Burrowing Owl

[Joseph Przybyla]

I just returned home from a trip a couple hundred miles south in Florida. This is the first I worked up. Burrowing Owl, Marco Island, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/500 F/5.6 Matrix Metering + 2/3 EV ISO 1250, camera on a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop 10
Cropped for composition, upper background blended, noise reduction to background

[John Robinson]

Good one Joe. Nice graduation in the BG too. Nice gentle colours compared to our Little owls.
Cheers
John

[Karl Egressy]

Very nice clean image, Joe. Was it at the Library? I have a series from that spot.

[keith mitchell]

joe a real nice clean image,great detail on the bird and a nice BG,don,t think you could ask for more,very nice indeed.
Keith.

[William Dickson]

Lovely looking frame Joe. Nice colours throughout and lovely details on the owl. Good work

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joseph, hope you get more and look forward to seeing others images from the session.

Just love the way they just perch on one leg, even when they grab a few zzzz's too. Nice to have a clean BKG, although I'm not sure if it looks a little too vibrant(?), but you were there. Certainly the eyes look very 'kodak' yellow compared to our more paler Little owls. Next time, if you get a chance look at the eyes, they are almost like an onion skin, built-up of layers, there not solid.

TFS
Steve

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, commenting and offering suggestions, very much appreciated.

Steve, I revisited the image and used your suggestion regarding the background.