Western Screech-Owl

[Walker Noe]

Here is an adult Western Screech-Owl I photographed in Madera Canyon, Arizona, USA.

I played about ten seconds of recorded song to gauge the species' presence in the area. Once I heard the bird respond, I stopped playing the tape and located the bird.



Techs:
Nikon D7100
Nikkor 300mm f4 (old version)
SS 1/800
ISO 800
f/6.3
SB-910 on camera, i-TTL @ -0.7 EV

CC welcome. In hindsight I could have reduced both ISO and shutter speed. Usually when I photograph owls I get too excited (since I haven't had too much experience) and my hands get shaky so I try to compensate for that with a higher shutter speed. And the terrain I shoot the owls on is not often conducive to tripod use. I guess I could use a monopod. . .

Post: Removed two distracting bright OOF branches, and cleaned up second catchlight in each eye. Usual sharpening and contrast work. Slight crop.

[keith mitchell]

Hi Walker,looks like a real Owl in the night capture on that black bg,I personally would be pleased with the image quality on this,those eyes are certainly fixed on you.

Keith.

[Bill Dix]

Owl looks nice and sharp, and well exposed. Tough capture under those conditions. Great eye contact. If I tried to find a nit, it would be to tone down a few of the glare spots on the perch.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the talons. Good job with the night flash techniques. Were you working in dense brush?

Tip: select the pupils, put them on their own layer, hit Control + U, and reduce the Saturation close to 100% and then darken the selection using the other slider. That will remove the faint red eye.

[Walker Noe]

Thanks Keith and Bill. I will reduce some highlights on the branch, good idea.

Arthur, thanks for the feedback. Something seemed off about the eyes but I wasn't sure what it was. What you explained makes sense to me now! I was indeed working in very dense brush, and have quite a few scrapes to prove it.