I have spent hours watching the beautiful Snowy Owls that wintered on the Eastern Shore of MD. Most of the time I set up my gear and watch them sit almost motionless and sleep or rest with their eyes closed. Every once in a while I get lucky and they see something that interests them. When they do, they go into various stages of an alert pose sometimes all the way to flight and if you are in the right place, at the right time with the right light you get the chance to capture a good image. This Snowy Owl, who had been asleep+- for the last 1/2 hour, has just seen another owl in the distance and is getting ready to give chase. Captured about a 1/2 hour before sunset @ 1/4000, f6.3, auto ISO 720, 500 f4E + 1.4III, D850. Basic Edits in LR. Removed a few twigs, toned down the yellow on the Owl, applied Neat Image nr to back ground and sharpened the owl using the smart sharpen filter in PS.
Very nice John. The time spent with these birds is paying off. I love the colours throughout the image. Lovely detail on the bird, and I like the alert pose. The grasses look real good and blend well with the sand. I would take a little from the RHS. It would have been nice to see the head surrounded by the sand in the BG, and not so high as to touch the blues. But, not a deal breaker. Lovely light and well exposed. Did you manage to capture take-off....Well done, good work.
HI John, a beautiful image with habitat and gorgeous lighting. I like how the owl has framed itself among the dune grasses, and those gold eyes are the anchor for me. Wonderful work.
This is lovely Jon.
I have to echo William's critique.about the head touching the blue but definitely not a deal breaker.
Love the light, IQ and the environment portrayed.
Well done,
Gail
Agree with the positive comments about your image. If you feel comfortable with making changes, the dark blue band above the head can be softened a bit. Here is a very quick pass at it. The IQ is starting to break down with posterization in the upper sky, but working on the original raw file, you shouldn't have this kind of problem.
I did a selection of the blues in the band, applied a lighten screen blend mode to that selection, and thus reduced the density and impact of that band. There are many ways to tweak this, if you are so inclined. This isn't a finished product, but hopefully gives you the idea.
Such a nice image, worth a bit of tinkering, if that fits your photo ethics.
This is great John. Image quality is fantastic and the owl looks great in the dunes. This is a perfect example of where direct eye contact is not needed at all. The alert pose tells the story well that it is about to do some owl business. I don't mind the background at all. Only thing I could suggest is to crop a little off of the right and add back to the left to give him more room to look into and that would help the owl not be so centered. This is exactly the kind of shot that I have been after of one of these birds. Very nice!
This is great! The grasses really add a lot to the image. I agree eye contact not needed as works well as is. I don't mind the position of
the blue, that's how you saw it and the shot looks natural and uncontrived as a result.
One more vote for this nice-looking Frame. I too don't mind the background at all and the Head angle and perfectly lit eyes make this one a real winner for me. Well done
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Hi John. The thumbnail didn't do justice to this one. Lovely light, nice environment and good alert pose. Ditto the above comments. I agree that a full frontal stare isn't needed. In a perfect world, though, I would have loved to see just a hint of the pupil in the bird's right eye.
Snowy Owl
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