Northern Pygmy Owl and Shrew

[gail bisson]

Not quite high key for the theme.
Not baited or called.
Canon 1 DX
600mm and 1.4
ISO 1/800 SS 1/800 f 6.3
PP: Cropped to vertical from horizontal and cloned out a branch on LHS of frame. Levels, adjusted color balance slightly, DE to owl and shrew and USM to JPEG
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
gail

[Juan Tolentino]

Hi Gail, Nice catch for you and the Owl. I like the composition and details, love how the talons are grabbing the perch. IMHO, a better head angle (or looking at us) would've improved the image. This is a fantastic image as presented, very well done. Thank you for sharing.

[Tim Foltz]

Gail, very cool high key shot, not a lot of images work well but this one does for me.
Nice details and colors, prey is a big bonus, just wish it was a bit more off centered.

-Tim

[David Salem]

Oh come on!! You killed it with the owls in BC!!
I love frames with prey so I really appreciate this one.
Details and exposure look great and I like the fact that we can see that it's a shrew. If the IQ can handle it, I would tighten up the comp a bit to focus us directly to the owl and the shrew. You racked up years worth of owl images in just a couple days. I am happy for you

[Glenn Pure]

A real wow shot Gail. This is brilliant. The pose is perfect with prey just right. Lovely detail and tonal range on the bird and love that fluffed-up rounded look. I'm guessing it was pretty cold.

[Bill Dix]

What an amazing find, and superlative capture! Great detail. I might remove the small oof stem at the lower right, but oh man, would I love to have this one. I see why you cropped as you did; I might also imagine a tighter horizontal if you have a bit of room on the right.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, what an amazing image you have achieved and captured here. My first thoughts are that he has caught a fair size meal to fill him up for a while. Great that he has perched on nice thin perches, and I like your comp as posted.

[Isaac Grant]

So funny. I saw this image and thought O COME ON!!! Then I read what Dave wrote. That is basically exactly what I thought. The whole thing. I'm super happy that trip worked out so well.