Eastern Screech Owl

[Rich Reich]

This Eastern Screech Owl was photographed in the Pelican Bay area of Naples, FL late in the afternoon in May 2008. This is my first post on the forum.

Nikon D200 with 18-200mm zoom
ISO 200
1/25th sec, f8
natural light, hand held
zoom to 200 mm which is the 35mm equivalent of 300mm


Rich Reich

[Daniel Cadieux]

Welcome to BPN Rich! Nice find, looks like you have yourself a brown morph individual. This guy is perched quite out in the open too. With sahdows covering most of the owl some fill-flash would have done a huge difference - especially for the eyes. A bit more room at right would be good for the comp. Looking forward to more!! :-)

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Big welcome Rich and a wonderful first post ! You did well to catch him with his eyes open and leaning out. I agree with Daniel's comments and I too will look forward to your future posts . Thanks for sharing.

[Rich Reich]

I've added more sky on the right to improve the crop. Of course I now deviate from the original 4 x 6 aspect ratio to a more arbitrary ratio that is adjusted to improve the image and not maintain a more standard ratio.

Does this improve the image?

[Don Lacy]

NIce looking Screech Owl I agree with fill flash to help even out the lighting and with him leaning out I might have went with a horizontal comp. Just saw your repost and yes.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome to BPN, Rich! Very nice first post. I like the pose and the repost is an improvement. I might tone down the highlights a bit. Keep them coming!

[Art Kornienko]

Your second crop looks better to me. Fill flash would have helped a bit too, but the overall sharpness and colours are very nice, you must have been pretty close. Well done and welcome aboard.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, the second crop looks better - more balanced and "feels" right.

[Rich Reich]

Would you provide the fill flash with a camera mounted flash? The owl was above me and about 10-12 feet away. Would you point the flash head directly at the owl or try and bounce it off a reflective surface? I have a Nikon SB-800 Speedlight.

Thanks.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, I would point the flash directly to the subject. One important thing is that you only want to use it as fill. Usually that means dialing in negative FEC (not familiar with Nikon, but same principle)...seeing that you were close enough that is what I would have done. Is this a favorite roosting perch for this owl...more opportunities?

[Rich Reich]

For the last two years either this owl or its parents used the same cavity and were there reliably. About 6 weeks ago the latest owl "went on vacation" and we haven't seen it since. Now I have to find a new owl at a new location!