Short eared Owl.
Nikon D700
Nikon 300mm 2.8
1/200@f4.5
ISI 500.
Hope this is ok for the theme if not would the mods alter title, thanks.
Shot from a while back that I liked, taken when the light was almost gone on a wet and foggy night ,hope I have captured the conditions, was surprised to get anything.
Thanks for taking a look and your comments on my last post.
Thanks Gail and Sanjeev,did wonder about the cropping but wanted to keep as much of the foggy conditions and liked the way the perch goes into the corner of the frame, will look at your suggestions.
I love the look on the owl, those eyes are really neat and the wet look is cool . Good comp and perch. I have to admit that I am not crazy about the lower half of the image though...
Killer subject and mood here. Too much space on the bottom for me.
I just saw the thumbnail of this image, and I find this crop works for the thumbnail much better than the OP. You have a super image here, but I do think you can improve on the comp.
Last edited by Marina Scarr; 07-29-2015 at 08:16 PM.
Wow, I dream of getting an image like this. Owls are one of my favourites and yet I rarely have even seen one in the wild. The perch, mist, eye contact is perfect. No crits on this one. Great work.
Hi Keith
Everything in photography is about compromise, especially bird photography, from choice of equipment to shooting and composition etc. To demonstrate atmosphere you sometimes have to include elements not so pretty when there is no other choice and judge the final image for what is. The bottom half in your image may benefit from A bit of smoothing out. But you have otherwise got an image which sets out what you are trying to achieve. Cropping in or changing to portrait will not tell the story. I have had a lot of experience photographing SEOs all rammed into one day in fog, mist, rain, cloud low light and fearsome cold wind...I share your pain:(
Thanks Adrian, think you and I are on the same wave length, like to experiment even if it does make life a bit difficult sometimes, I used to think that pristine bird shots where all I needed to try for, but get more enjoyment with trying for shots like this one.
Just to clarify on my end (which I should have done originally)...It's not the crop or the amount of space that I do not like about the lower half, but rather the darkness of the fog. I'd have preferred it much lighter, almost white, rather than "dirty" grey. I guess I'm just not used to seeing grey fog. But that is what you had, and I understand the difficult situation you had
Last edited by Daniel Cadieux; 07-31-2015 at 04:50 AM.