Northern Hawk Owl

[Paul Kammen]

A hawk owl has been here the past couple of months in the Sax-Zim Bog, so I try to get up whenever I can as it's
less than 3 hours away. Missed the flight shot I hoped for, but I did kind of like his perch as he flew in.

Z9, Nikkor Z 600 f/4 TC VR s, 840mm, 1/1250, ISO 800, f5.6.

[Jonathan Ashton]

It's a nicely composed shot, I like the stare, perhaps the contrast is a little high, the blacks appear rather dense. I have some reservations over the background, I get the impression you have made a mask and softened it and perhaps darkened it, I think it has spilled onto the log and the lower wing and tail area of the owl.

[kevin Hice]

Paul a lovely image like the colors overall. Background goes well with the colors on the owl. Not sure about a mask as mentioned. I am no expert on Photoshop. Do think the perch is a bit soft. I wish this were mine. I have always wanted to visit the bog but quite along drive. Maybe ten hours for me.
For this subject and others I see posted from the bog are their quite a few photographers lined up? TFS

[Randy Stout]

Paul: Striking image, great opportunity! Even before I read Jon's comments, I was wondering about some of the edge areas, particularly the light area between the top of the stump and the birds rump. It seemed significantly brighter than any other part of the background. Would be easy to refine your mask to eliminate that issue, and well worth the time for this nice image! Look forward to more of this magnificent bird!

Randy

[Andreas Liedmann]

Owl does look striking and very cool overall look & feel .
Darks maybe a bit dense ... matter of taste .
For me too much of work visible in the stump area ... less is more

TFS Andreas

[Paul Kammen]

It's a nicely composed shot, I like the stare, perhaps the contrast is a little high, the blacks appear rather dense. I have some reservations over the background, I get the impression you have made a mask and softened it and perhaps darkened it, I think it has spilled onto the log and the lower wing and tail area of the owl.

Thanks for the comments. I actually just did some light adjustments in Adobe RAW; softened the background and did darken it slightly. Tried to make sure to brush out any part of the owl so what I did on the background wouldn't impact the bird.

There are a number of people photographing in the bog on any given day - I'm 3 hours away so go up often, but there is still plenty of room to shoot. That said I'm amazed at how it's grown in popularity; I've seen little busses out there, and last year ran into Moose Peterson from Wyoming who had a group out there. It's also good in the summer for warblers.