Burrowing Owl telling me to back off!!

[Warren Spreng]

Visiting down in North Fort Myers, FL, I read about Cape Coral having an abundant number of Burrowing Owl nests. I visited one of the areas that is roped off in a small park in the middle of a residential area. There was a pair of the owls that kept busy cleaning out the burrows and sharing a frog meal. I loved this shot as it kind of portrays the feeling I think they had of me hanging just outside the roped area! Canon 7D Mark II, Tamron 150-600mm, 600mm, 1/1250, f/10, ISO 400, HH, mid-morning, sun behind me. Cropped for close-up, brought down Highlights to show more detail in the whites.

[Adhika Lie]

Warren, very nice composition and excellent sharpness! I loveeee the expression. Haha. It makes me chuckle.

I think you can benefit from shooting this at f/7.1 or so to blur the background even more. But no big deal, have you tried applying some field blur to the BG? I think it will make your busy background more pleasing. I did the same thing for my Great Egret on a previous post. Also, I personally could see this getting a slight exposure bump.

[Warren Spreng]

Warren, very nice composition and excellent sharpness! I loveeee the expression. Haha. It makes me chuckle.

I think you can benefit from shooting this at f/7.1 or so to blur the background even more. But no big deal, have you tried applying some field blur to the BG? I think it will make your busy background more pleasing. I did the same thing for my Great Egret on a previous post. Also, I personally could see this getting a slight exposure bump.

Thanks Adhika, yes, I was pretty aggressive on the BG blur, I also cloned an orange line out of the background, not sure what it was but cut right through the head of the owl! I'm trying to be more aware of what is actually in the BG when I shoot, so thanks for the suggestions!

[Adhika Lie]

Good job on removing all those busy BG. On a second look, how much of a crop was this, Warren? Feels like the IQ could be better. I am wondering if it's a JPEG compression issue or a result of overcropping.

[Glennie Passier]

Great looking owl Warren. I love the expression and the half open eyes. I am wonder about the catchlights and if they're a bit to centred. Not much you could do about that. The BG is a little busy and I agree with Adhika. I might try to desaturate the greens and yellows and yellows. Looking to see what's in the BG is almost as important as the subject itself, as I am fast learning.

[Warren Spreng]

Since they nest on the ground (underground actually!) it is tough to find them with a pleasing BG for sure. Here is the full shot, unprocessed. All kinds of ways to crop and treat it. I took this approach since the feet were in the grass.



And another way to look at it:



Thanks Glennie! I'm going to revisit the other shots I took (I think about 500!) to see what I can do with other perspectives as well. The problem with the site was that there was a lot of clutter that could get in the picture, standpipes, playground equipment, the road and cars going by, here is one of them perched on this equipment that is in the middle of their nesting area! Maybe I should go for a shot showing them in their natural habitat!

[Michael Thompson]

Wow, what a beauty! I always go visit these birds when I visit my folks in Ft. Myers every February. I have just started photographing them the last two years, and being urban owls, background clutter is always an issue. I have had my best luck by getting as low as possible, if my lens is a few inches from the ground, the background should blur out nicely. Opening up to maybe f7 would help too unless you are so close depth of field becomes an issue. The white dots in the pupil don't look right, they are in the shaded part, so I don't think that could be the sun reflecting off them. Getting there earlier would help get full sun on the eyes, but I know that isn't always possible. I don't have a car when i am down there so it is hard for me to shoot at the best times.

[Adhika Lie]

Warren, with the busy background, the vertical crop actually works a lot better for me. I think the inclusion of the feet kinda show the environment this bird lives in. When you crop in for portrait shot of the bird, I was really hoping for a clean background.

[Warren Spreng]

Thanks Michael, Adhika! Yeah Michael, I thought about laying on the ground and then I thought about the possibility of Fire Ants and thought better of it! My apologies also, I should have disclosed that the catch lights in the eyes are added, I left that out. I just hate flat eyes so I can adjust those catch lights, good point about them being in the wrong spot!!

