Barn Owl in Flight

[gail bisson]

We went to a field near Boundary Bay in BC looking for short-eared owls. We saw this owl fly towards us and as i acquired focus I realized it was a barn owl. I have never dreamed of getting a barn owl in flight shot so I was over the moon to be able to get a few images of him. My SS was only 1/800 so I was lucky to get a few sharp shots. I looked at the back of the camera and prayed to the photography gods to "let this image be sharp". And then I did my happy dance when I got back to the hotel room and put it up on the computer and saw that it was indeed sharp!
Canon 1DX 600 mm and 1.4 x
SS 1/800 ISO 2000 f 5.6
PP-crop to 60% FF,cloned 3 small grasses out that were coming up from the bottom of the frame.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks. Have a good week-end!
Gail

[John Whaley]

Awesome capture. Fantastic lighting and down wing pose on the Owl. Background compliments. Beautiful.

[John Mack]

Love the light here. Perfect wing position on the owl. The composition works for me.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, I just knew this would pop up here. Well, so much more clarity and sharpness on this Hi -res image, and just love the light cast on the face. You couldn't have captured a better flying pose with the full downstroke of the wings. Your BG is not too shabby either. Congrats on this fine capture.

[Mike Poole]

Great light on a stunning bird. we see so many subtle colour variants in these, and they're all beautiful, Perfect wings down pose, excellent shot

Mike

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

An outstanding shot of one of the most beautiful of birds. Perfect downstroke pose, warm light, details.

A once in a life time opportunity, that you hit out of the park.

Congrats

Randy

[Isaac Grant]

A Bisson special. Technically great but also beautiful. Congrats.

[Alex Becker]

Really nice -- love the light BG and pose. You had a really excellent trip it seems. I know that feeling of 'please let this be sharp!' and I'm really glad you got this one. TFS

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Gail! I like the wing position, IQ, BG, composition and light.

[Jay Ing]

Yeah, I'd happy dance for this shot too. Happy for you and this capture. Nice sharpness indeed and killer light to his (fleeing) face. Super!

[William Dickson]

Well done Gail...just awesome

Will

[arash_hazeghi]

Like this one a lot Gail, nice and sharp. The whites on the head look a bit hot on my screen

TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

You really made sure to nail this one-off opportunity. I love the perfectly parallel flight path. Great light too.

[Bill Dix]

Happy dance for sure! Terrific flight pose, with great spot-lit effect. Well done. I can imagine how happy you were to see this on the computer.

[keith mitchell]

Gail this is fantastic the colours are simply beautiful,very well done.

Keith.

[David Salem]

Oh man!!, I mean chick!! What a killer capture Gail. I have always loved the color on the back of barn owls and you caught it perfectly. Everything looks fantastic, especially for the shutter speed. As you know, the only thing that could have made this any better would have been a little head turn.
Guess you will have to settle for a 9.9 instead of a 10
Great effort from you lately and it's paying off, big time!

[gail bisson]

Like this one a lot Gail, nice and sharp. The whites on the head look a bit hot on my screen

TFS

Hi Arash,
Yes, you are correct re: whites on face being hot. The TIFF and RAW are fine so I must have done something when I converted to JPEG. Have reworked it and new JPEG looks great. Thanks,
Gail