We have been blessed in and around New York City to be having an irruption of these majestic birds. On Saturday there was snow in the forecast and I was not going to miss the chance to photograph one of them in the snow. I mean it is hard to get more winter than a white owl in a snow storm. I was fortunate that the bird was situated with the water as the background. It had disappeared for an hour returned to the same spot just as the snow started to come down. In the field I thought it was sitting on a stick but when the bird eventually flew off because it was flushed by a jogger (come on now, who jogs on the beach in the snow!!!) we saw that it was a prey item (a rat).
Canon 1dx mark ii, Canon 500 f4 ii + 1.4x iii. ISO 1600, F5.6, SS 1/800.
Last edited by Isaac Grant; 12-12-2017 at 09:01 PM.
Terrific opportunity, nicely captured. I love the position of the bird guarding its prey, and the clear open eyes. I might have considered moving the bird slightly to the left in the frame, but that's a minor nit for a great image. When I saw the snow falling I had the same thought: what a great opportunity to get one of the local Snowies in the snow. Alas, my circumstances prevented me from heading to IBSP. Was this the Breezy Point owl? I don't suppose you caught it in flight?
I did consider placing bird a little left but wasn't sure. It is facing mostly straight on so I centered it but not sure that was the best option. Wonder what others think. Not Breezy. Call me. Also I did get it taking off but not flying. We were in front of it and the person came from my right so the bird flew left and away from me. Once it was flushed by the jogger I didn't want to pursue it, especially since we realized it had food. So we let it be.
Nicely done Isaac. My first thought was also that it could be shifted to the left a bit but I'm okay with it as is and your reasoning makes sense. Like the prey item and of course the falling snow with those eyes. A really lovely scene overall. TFS
Nice find. Whites look great as does the falling snow.
I love the snowy rat but wish he was a bit more visible as it is hard to see what it is on first look.
The comp is such a personal thing but I tried centering the owl ( i moved him to the right!)and I thought that looked good. I also tried a square crop with bird centered and that worked for me too.
If you crop the image a bit more the rat might be more obvious.
Hope you post more of this owl.
Gail