Little Boreal Owl

[Rick Dobson]

Taken at Amherst Island Ontario last Monday. Editing this pic was a real challenge for me. There was a lot of harsh light coming in through the branches which created a lot of distraction. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Canon 50D, 70-200 f/4.0, 1/80, ISO 400, Used on board flash.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Rick, I like it alot. Looks like you did a good job toning down the highlights. I suspect most of the specular highlights in the evergreen were very bright white before your PS work? There is one horizontal clone mark that you could fix...located above your name, just below the needles. The owl looks great!!

[Todd Frost]

Sweet little owl. PS work looks good, Daniel pointed out clone mark. Wonderful stare from your subject.

Todd

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

What a lovely little Owl and the image is fabulous if you asked me. I would personally opt for less space on the right-hand-side and turn the image into more of a vertical! :)

[Tony Whitehead]

This is lovely, Rick. You have done a great job. Fantastic light bringing out detail on the face. I might slightly lighten the 2 dark streaks above the head.

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

Very nice shot, I particularly like the highlights around the right eye. I can imagine it took some time to process the image but I think you have done a fine job. I am not too sure about the branch he is perching on, I rather get the impression there had been obvious cloning as some parts are clear/sharp and others aren't - they are very soft i.e. not just out of focus, having said that I think it would be difficult to improve.

Jon

[Stu Bowie]

Lovely comp, and the owl pops from the BG nicely. I actually like the pastel colours you have created from your pp work. Great image Rick.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find, eye contact and details. Adding to the other comments, I would give it more space at the bottom for the 'virtual' tail.

There is quite an outspoken controversy on birding forums regarding these birds.