Florida Burrowing Owl

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image on Marco Island, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VR AF-S ED, camera and lens supported by a monopod
1/1250 F/8 Matrix Metering EV +1/3 ISI 640 Auto WB, image captured at 400mm
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction when needed
Cropped for composition and presentation

[arash_hazeghi]

Both eyes open and looking at us is really nice plus that round head! Finer details could be better but perhaps it is big crop. the environment is a bit cluttered and distracting for me. it is challenging to get them in the open but it does happen. for some reason the colors don't look right to me, it's muted, too bright and and less tan, I have photographed these in CA and NM and they plumage is a different color but maybe the Florida specie is different. I think I have a few frames from FL I gotta look them up

TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

Both eyes open and looking at us is really nice plus that round head! Finer details could be better but perhaps it is big crop. the environment is a bit cluttered and distracting for me. it is challenging to get them in the open but it does happen. for some reason the colors don't look right to me, it's muted, too bright and and less tan, I have photographed these in CA and NM and they plumage is a different color but maybe the Florida specie is different. I think I have a few frames from FL I gotta look them up

TFS

Hi Arash, thank you for viewing and commenting. The biologists have done DNA tests and the Florida Burrowing Owls are a species unique to Florida. The colors are most likely different because of the strong sunshine in Florida, it bleaches everything. To photograph the owl here in it's habitat it is either going to be in a lawn or in a vacant building lot that is overgrown (as with this image). Regarding the color, I need advice. I normally check the whites in a image. In this image the whites measured, 222,222,223. My thinking was if the whites are good the rest of the colors should also be good (natural). Am I correct? I do know that at sunrise and sunset the hue can be different but this image was mid morning.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Arash, thank you for viewing and commenting. The biologists have done DNA tests and the Florida Burrowing Owls are a species unique to Florida. The colors are most likely different because of the strong sunshine in Florida, it bleaches everything. To photograph the owl here in it's habitat it is either going to be in a lawn or in a vacant building lot that is overgrown (as with this image). Regarding the color, I need advice. I normally check the whites in a image. In this image the whites measured, 222,222,223. My thinking was if the whites are good the rest of the colors should also be good (natural). Am I correct? I do know that at sunrise and sunset the hue can be different but this image was mid morning.

Hum the amount of UV in FL is not any different than other places of similar latitude, not sure if it affects plumage color, do you have a scientific reference for it? Species difference is a very plausible explanation
as for the color you are correct that if you fix the whites or more specifically the neutral grey the image will be color corrected in absolute sense however the sliver lining is that we usually want to keep some of the color cast to make it closer to what our eyes saw and closer to the original scene (natural), I wrote this article a while back on my blog to explain this issue http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blo...n-photography/ have a look and see if it makes sense

for reference here is CA BO (juvi)

[John Mack]

I like it. You have a clear view of the owl through all the brush. The vertical framing is nice as well.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hum the amount of UV in FL is not any different than other places of similar latitude, not sure if it affects plumage color, do you have a scientific reference for it? Species difference is a very plausible explanation
as for the color you are correct that if you fix the whites or more specifically the neutral grey the image will be color corrected in absolute sense however the sliver lining is that we usually want to keep some of the color cast to make it closer to what our eyes saw and closer to the original scene (natural), I wrote this article a while back on my blog to explain this issue http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blo...n-photography/ have a look and see if it makes sense

for reference here is CA BO (juvi)

Hi Arash, nice Burrowing Owl, darker than the ones in Florida (more brown). I did a quick google check. The median latitude of California is 37 degrees the median latitude of Florida is 27 degrees and where this image was captured the latitude is 25 degrees.