Grey Beauty, Yellowstone National Park

[Loi Nguyen]

My first Great Grey Owl!!!

After several failed attempts over the years to locate a Great Grey Owl, I finally had the fortune to spend ~ 2 hours watching this Grey Beauty hunt this morning. We hiked in for abotu a mile or so in bear country, armed with bear spray, and slogging thru the mud. At the second meadow, our guide located the owl at quite a distant away on a busy perch with side lighting. We took a few shots and tried to maneuver so that the sun would be on our back. But then he launched to catch a vole and then landed on a high perch. So we turned our gear around, not so great perch either. Then he moved again, this time to a low perch, so we spent the next hours or so shooting. Then he flew away from us and landed on the grass in the shade with terrible background. So we maneuver again. The owl seemed to sense our frustration, so in the last move, he landed on this beautiful perch covered with lichen.

It was in a small meadow, so the owl was in the shade or dappled light most of the time, but the background can be quite strong, making it difficult to find a pleasing image. I tried to shoot standing up, kneeling at eye level, etc. This one seems to work the best with a relative dark background of distant trees. The branch intersects with his head is annoying, but I generally prefer not to clone out elements.

1DX
400f4 DO II
1/500
f5.6
ISO-3200
HH while kneeling.

Cropped to about 50% of FF.
Thank you for commenting on my previous images. Your thoughtful comments were much appreciated.
Hope you like this one.

Loi

[arash_hazeghi]

congrats on your first great grey shot, I like the perch and the sharp details. nice soft light too but I wish the owl was directly looking at the camera and also I find the bright spots in the Bg distracting

TFS

[Jonathan Ashton]

Nice shot Loi, I would suggest temper the background contrast and maybe lift the darker plumage in the face a little.

[John Robinson]

Hi Loi
Apart from the unfortunate bright patch below the birds lower left flank, looks pretty natural (As you see them) to me. I would be more concerned about the pale line- birds head left, if nit picking.
JohnR

[Marina Scarr]

Huge congrats on your first GGO. I bet you were excited!!! Love the perch and the pose is nice. The BG is really hurting this image since it draws the eye away from this stunning subject. I too however would have pulled the trigger on this image had I been in your shoes.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Folks, much appreciate your feedback. I knew the bG would be a problem and tried to avoid the bright spots, but were still not careful enough. Still on the road, so just want to do a quick re-post by adding a few blacks to the Yellow in Selective Color and cropped tighter. I hope it looks better. Thank you. Loi