Forest Owl

[Steve Kaluski]

I'm hoping my ID is correct and if so, this is an engaged species of India's forests.

It took three days to get this wee guy as we drove around because you must stay on the roads within the reserves, no chance of getting closer without hefty fines if caught. This guy was incredibly shy, alway disappearing when anything approached and so kit and settings had to be all ready for when we drove past the tree and paused. In addition I was still trying to configure the AFMA for this body as I knew it was out, but never ideal to do this in the field IMHO, but all addressed now. The slight OOF green leaves layering over the tree is a minor issue, but not a deal breaker for me. What I do like is the greater detail this camera delivers and can easily be pushed to greater ISO range ie 8-10k with no worries of IQ.

Thanks to those who posted or viewed on the last posting.

Steve

Subject: Forest Owl (Athene blewitti)
Location: India
Camera: Canon EOS 5D IV
Lens: 500f/4 MKII with 1.4Ext MKIII HH
Exposure: 1/1000s at f/5.6 ISO2500
Original format: Portrait, very slight crop sides & top
Processed via: LRCC Classic & PSCC2019

[dankearl]

What a nice Owl photo....

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

Sounds like challenging conditions to work with.
Lovely little owl. I like the way the rounded cavity mirrors the shape of his head, the slight angle of the tree in the frame.

Just for fun I played around with using a masked brightness/contrast layer to selectively increase the contrast of the oof leaf areas, and it helped them blend into the tree trunk and be less noticeable. Also used the same mask with the hue/saturation layer to reduce the green from the leaves, another modest improvement.

Looking forward to more images from your journeys.

Randy

[Steve Kaluski]

Just for fun I played around with using a masked brightness/contrast layer to selectively increase the contrast of the oof leaf areas, and it helped them blend into the tree trunk and be less noticeable. Also used the same mask with the hue/saturation layer to reduce the green from the leaves, another modest improvement.

Good points Randy, will have a play when I get back home next week, thanks for the input.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Ethereal look to the image.

Everything looks great to me. Like the vignetting which adds to the image.

TFS

[John Mack]

Nice view of this owl tucked into the tree. The vertical framing works nicely.

[Bill Dix]

What a lovely setting. Great pose with clear, open eyes. Congratulations on getting this endangered species under tough conditions.

[Ivan Sjogren]

What a lovely setting Steve! Well done preparing for this shot and getting an endangered species at this quality. The pose of the bird, the composition and the details seem nice. I think the bird itself looks very good, maybe adding a few points of contrast. I'm not too distracted by the OOF leaves but Randy makes some good suggestions about how to reduce it. Although they adds a bit of depth to the images as is.
What is distracting too me though is the highlights on the tree, especially to the left. I would try to reduce those highlights and reducing some points of the whites, without greeying them out. If they look grey you can use selective color and remove some of the blacks from the whites. The dynamics of the 5D should be able to bring the details back a bit as they don't look completely blown.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a gnarly cavity that is, very nice. You already got some great feedback and advice, but I wanted to comment on how appealing that tree cavity is (and the owl as well).

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hey Steve, beautiful owl. I would be pumped to see and capture this image. Not sure how much you have to play with but I might be inclined to rotate ccw a tad to bring the eyes parallel. Would have to see how it looks after rotating. What a wonderful cavity, it sets off the owl so well. Thank you for sharing.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Delightful image, Steve. Beautiful little owl and the "gnarly cavity" - as Daniel described it - is awesome. Techs look good and image is well exposed with nice detail and sharpness.
Nice composition and colours look natural, the OOF leaves not an issue to me. Beautifully processed. You know how much I like owls... Truly enjoyed viewing, thank you for sharing

Warmest regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Many thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

Hi Ivan, appreciate the more 'in depth' reply and I will try to expand on your reply.

I'm currently away so access to the RAW is zero, however I take your point re the HL's on the LHS, but and this is making an assumption, I would really only tone them down a fraction, as that is where the light is coming from and don't wish to 'tinker' too much on the actual light providing the look & feel of the image. Obviously it was a balancing act on the histogram trying not to blow any HL's, but not going the other way either, all via ETTR. However, what is annoying/distracting is the lights in the bottom RHC.

adding a few points of contrast.

When using the current LR (as I do and many others), Contrast is an issue, as LR adds truckloads at the import stage and a few other things which screws the file unless it's controlled, as you just kill any midtones and this is where all the beautiful detail is. Even after PP and re importing back to LR yes there are some Global adjustments I may do, but in honesty I'm always with a hand of caution when using Contrast and or Clarity, but will look at it.

The dynamics of the 5D should be able to bring the details back a bit as they don't look completely blown.

They aren't Ivan, but even when we think areas are blown, they are not, but sadly the Software we use indicates this. Both Nikon & Canon will under expose say around 2/3 of a stop, even when the camera histogram shows a perfectly exposed image, even with a fraction of blinkies, but when you take it not another programme which analyses the raw data, the whites are nowhere near blown and still show room to move to the right before loss of data, but now we get geeky, so time to stop.

I wanted to comment on how appealing that tree cavity

Dan, that is what impressed me with the 5D, the amount of fine detail capture compared with the 1DX's. Thanks.

I might be inclined to rotate ccw a tad to bring the eyes parallel.

Thanks Joe, but it would need to be a hefty rotation and would loose the 'jaunty' angle which I find appealing.