Boreal Owl

[Paul Kammen]

Still many shots to go through, and getting the hang of a new system and lens, but was happy to photograph this boreal owl yesterday, one of the northern visitors to our state in mid to late winter. Missed out on one last winter, and tried a few years prior but was again just a little bit late.

I like the lighting though he was in the shade, and the background.

Nikon D500, 1/160, f5.6, ISO 800, Nikon 800mm lens.

[John Mack]

Love those eyes. The framing is right on. Nice lichen on that perch. Nice and sharp.

[Paul Kammen]

Love those eyes. The framing is right on. Nice lichen on that perch. Nice and sharp.

Thanks, I liked his perch too. Very happy with the Nikon system so far, and it was doing great on eagles in flight too.

[Aditya Sridhar]

This is a stunner, Paul. In terms of IQ and image design, I think this is one of your best. The orange in the BG adds a lot and the tree is very interesting. The eyes are stunning. I do have a couple of nits though. I think this image is too cool and needs to be warmed up. I also think it's a bit too 'contrasty'. I see a few blown highlights on the bird, so if the RAW isn't overexposed, you should be able to extract more detail there. Overall though, this is very well done. TFS.

[Paul Kammen]

This is a stunner, Paul. In terms of IQ and image design, I think this is one of your best. The orange in the BG adds a lot and the tree is very interesting. The eyes are stunning. I do have a couple of nits though. I think this image is too cool and needs to be warmed up. I also think it's a bit too 'contrasty'. I see a few blown highlights on the bird, so if the RAW isn't overexposed, you should be able to extract more detail there. Overall though, this is very well done. TFS.

Thanks, it was shot in RAW so can easily be adjusted for that. It was a thrill to see this bird as I've tried for 5 or 6 years to get a boreal; they show up in Minnesota but in small numbers and are very hard to find, this little guy though is coming where feeders are and is oblivious to the photographers, he even hopped down caught a vole and flew back into the woods. Lucky to live "close" to the Sax Zim bog as it's right up the freeway.

[Dorian Anderson]

Strong frame of this bird! Not and easy one to find! Composition looks great given the forest restrictions, and the talons peeking out are fun as well. The image is indeed too cool/blue as suggested, and it does have a very 'crunchy' look as presented. It need to be reprocessed to achieve a more natural appearance. You should be able to fix the over-exposed breast feathers at the same time.

[Paul Kammen]

Thanks for the feedback; I did clean it up a touch, warmed it, and lowered highlights a bit.

[arash_hazeghi]

love love the bird, you nailed it. sharpness and details are excellent the original is blue and the repost is magenta.

have you calibrated your monitor? what are you using?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Paul, if you have time then I would suggest to make a virtual copy and start from scratch, with your first port of call getting the WB correct, this would reduce hopefully any colour casts and where you can then deal with the 'colour management' side on a level playing field. I would also heavily reduce both the Blacks and Contrast which are also concealing detail within the shadow areas. Personally I feel it's over sharp and with contrast added, you get a 'crunchy' appearance highlighted in the face.

Is this a large crop? Also are you using LR to process the Raw, if so DON"T use the preset WB Adobe Colour!!!!

Paul, I'm again away, but taking your OP I just tried to balance out the image and reduce the colour casts within the original post & RP.

TFS
Steve

[Paul Kammen]

love love the bird, you nailed it. sharpness and details are excellent the original is blue and the repost is magenta.

have you calibrated your monitor? what are you using?

Hi Arash, thanks...I did not have my monitor calibrated, but last night ordered a Spyder calibrator. I have a MacBook Pro with a 15.4 inch display, retina.

[Paul Kammen]

Hi Paul, if you have time then I would suggest to make a virtual copy and start from scratch, with your first port of call getting the WB correct, this would reduce hopefully any colour casts and where you can then deal with the 'colour management' side on a level playing field. I would also heavily reduce both the Blacks and Contrast which are also concealing detail within the shadow areas. Personally I feel it's over sharp and with contrast added, you get a 'crunchy' appearance highlighted in the face.

Is this a large crop? Also are you using LR to process the Raw, if so DON"T use the preset WB Adobe Colour!!!!

Paul, I'm again away, but taking your OP I just tried to balance out the image and reduce the colour casts within the original post & RP.

TFS
Steve

Hi Steve,
I'm getting a monitor calibrator tomorrow and have never done that before. (SpyderX Pro). My workflow is I use Adobe RAW, then go to Adobe itself. I'll lower contrast a bit and I did bring up texture just a touch. It is not cropped really at all, the bird filled the frame so no cropping.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I like the eyes. Nice Capture. Agree with the color cast in the image.

TFS

[Paul Kammen]

Thanks for the input. I did just calibrate my monitor and do some more tweeking; less contrast, less sharpening, less blacks.

[Paul Kammen]

Here's another I like too; I like his perch and it's almost as if he's peaking around the branch saying hello.

1/500, f5.6, ISO 3600.