Barred Owl

[Paul Wolf]

One of my first few shots using my brand spanking new Canon 500mm, f/4.0. This is a barred owl shot at Brazos Bend State Park, near Houston, Texas. This guy has been consistently present on the east side of 40 Acre Lake. It seems to have its favorite perches from which to swoop down on unsuspecting crawfish. I first spotted a mama owl and its fledgling in the very same area. I've returned several times and finally found one of the owls there.

1D Mark III, f/4.0, 1/125 sec., ISO 800, Better Beamer on 580EX, Manual Exposure, 7:30 AM. Levels, curves, selective color, multiply BG layer, light sharp with FocalBlade.

I think I should have more of the wings in focus, but what about that limb in the upper RC? Does it frame or distract, you think?

[Raymond Barlow]

really nicely done Paul, I did not notice the branch in the uphc.., I wonder, did you blurr the perch?

[Paul Wolf]

Raymond:
Thank you for the comment. I blured the perch by about 20% to cut down on the noise, which was quite visible at 100%, and since I selectively sharpened the owl, the perch did not get sharpened with FocalBlade. Why do you ask? Do you feel the perch should be sharp, too?

Thanks, again!
Paul

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great eye contact and find. I would decrease contrast a few points to get more details in the eyes and wouldn't blur the perch. The BG is a bit busy but there is not much you could have done about it. You could try to add a 1.4x TC so you can back up more and get a lower angle. Thanks for sharing!

[Rob Palmer]

The branch doesn't bother me and you have great eye contact. It looks oversaturated on my monitor but still a very nice shot.

[Paul Wolf]

Thanks, all for your very helpful comments.

Axel, I took your advice and lowered the contrast, especially in the eyes. It did reveal more detail.

Rob, I do tend to oversaturate. So, I lowered that a bit, too. The second version looks much better, it seems to me.

Thanks, again!

Paul

[Raymond Barlow]

Raymond:
Thank you for the comment. I blured the perch by about 20% to cut down on the noise, which was quite visible at 100%, and since I selectively sharpened the owl, the perch did not get sharpened with FocalBlade. Why do you ask? Do you feel the perch should be sharp, too?

Thanks, again!
Paul

Hi Paul., I like you second edit, looks much better., I think the perch should be left alone, and it does not look natural being blurred., it is on the same focal plane as the bird.

[Paul Wolf]

Raymond:
I'm going to start over on it because I think I can make it look better, thanks to the comments posted here. I will pay particular attention to the perch. It isn't exactly in the same focal plane because I was shooting up at an angle, but it still may be more acceptably sharp than what I've presented thus far. I'll get on it this weekend. In the meantime, I really do appreciate your comments and those offered by everyone.

Thanks, all!
Paul