Taken just after sunrise on a very cold morning. Eastern Shore of Maryland. The blue in the background is the atlantic. 1/2500, f6.3, auto ISO 640, +1/3ev, 500 f4 E + 1.4III, D850
Great owl, eye contact, lovely early-morning background. Exposure looks good. Perch is less than ideal, although these guys seem to like man-made perches. The other day, someone in New Jersey took a cell phone shot of one riding on the roof of a bus.
I really like everything about this image but the perch. Love the soft light, the ripples of the sane and the pose of the bird. I would reduce the blues in the bird a little and also reduce the blacks in the whites to bring out more of the clean white tones of the owl.
Whites are much better on the repost. I still think there is room for you to whiten the face. I would select the face and a bit of the upper chest. Apply a decent feather of about 5-7 pixels. Then go into selective color and go to the white channel. I would reduce the blacks in the whites about 15 points and see what that does for you. Work from there and try to fine tune. Should make the face really stand out against those beautiful pastel colors of the water.
The BG colors are to die for. Everything about your repost is excellent.
Too bad about the boardwalk perch. I tried a crop with a bit more off the bottom and it seems to lessen the impact of the boardwalk.
Gail
I like Gail's suggestion of cropping more on the bottom. If you cropped right along the corner of the boards it might work well. I would also (in either case) tone down or remove the small white (wet) spot on the 4th board from the right edge. Also just LOVE the bkg colors!
Gorgeous light here John, with a beautiful subject. Although not a pose we'd take by choice, it all looks natural and the bird looks content being there so it doesn't bother me at all
Snowy Owl
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