Owls near one another along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.
Nikon Z9; 800 5.6
Red Morph: 1/1250, f 5.6, ISO 3600
Gray Morph: 1/1250, f 5.6, ISO 2500

Owls near one another along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.
Nikon Z9; 800 5.6
Red Morph: 1/1250, f 5.6, ISO 3600
Gray Morph: 1/1250, f 5.6, ISO 2500
Paul:
For some reason their stares and poses make me think of something out of Star Wars. Pretty dramatic poses, the centered composition works well with them.
The top image has a modest amount of noise in some areas, and both appear a bit over sharpened. Owl feathers that I have seen generally seem to have a softer texture, not quite as crisp as here.
I like the shadow treatment better in the second image.
Since I have a Z9 as well, just curious what software you are using for your post processing?
Cheers
Randy

Hi Randy,
Thanks for the comments.
My post processing was editing in RAW in Capture 1 22, brushing the bird a little as well to adjust for exposure, warmth, etc; then in PS using Topaz DeNoise, then a slight adjustment on color contrast on the bird, and a little detail extraction. I did also use Topaz Sharpener but actually didn't notice too much sharpening; in the RAW files the feather texture is there too, but perhaps the post processing enhanced it a bit much.
Hi Paul ... for sure nice subjects and i do like the direct stare with the owls staying in their environment .
Sorry to say , IMHO , the processing does look a bit off .
The top image looks almost like a sepia toning with a washed out middle part of the frame .
I do see some artifacts or noise in both images , sharpening does look overdone to me .
That is all said as my personal taste ... others might see it different .
TFS Andreas

Appreciate the replies; I do have a lot of files from the area, here's a couple processed, with no use of the sharpner.
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Both files looking better ... at least to me in terms of sharpening .
So what is the benefit of Topaz Sharpening ???
Cheers Andreas
Sorry Paul but the OP look hammered in PP, the RP are better, but less than idea especially from the Z9, it does produce some super clean files. I would look at getting a better WB first of all and the use PS for sharpening once cropped and ready to post.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.