Snowy Owl: Keep it or Delete it?

[Bill Dix]

I was going to put this one in the trash. The bird was in an inaccessible location behind a distant bush, and dune access was verboten. Sun was at least 90 degrees off to my left. When he took off after an extended snooze, the side lighting caused hard shadows and bright patches on the bird. Not the right ingredients for a keeper. But then I thought: having gotten up at 4 AM and schlepped all the way down the beach to find him, I hated to go home empty handed. So I figured I would see what I could do with it. Here's the result of considerable dodging and burning to mitigate the lighting. After working on an image for awhile, one tends to lose perspective, so I thought some BPN opinions would be useful. I know you won't be shy.

D500, Sigma 150-600 C @ 440mm, AutoISO @ 450, 1/2500s @ f/8 manual. HH.

[Isaac Grant]

I think with these birds that you really want everything to be perfect, otherwise you have just another image of a snowy in the dunes. In this case I think the strong shadows and the bird flying away make it an unremarkable image and therefore not a keeper. I have seen Snowy's 5 times already this year and not gotten a single keeper either so do not feel bad. They have all been just sitting buried in some dune grass and sleeping. I have hardly pressed the shutter despite seeing them so many times. Am thinking of trying a different place for them on Sunday and hopefully will have better luck.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Isaac. I suspect that will be the consensus. After looking at what I posted, the bird seems too dark, so here's a repost with some Curves adjustment. Of course this still doesn't alter the fundamental problems that you noted.

I hope you have better luck on your next outing.

[John Mack]

I would keep it. I have never seen a snowy owl. The pose is nice you just needed more of a head turn.

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks Bill. The owl looks much better now that you have brightened it some. Still not a keeper for me. With these birds I try and say if it is not as good or better than something I already have then I delete it. But you have to keep trying to get something special. In our area they are so difficult to get something truly unique. If you are one of the guys who drives up and down the beach all day you have a much better chance of being in the right place and the right time. If like me you work and have kids then time is limited. They almost always are buried in the dunes because they are surrounded by photographers (which I just walk away from those situations) or they are not doing anything. I went to a place 2 weeks ago on a friday evening. Found 2 birds and there was not a person there but me and a few beach walkers. One bird sat on a metal pole until well after the sun set and eventually flew away about 25 minutes after sunset. The other bird was way down the beach so I walked all the way down and it was sitting high up on a dune and just before I got to it, it flushed when someone let their dog off of the leash. It then flew back to exactly where I was and sat next to the other snowy on another metal pole. So I walked all the way back and just stood there. So 2 birds on metal poles right near each other not moving an inch. The second bird flew off after sunset as well. Light was super dim and I stayed to see what they would do and watched from a distance. Great opportunity but I left with nothing.

[arash_hazeghi]

delete for me :)

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I will keep it till I get another shot which is better than this one. I have only been able to point my camera at an owl once or twice.

Still no keepers for me....

[annmpacheco]

Hang in there Bill, good things come to those who persevere!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Bill if you have better then no reason to keep other than to learn from the processing experience. If you anticipated taking in flight shots I would not recommend Auto ISO, unless you can set an override on Auto, some cameras you can others not.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Not sure if this is your first flight capture of a SNOW, but it ain't half bad. Nice to see the yellow eye and good work in repost. Like bit of dune and grasses.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Anthony Barsotti]

Ha I was there that day too (think I was talking to you and your wife afterwards actually). I came home with basically the same shot plus a few more of similar quality. Disappointing that we didn’t have better conditions but I’m still keeping mine as unremarkable as they might be. That was my first time seeing snowies so I can’t bring myself to delete them. There’ll be more chances this winter though!

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for your comments and opinions. I have two better Snowy Owl images, from my only two other close encounters with this wonderful beast. But I have no flight images. That being the case, I will keep this one until something better comes along. That may be awhile. Since Snowy Owls are not common visitors to New Jersey, my odds of getting a good flight shot here are slim. I suppose I will have to travel to Canada if I want a good flight image.

[Arthur Morris]

Though I have zero images of Snowy Owl in flight I would delete this one as there are just too, too many problems. The repost is better.

with love, artie