Burrowing Owl

[Walker Noe]

Here's one more from my evenings with the juvenile Burrowing Owls.

Post:
Usual sliders, sharpening/NR, killed blues which for some reason appeared on the rodent, BG and FG cleanup, crop for comp

Tech:
Nikon D750
Nikkor 600mm f4 AF-S I
ISO 640
f4
1/100
handheld

[Isaac Grant]

This looks great Walker. Processing is much much better than the first shot from this series. Owl looks great, the prey item is fantastic, nice head angle. This is an extremely unique frame and one to be proud of.

[John Mack]

Very nice. Good detail on the owl and the prey. Great background as well.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Walker, beautiful little Owl, the prey adds much interest to the image. Detail on the face and chest look good, colors also (different than the Burrowing Owls in Florida), nice complimentary background. Judging from the pupils of the owl it was quite dark, indicating why you chose that shutter speed and aperture. After capturing images at these setting I would have tried raising the shutter speed and aperture hoping that in post processing I could deal with any noise in the image. At a shutter speed of 1/100 any twitch in the bird or prey would show motion blur, also the depth of field is falling off on the tail and far leg of the bird. That being said I think you did well as every image is a compromise and the darkness was limiting what you could do. Thank you for sharing.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Walker, good eye contact, with a nice low perspective. I like the detail on the face, and great that we can see his meal.

[gail bisson]

I would have been over the moon to come upon this scene. What a great image.
The prey is "killer" (no pun intended).
Nice clean BG and what a great look at the talons.
The image looks a bit pink to my eye. Was it like that in real life?
If I had been there (how I wish I could see something like this) I would have gotten the "safety shot" and then I would I would have jacked up the ISO to get an aperture of 8 or 9 to get as much DOF as possible to cover the pery and the owl.
It all worked out for you here - just something to keep in mind for the next time (if you have a cooperative subject!)
Well done,
Gail

[Walker Noe]

Thanks everybody. Gail and Joseph - thank you for the constructive feedback. I had time to shoot at f8 but didn’t like the background rendition as much, and I like what I had here. Gail - the scene was quite pink, this was after sunset and lots of dust in the air lending great reds and pinks to the light.

[Glenn Pure]

What a great capture (and for the owl too) Walker. I really like the overall high key look of this shot although I'd be tempted to pull the highlights back a touch, maybe just selectively on the bird. Fantastic pose on the bird too, with legs bent like that and magic to get it with prey. I can't comment much on the colour as I've never seen one of these but first impression is the frame is a bit 'warm' - but a pleasing effect all the same. Tack sharp and perfect background to round this off.

[Marina Scarr]

Super eye contact and details on the owl and the prey surely boosts this image up a few notches!