perch, and the vertical comp is perfect. A species I have not seen or photographed in a few years...itching to see one again!

[Bill Dix]

What a stunning Owl! Nicely composed and exposed, on a wonderful perch (although I could imagine another version with a bit cropped from the bottom). Beautiful image. You must have been thrilled to see this bird.

[arash_hazeghi]

This is excellent Shawn, wish this frame was mine. the weathered perch really stands out here

[David Salem]

What a sweet looking frame Shawn. I really like the whole scene with the broken aspen perch and the curled bark. The owl looks great and the feather details look perfect against that smooth complementary BG. You might think about printing that one!

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent image.

Regards,
Satish.