Burrowing owl dust bath

[Mike Poole]

Down at Cape Coral I had a great half hour with these little characters, when this one dropped into the sandy area and proceeded to have what I presumed to be a dust bath - happy to be told otherwise though as I don't know anything about their usual behaviours

Canon 5d3
500mm f4is
ISO 800
1/2000th f4

One grass stalk evicted from just above the head

Mike

[Daniel Cadieux]

Super details on the face, and that is one heckuva stare! I like the BG and the bits of vegetation around the owl. I suppose more dof for the body would be good, but I am fine with it as is as the face and eyes do really stand out and grab our attention. I would have liked a looser composition though. Do you have more room at right?

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Mike, great details and sharpness on the face. I like the BG too, but the image is bit bright. I'd reduce exposure by ~ -0.2EV. Daniel gave you good suggestion on the DOF and more room. Loi

[Ian Wilson]

Agree with other members' suggestions. Might be worth thinking about a much tighter crop to just the head if you have enough resolution. Regards, Ian.

[christopher galeski]

nice one Mike,great expression,like the BG and bits of plant material.TFS.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Whoa what a stare! I like the low angle, eye contact and DOF.

[keith mitchell]

Think maybe the bg makes it look a bit bright , the face and expression are excellent and makes up for a little loss in DOF ,nice work Mike.

Keith.

[gail bisson]

What a lovely shot!
Agree about the brightness and would decrease the exposure by a bit. That would also darken the blacks a bit and make this little guy "pop" even more!
Gail

[Mike Poole]

Thanks guys,

I've tried to take the comments on board and tried a RP, WDYT?

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful!! What a look! I love the high-key BG.

[Satish Ranadive]

Love the expressions.

Regards,
Satish.

[gail bisson]

Repost looks better!
Gail

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details and eye contact.

[keith mitchell]

Mike your repost defiantly is the one for me, being no expert being able to look at a repost certainly helps make up your mind, if you get my drift.

Keith.

[adrian dancy]

Excellent capture Mike. The repost looks better than the original. I would say the bird is a bit too large in the frame for my taste but that is purely subjective.