Snowy Owl after sundown

[Isaac Grant]

I captured this image last weekend in New York City. I walked around for hours looking for the snowy and never found it. After the sun had already set I packed up my gear and started driving home. Well as luck would have it, I found the snowy perched in this tree. Light was beautiful and this was taken well after sunset. I could have gotten closer but chose to give the bird space and I wanted the full tree in the shot as well as as much of the light on the right side of the frame as possible. So I took my converter off and got as far left as possible. Hope you like it. Once it got too dark to really see at all I watched the owl fly off and go on its evening hunt. About the best owl experience I have ever had.

Canon 1dx ii, Canon foo f4ii. ISO 6400, F4, SS 1/100.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Beautiful shot. I like the overall framing and pink colors...

Thanks for sharing.

[Bill Dix]

I like the comp and the beautiful post-sunset colors. One more way to glorify these magnificent beasts. I might be tempted to brighten the whites on the bird (I'm showing them in the 180-200 range), but that might make it look artificial in this light. Curious to know if you applied just a slight vignette.

[Isaac Grant]

No vignette added Bill. That's like against my religion I did brighten the bird a touch but it was hard to see the bird in real life. This was taken about 20 minutes or more after sundown. I think as presented was what I remember. But I do understand wanting the owl brighter.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

You can check if you have blue cast on the bird/shadows and reducing that blue might help brighten it.

[John Mack]

Great snowy frame. Love the color in the background. Small in the frame works very nicely here.

[Alex Becker]

Wow Isaac pretty stunning. What a perch and sunset. Framing looks good. Not much to nitpick on this one on my end. TFS

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Great catch, Isaac. Excellent thinking to keep the owl small in the frame, including most of the branch and getting those beautiful colors. Well done.

Geoffrey




https://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Isaac, lovely setting here, and couldnt have captured better colours. Good eye contact from the Snowy too.

Comp wise, I would take a bit off the LHS - about half of the thick branch. That would push the snowy more off centre and to the left. I would also try a version by darkening the branches to create more of a silhouette feeling. Just a thought.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I am not a big fan of centered comps. I would have tried to place the bird somewhere else within the frame, but definitely not in the center. IAC, the overall shot is very appealing and I love the stunning light in the BG.
Well done on being able to experience this.

(I HATE vignettes applied to wildlife photos). :D