Adhika, this one was standing outside of his burrow so there was no clean background to get. I have some others where they are on top of the burrows but then I am dealing with cars, streets, utility poles, etc. in the background.

[Diane Miller]

I was there a few years ago and it is a very difficult location. I never got one all the way out of the nest hole, and it was very messy.

The first post is a very nice composition but does look like there is some JPEG compression. I love the look! You have to wonder what they think about all the tourists. When I was watching one, a light plane flew over low, headed for the airport, and the owl looked up and intently followed its motion with its head, swiveling what looked like 270 degrees. It was so cute!

I sometimes add catchlights too. They would work better here if you could remove the shading in the eye, but that may be asking too much of the data. For soft light I'd do a soft-edged catchlight, as you did, but for full sun I'd go for one with a slightly harder edge. Their eyes are recessed so much it would take very diffuse or low-angled light to avoid a shadow.

Look forward to seeing more!

[Warren Spreng]

Thanks Diane, yep, more to work on, we'll see what else I can come up with! Have seen some great birds, but not that many to catch with the camera! One more RP, aggressively blurred the BG and moved the catch light.

[Michael Thompson]

Thanks Michael, Adhika! Yeah Michael, I thought about laying on the ground and then I thought about the possibility of Fire Ants and thought better of it! My apologies also, I should have disclosed that the catch lights in the eyes are added, I left that out. I just hate flat eyes so I can adjust those catch lights, good point about them being in the wrong spot!!

Adhika, this one was standing outside of his burrow so there was no clean background to get. I have some others where they are on top of the burrows but then I am dealing with cars, streets, utility poles, etc. in the background.

woah! Fire Ants??? no way would I be getting on the ground with them around! I guess I was lucky, never encountered these nasty pests when I was there, just a few pesky sand burrs! For the background of the owls on the mound, yeah there might be poles or a car, but if it is distant and super blurry, it might be easier to remove the objects, than it is to deal with a too close background. ~MT

[Steve Kaluski]

Warren, you need to gain their confidence and allow them to come to you, rather than you to them, don't push them. Ultimately you need to be closer to avoid hefty cropping, this will mean the image in theory will be sharp, this is not, retain more detail and not throw all those valuable pixels away.

Our species the Little owl is/appears to be a close relative and I have been shooting these for several years and so I think if you get get closer then f/10 would be fine. Also try to avoid shooting too late in the morning, early morning/late afternoon would be idea where the sun is a bit more forgiving and the whites/darks/shadows become too contrasty.

[Warren Spreng]

Thanks Michael and Steve! Michael, I have some shots like you describe, I'll see what I can do with the background. Steve, I agree, and I could have gotten closer but I respected the roped off area so as not to interfere with them too much as evidently too much interaction causes them to abandon the burrows.

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve, I agree, and I could have gotten closer but I respected the roped off area so as not to interfere with them too much as evidently too much interaction causes them to abandon the burrows.

Good course of action, just need a longer lens then .

[Warren Spreng]

Good course of action, just need a longer lens then .

I ought to try a 2x teleconverter

[Diane Miller]

Do some research first, about the TC. I'm not really familiar with the Tamrons, but a 2X may be asking too much if you extend out to(or close to) the full 600. A 1.4X would be safer. And in either case, make sure it is a "matched" one.

Very true, though, that we so often don't have enough focal length. Often the best strategy is getting the sharpest picture with the best development, and cropping.

[Warren Spreng]

Good point about the teleextender, I'll need to research that for the Tamron.

[Adhika Lie]

Warren, I have the same Tamron, too. Unfortunately that lens won't focus with any teleconverter.

[Diane Miller]

That's the case with many of the long-range zooms; they are designed to their limit already. With a few you may be able to physically use a TC but the IQ will suffer worse than using none and cropping. TCs are most successful with prime lenses (fixed focal length) although the new Canon 100-400 II does remarkably well with the 1.4X III.

[Warren Spreng]

Warren, I have the same Tamron, too. Unfortunately that lens won't focus with any teleconverter.

Thanks Adhika!