Great Horned Owl
Found a Great Horned Owl nest with 3 Owlets. This is the Mamma Owl returning to the nest it was early morning with no light and what light there was (about sunrise, was backlighting the tree) I will be checking out the nest a few more times before they have fledged. I have quite a few shots of the Owlets if anyone is interested.
Canon 7D MKII
Tamron 150-600
@600mm
1/200 ss
f/6.3
ISO 500
Hi Craig. Your photograph has a considerable impact. It's almost monochromatic coloring and low key give it power. Perhaps it's just me, but I think it could be sharper. With all that texture of wood and feathers, ultra sharpness would make this one sing. Were you tripod mounted? With the little I know of your situation when making this photograph, I think I might have cut back on the aperture to f/4, perhaps, and increased the shutter speed and ISO. Just some ideas. I'm very grateful that you shared this with the group.
Great find Craig. I understand the "no light" situation very well. And you have done well to capture this. Is this a big crop? I agree with Jim about the sharpness. I believe you would be struggling to find all the available light to give you any sharpness.
I'm not sure of the ISO quality of the 7D2, but feel you could have pushed that a little further to get a faster SS. Were you on a tripod? I believe f/6.3 would be wide open, so no where else to go there.
The colours are really lovely and tree complements the bird so well.
I hope to see more of these beauties.
Thanks Jim, Much appreciated! I agree with your point on the sharpness. For some reason it looks sharper on Flickr but still not sharp enough. It is a big crop, perhaps too much. On the Tamron 6.3 is wide open so I'm kinda stuck there. She was very still so an increase in SS with an increase in ISO I don't think would have helped. It seems to just be a limitation of the lens really. With good light it gives great images, in low to no light...it struggles. But its what I have and I have to make due. :) I will repost a looser crop and maybe that will be a bit sharper. Again thanks for your input and I.m glad you liked the image. :)Originally Posted by Jim Keener
Thanks very much Glennie! Yes 6.3 is all I've got. The lens is sharpest at 7.1 or 8 but I could not go there because of the light or lack thereof. :) Like i said to JIm I don't think a faster SS would have helped much I was tripod mounted and she was still. Lens limitation and light limitation along with too big a crop were the key factors I believe in the softness observed. I will repost a smaller crop and see what you think.
Thanks again for the comments and input, very much appreciated. :)
Craig,from me I'd love to see more of the owlets. As has been said great find and also what grabs me is how good some camoflage of wild birds/or animals for that matter can be,amazing how she blends with the tree. Craig could you make a crop somewhere between the two,the backlight catching the tree left fork is lovely,I'd be wanting to include this if it were mine and possibly just catching the light too the right too.
I think you did really well with a tricky situation Craig ,i'm just learning,but am very impressed by what you got here,I'd have pushed the iso for a bit more shutter,but as with Glennie know little about the 7Dii and appreciate you words about being on a tripod
Cheers for posting this mate
take care
Stu
Craig, Wow! I really like the "big" picture. I'm really torn on where to crop. I am sure you were too. There is some OOF foliage from a tree on the RHS that has moved across the main trunk, that now I've seen it, I can't not see it. I would be tempted to clone it out. I really like the soft green moss in between the two boughs. I think this image is worth doing a few alternative crops.
Nice opportunity -- hope to see more! Very nice to see the chick in the nest cavity.
Only you can assess sharpness, by looking at the image as it came into the raw converter at 100% before any sharpening. FB is taking the liberty to rescale your images, with sharpening. (Of course they want everyone's images to look great!) Post directly here to have them appear accurately, and sharpen the JPEGs first if needed.
Sorry, I don't remember what your raw workflow is....
If it isn't tack-sharp, including a little more environment can help.
You might look at white balance in the raw converter -- it is a bit on the blue side. You don't want to try to replicate bright sun but there is no need to be tied to the camera's guess at white balance, either, if it was auto.
Hope to see more work on this one -- a vertical would look nice -- and to see more opportunities here.
Last edited by Diane Miller; 03-28-2016 at 11:07 PM.
Yes to way too big a crop. Also, why not ISO 800? The biggest problem for me with any crop is the hidden ear tuft...
LMK what you think of this crop. a
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ps: love the character of the nest tree...
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Thanks everyone!
Stu, I will post some of the Owlets. I should have upped the ISO to get to 7.1 or 8. I appreciate your comments. Thanks.
Thanks Glennie, I agree the stuff on the right is a bit distracting. I'm glad you like the "Bigger Picture". The first crop was too much, the second might be also. Both are big crops as you will see below.
Thanks Diane, My workflow is basically import to LR and do any adjustments there. Only goes to PS for serious cloning and such if needed. I was torn on the WB, it was pretty dark on that side of the tree and I tried several WB adjustments and stuck with that one. But I agree might still be a little bluish.
Thanks Arthur! I like your crop. It gets rid of the clutter on the right and whats left is less distracting. You asked why not ISO 800? Well in hindsight ISO 800 would have been a better choice, allowing me to get to f/7.1 or f/8 where the lens is the sharpest. But what happened was she was sitting up in the trees while I waited for her to return to the nest...when she did I kinda panickedand because I knew she would only sit outside for a few seconds before getting inside I just shot. She landed head in the nest and turned to look back for a second or so but her ear tuft got hung up on the inside I guess.
The softness I think is a combination of being at f/6.3 and even with my repost too big a crop. I'll post the full frame shot with the crop area.
Yes, that much crop is too much to expect for holding IQ. I haven't used that lens but it has the reputation of being softer at 600. And sharpness technique is critical when there will be a big crop -- or even when there won't. Absolute perfect focus (with lens calibration), pinpoint focus on the head, absolute steadiness from camera shake... It's easy to say longer focal lengths would help, but beyond 600 you get into even more challenges to control shake, so those are the things to work on that will help in any situation.
The easiest solution is, is there any way to get closer to the nest?
Fill flash is also an option to consider, although you'll want high-speed sync to keep the shutter speed up. You might get an extra stop of light without it looking like flash was the main light. A Better Beamer will give you plenty of range, and a Harbor Digital with the internal diffuser removed will do about a stop better -- or at least with my copies that's what I'm getting. And if you can get the flash well off-axis it will look more natural, but with telephoto that means several feet off the camera, with a trigger or possibly a long cord.
It won't salvage IQ here, but I think a vertical is also an option to consider, as it gives a little more prominence to the chick and still shows some of the environment without some of the more distracting elements. I removed a little of the blue here, too, with a Color Balance in PS.
Hi Craig. YAW. Best to stay away from mega-crops unless you have a 5DS R :) I thought that your repost was the full frame. Even a sharp 5DS R image could not stand up to such a massive crop. a
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Thanks everyone for your comments and help! Much appreciated. Took awhile to get back to the thread...too much work. I'll be posting an Owlet shot from the same nest, using a TC this time so less crop. :)
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