Snowy Owl - About to Lift Off.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Just a split second before the talons unglued from the perch, and wings fully extended as high as they can go....I am pretty happy with this pose. A fun morning for sure.

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/4000s., f/8, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, cropped for composition, added a catchlight to the eye to our right, darkened pupils, owl was fed.

[David Salem]

Holy cow Daniel this is awesome!! I love dramatic shots like this.
You probably got ĺots of perched frames but a shot like this at the end of your session with this bird trumps all the perched frames before, by a long ways.
The pose is killer and is caught just at the full extent of the take off.
The weathered perch, the nice stormy grey BG, the solid HA, that beautiful light and the perfect light angle make this one of the best Snowy shots I have ever seen.
Print that one for sure!! It sums up everything about the owls that you have been working on.

[Steve Kaluski]

Dan, if this is a 'fun morning' then lets have more!!!
Can only echo Davids observations above, I thought the static image on the post was great, this is superb.

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

Outstanding Dan super pose and beautiful light, love the setting. I like the composition just as it is though I do wonder about a tad more canvas on the LHS, the bird appears to be central, any way marvellous well done.

[Arthur Morris]

Pretty darned spectacular. It is a good thing that you were not closer... As for the wing position, it is dramatic but the near wing is not quite perfect; it needed to be raised a bit more with the feathers extended as their are shadows on the near underwing. That would likely be at the expense of losing the great view of the far upperwing. Was this from a horizontal or a vertical original? a

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Fantastic image Dan. Love the wing span and the HA with eye contact. Super shot!

[Marina Scarr]

Those bits of environment add so much to this, never mind the light and the slate sky. You timed it just perfectly with that take off pose!

[dankearl]

Excellent pose.....

[Richard Gollar]

Outstanding shot. I did not think you would be able to out-do your shots of the foxes you have done lately but I think this does. Congrats on a awesome shot.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey guys, thanks a stack! Artie, this was actually from vertical as I wanted to include more of those twigs along the bottom. I'd say about 70% FF. I really did not expect this pose though...I was going more for the "pop up" flight jump which did not turn out really as well as I thought it would. This was a really good consolation prize!

[gail bisson]

This is wonderful Daniel! I have nothing but praise and can't think of a thing I would change.
Gal

[shane shacaluga]

Amazing!! Nothing to add here! Its simply stunning

[gail bisson]

I just realized this was your 20,000th post!!(or very close to it!).
A heartfelt congrats on this milestone and for everything that you do for BPN.
No one, and I mean no one, is as dedicated to BPN as you are.
Your critiques are thoughtful and thorough and have been a huge help in me becoming a better photographer!
Thanks Daniel,

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Striking, powerful, multi layered. Like the very subtle layers in the background, the cleverly disguised barbed wire, and of course the amazing owl.

Congrats on 20K plus.

Cheers

Randy

[Mike Poole]

Top notch Dan, it's all been said, killer frame

Mike

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, simply brilliant. Great eye contact, and very well timed to capture the fully extended wings. Well exposed, and nice and sharp, and just enough perch and surrounding foliage to round this off.

Congrats on your 20000 post.

[Ritesh Nangare]

What an outstanding shot with excellent exposed and beautiful lighting .......

what a Pearch you have here, I love the upright wings and the head turn is just fantastic ....
TFS.....

[Daniel Cadieux]

I just realized this was your 20,000th post!!(or very close to it!).
A heartfelt congrats on this milestone and for everything that you do for BPN.
No one, and I mean no one, is as dedicated to BPN as you are.
Your critiques are thoughtful and thorough and have been a huge help in me becoming a better photographer!
Thanks Daniel,

Well look at that! Thanks for noticing! It completely slipped by me...thank you for the kind words too

[Eric Dienesch]

Hello,

i am addicted to this shot. Great light, pose and of course an owl , wich is absolutely fascinating.

TFS !!!!

[Grace Scalzo]

Daniel, the owl is of course a wonderful bird to photograph, but against that gun metal gray background, just so beautiful. Thanks for all of the effort that you put into BPN and also your own imagery. You lead by example!

[John Robinson]

All points covered . Congrats on your input and usual quality.
This ones a gem.
John

[William Dickson]

Wow, wow, wow. What can one say Well done

Will

[Diane Miller]

Just gorgeous!! I love the detail on the underwing!

[Lorant Voros]

This is what I call top notch. Hat's off for you again, Dan.

[Jim Neiger]

Well done!