Snowy Owl

[Tim Harding]

While shooting this bird on a fence post in great late afternoon light yesterday, it started to vocalize then flew almost right over my head. Turns out it was chasing off another Snowy that had landed in a tree behind me. I'm very fortunate that this area near my home has quite a large resident population of Snowys again this winter. It is apparently an 'echo' of last year's irruption. This bird has occupied the same field since mid-November.

Canon 7D MKII 500mm I
1/2000s @ f/6.3 ISO 800

RAW converted in LR - pulled back exposure by 1/3 stop, lowered colour temp to 4900, lowered highlights and whites and boosted blacks slightly.

In PS lightened right eye that was in shadow, removed 3 pts of black form the whites in selective colour layer. NR (Topaz) on BG and USM (15-65-0) on bird.

I would have liked a little more SS to sharpen up the wingtips, but wasn't quite ready for the flight.

All suggestions welcome. Thanks for looking.

[dankearl]

This is really good, Tim....
The BG color is killer, the habitat at the bottom works and the Owl is nice and sharp with a very good pose for the Vertical comp.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent pose and eye contact and the dangling feet!I love the habitat in the BG too, the whites look a bit hot. I would tone them down a bit. If mine I would clone out the band as well

TFS

[Robert Kimbrell]

A Beautiful image. The color and light are great, A super pose and just the right size in the frame for me. Whites may be a little hot, but I would love to have an image like this.

[Joe Subolefsky]

Really nice capture! The white around the left eye look just a tad blown out on my screen. Harder to get one with a band then without does not bother me at all.

[Loi Nguyen]

Tim, love the pose and the dangling feet. killer BG. The black looks a bit too black on my MAC lap top, not sure whether it is the artifact of the lap top. Are you close to Ottawa? TFS. Loi

[Raybel Robles]

Beautiful!!! The pose, BG, sharpness is all good!... love those yellow eyes on the snowy owls, always drags me straight to the image. I agree with Arash a few spots of whites are bit hot.

[Tim Harding]

Thanks Loi.

Barrie, Ontario. About 5 hours west of Ottawa.

[Tim Harding]

Re-post. Whites toned done as much as I dared without turning grey.

[Richard Flack]

Wow, stunning photograph Tim. Really awesome BG and flight pose. Well done!

[David Salem]

Great looking frame and I really like the darker blue BG in this one. Gives it a neat mood. The pose and the eye contact look great too. I like the OP best as the re-post has turned the whites to grey.
You might try just selectively reducing some of the hot spots and not globally reducing the exposure. Nice job.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Tim, your vertical comp suits the flight pose with the extended wings, and you captured some good eye contact. Love the blues and browns of the BG, and agree to only 'play' with the hot area's and not the entire snowy.

[Mike Poole]

Great flight shot Tim. I agree with the previous comments regarding the whites, but IMHO it's that good an image that getting the final polish on it will be time well spent

[Tim Harding]

OP with brightness adjustment layer painted in around left eye and leading wing edges only. Thanks of all of the input - I really want to get this one right.

[Binu John]

Excellent take off pose and dramatic BG colors! The RP is an improvement. Well done.