Short Eared Owl on a Branch

[Paul Kammen]

There are some branches around this guy, but overall I think it's OK as the light is decent - just wondering if the branches bother you, or if they are OK as part of the environment the owl was in. Shorties seem to prefer the ground so I was just happy to have him in a tree momentarily. The light is harsh on the eye; I think they are OK, but I was working on the right eye a bit to make it match as much as possible the left. Thanks.

Canon 800, 1/1600, f 5.6, ISO 800

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Paul,
what a gorgeous subject, you got him in sweet light with a perfect HA and a nice BG. A couple of issues, overall the perch is a bit busy, especially the twigs that have crossed the owl. The BG is a bot noisy (don't sharpen the BG) and the image has a green color cast.

TFS

[Paul Kammen]

Thanks for the tips...here it is with some tweeks. Not much I can do about the twigs unfortunately.

[Bill Dix]

Good bird, in lovely light and with a great pose. The repost helps the bg. I don't mind the twigs. I could imagine cropping some off the right to get closer to a vertical 3:2 format.

[Isaac Grant]

Sweet bird in nice light. Repost is much better. I think you could clone out that one stick in front of the bird fairly easily if you wanted to.

[Tim Foltz]

Paul, Nice shot but it seems to be on the warm side and the highlights on the eyes are a bit strange.
Super pose though.

-Tim

[Daniel Cadieux]

Despite the busy bush, I do not know many people who would not have taken the image! Great light, but just add a bit of reds to the overall color balance - that should help. Repost does address the noise very well.

[David Salem]

Nice subject is right. The light is perfect and I like the direct stare. I agree with the suggested tweaks and the grainy BG looks much better.
You mentioned "not much I can do about the twigs" but with a little practice, there is.
I removed a few of the most bothersome twigs with the clone tool in PS and I also worked on the left eye. Looks like you tried to rebuild it?
I adjusted the catch lights and cooled down the overall scene.
I also cropped for more of a 2x3 as Bill suggested. Overall a great image. Hope you don't mind me adjusting your image.

[annmpacheco]

What a tremendous transformation, quite an image!

[arash_hazeghi]

Dave's repost hits all the marks