Burrowing Owl

[Dorian Anderson]

This hardly qualifies as wildlife photography, the neighborhood Cape Coral (FL) population entirely habituated to people, but it was fun to have such a close encounter with this bird. The hardest part was finding a shooting angle that kept houses, pedestrians, and cars out of the frame! This was captured on a birding tour I was leading, so I kinda had to grab a quick frame or two while clients were occupied. I'm generally too busy helping them see birds and get shooting angles to get many pics of my own on when I'm on tour, so I'l take it......

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II on EOS 1DX2
1/1250 at f/9, ISO 1000 - closed down to keep some DOF at such close range
Processed in LR CC and Topaz without trickery

[David Roach]

Beautiful details and BG. Great choice on the aperture and I hear you on the challenges of urban birding. TFS

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Dorian, nice closeup/portrait of one of our little owls. A little more depth of field would have helped. The colors look good, perfect background. I noticed the blackening in the eyes, some of the owls have one or both all black eyes. The scientist think that is from a limited gene pool. If you go there again get in touch and I can share what I know from going there for ten years once or twice a year. Thank you for sharing.

[Steve Kaluski]

The framing I feel is a little pedestrian here Dorian which is surprising. I would have liked to see the whole subject, feet and all. The bright light hasn't helped tonally it's all a bit flat, with no/little real depth for me. With the head slightly angled and being quite big in frame the LH eye is slightly out, moving the FP a bit more left I think might have helped, or just upped the ISO which would not have hampered the IQ for a bit more DoF, although not too sure how far you might have had to go here.

Lets see more...
TFS
Steve

[Dorian Anderson]

The framing I feel is a little pedestrian here Dorian which is surprising. I would have liked to see the whole subject, feet and all. The bright light hasn't helped tonally it's all a bit flat, with no/little real depth for me. With the head slightly angled and being quite big in frame the LH eye is slightly out, moving the FP a bit more left I think might have helped, or just upped the ISO which would not have hampered the IQ for a bit more DoF, although not too sure how far you might have had to go here.

Lets see more...
TFS
Steve

DOF and left eye comments taken. Sadly, bird was standing on wood pole, so full body not an option!

[Steve Kaluski]

Sadly, bird was standing on wood pole, so full body not an option!

Man made or natural, works for me with this subject, I feel we often get too precious with the ideal perch, unless its a set-up Dorian. Our equivalent are often found on farms and so anything goes, they see no difference in what they use to elevate themselves to get a better lockout, and for me, it's natural.

[Dorian Anderson]

Man made or natural, works for me with this subject, I feel we often get too precious with the ideal perch, unless its a set-up Dorian. Our equivalent are often found on farms and so anything goes, they see no difference in what they use to elevate themselves to get a better lockout, and for me, it's natural.

Yeah, just a difference of opinion on the man-made perch. It's a non-starter for me -- unless it's a hella old fencepost which had decayed to the point of being perceived as natural. It's a slippery slope. If a photog is willing to compromise here are there, it often isn't long til they've got hand railings and barbed wire in the frame. That sort of stuff is just hideous. And too easy since it's everywhere around here.

[Steve Kaluski]

This is why, it’s always good to have different sides/view points, agreed there are some no no’s, otherwise things would be very stale and rather boring.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The speckling around the outside edge of the iris is pretty neat. Super details. If you had a TC you could have went for even tighter. Ya, man-made perches are bummer most times and I get fussy with them too. Old rusty flaking barbed wire: OK...brand new shiny one: ugh! Nicely weathered fence post: good...a couple of 2 x 4s nailed together as a "perch": never.

[Brian Sump]

Strong portrait Dorian.

Details for days and super connection with the eyes. I like the solid green backdrop, well played finding the right angle.

f9 was a good choice but always tough when getting so close; you ultimately find the dof fall off and rarely is it ever 'perfect'.

Totally agree with you on perches, it's a sticking point for me but everyone has their own view.

[John Mack]

I like it that background is killer. An even tigher portrait of just the head would have been pretty sweet.

[arash_hazeghi]

looks nice, techs are all great. they are tame in FL, almost impossible to make them fly.....

in a perfect world the owl's eyes would be perfectly symmetric but this isn't far from that

I am with you re. man-made perch. I don't bother with them either

TFS