Hello world!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Sorry, I've been very busy for a little while hence the lack of participation.

This is the young of a pair of Powerful Owls I've been observing for the past two years. It's the first time the owlet managed to crawl up to the edge of the nest hollow in the winter of 2013.
I was fortunate to be accepted by the parents and have spent over 125 hours now making observations and a few photos over two nesting seasons. This year (2015) there was no l'amour that I could see.
The nest area was quiet. I guess they are possibly taking a break.

5DMkII, 500/4L IS + 2x
Manual mode, ISO 2000, f/11, 1/60th
580EXII with beamer, set to +2/3EC
Just about full frame.

I was shooting some video and had that set to ISO 3200, and I was meant to go back to 1600, but missed a click.

[gail bisson]

What a wonderful owlet.
Just love the face with the gray "spectacles".
I have never seen this species on BPN before and I have a feeling this is a special find.
Exposure is perfect and the whites really show it. Flash work looks good.
I am OK with the prominent tree branches but man this would have been super amazing if the tree branch on the RHS wasn't there.
Because this is full frame you could crop to a vertical and clone out what was left of the branch. Would be easy with the black BG.
Congrats on your hard work and field savvy for finding these owls and their family.
I hope you don't mind but just for fun I cropped this as a vertical and cloned out the branch. This is a quick and dirty job but gives you an idea of what I am thinking of.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Amazing looking bird and check out those gigantic gleaming talons! Excellent stare and exposure and details. I can see what Gail is saying, but I don't mind the branches too much and prefer the OP. Gail, I'm guessing the copyright on the repost was unintentional :)
Lovely work with the flash. I'd tone it down ever so slightly. The amount of work you put in the field makes me feel like an impostor!

[gail bisson]

OMG! I am so sorry about my copyright mark on YOUR picture Akos! I forgot to remove it obviously and assure you I have no intention of claiming it as my own!!
Gail
PS This is why I do not usually fiddle with people's pics!! Lesson learned

Amazing looking bird and check out those gigantic gleaming talons! Excellent stare and exposure and details. I can see what Gail is saying, but I don't mind the branches too much and prefer the OP. Gail, I'm guessing the copyright on the repost was unintentional :)
Lovely work with the flash. I'd tone it down ever so slightly. The amount of work you put in the field makes me feel like an impostor!

[Karl Egressy]

Nice capture, Akos. The original looks a bit busy, that Gail eliminated with going to vertical. Now if only those two leves were cloned out, than you would have a perfect shot. Love the face, eyes, stare and IQ.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Don't lose any sleep over it Gail!

Thank you guys for your kind comments. I am a bit bummed they didn't seem to breed this year, but from time to time Powerful Owls tend to take a break. Not sure why, they just do.

[christopher galeski]

great capture,never seen one of these before,wonder why they call it Powerful Owl,check out them talons,nice flash exposure,some nice detail,like Gails post as well as yours.TFS.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Okay. I did some chainsaw work. Also, selectively increased the saturation in the feet only. They tend to be quite yellow actually.

WDYT?

[gail bisson]

Repost looks great. You even managed to remove the leaves. How did you do that? That is a PP skill I do not have.
Gail

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Some quick masking and copying/pasting and arranging of the chest plumage and the tree bark on separate layers. Some content-aware fills and a little cloning/healing.

It's quite easy actually, once you get into doing it.

I'll write a brief tutorial to help you out.

[Geoff Newhouse]

Great view of this young owl species that I've never seen or heard of before. I'm never a fan of the flash look on owl photos but I realize that is often what you have to do. I prefer a spotlight, over flash to keep the lighting more natural but none the less, I enjoyed the image.

TFS
Geoff

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Amazing post-processing job on the repost Akos!!
Two thumbs way up for your RP.

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

An absolute ripper! Well done mate.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image in habitat with superb expressions. Love the repost without leaves.

Regards,
Satish.