2nd photo of same Great Gray Owl, taken January 3rd, 2009....He didn't like facing the sun, just would not turn for me but came real close, tried getting out of car but he flew away. As long as I stayed in the car he flew back to this post. Nothing I could do with background all snow.
Paul I like the pose and the golden sidelight. Very good eye contact and details in the feathers but the BG looks very strong from my point of view. This same situation but with a soft light would produce a terrific result. Did you considered the possibility of a vertical croping?
I too love the pose and great eye contact. The side lighting is lovely but IMO I would love to have seen a little more light on the face area. Was it possible to move a tad to the right? Nevertheless I would love to have this one in my files. Thanks for sharing Paul.
With the face in shadow, the sidelight does not work for me at all. Creating it as a vertical would be advisable. Sharp with a good EXP.
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I think Judy means moving to your left (or backing up in that direction if the road permitted you to do so...since you were relegated to your car for this). The owl would turn its head into the sun to look at you this way :-)
Thanks All...This Owl was very skittish, and also the fact that he only comes out early morning or late evening..but i will keep trying, one day I'll get him the right light. I do wish one thing though, "that I'd had a zoom lens with me instead of fixed 300 2.8", I'd have been able to place the Owl a little better in frame.
Thanks for pointing out clone mark, that is corrected now.
I tried to add a new background (corn stubble from same morning, Gussian Blurred), to the image and a vertical crop of the image...this was the result..what do you think? Too tight a crop? Paul
Last edited by Paul Lagasi; 01-07-2009 at 05:09 PM.
How I envy you Paul to get these type of shots, I don't mind the sidelight, the bird is just stunning, and hard enough to get. The only thing I'm not sure about is the sky in the first shot, is the white part snow and then the blue sky behind the snow?
Sun was just coming up...the blue in the background is snow in the shade( with some Gussian Blur applied)...the problem I had was exposure..had to expose for Owl..then snow was way to strong...if I'd only remembered some advice from a previous thread about photographing the bird..then taking a photo of the background at the proper exposure.
Thanks Art
Great Gray II
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