Shorty in the grass
Hi Everyone,
Well, the fog finally cleared today to allow me to get out on the estuary to take some photos. The short-eared owls were very cooperative today. Seemed like all they wanted to do was sun themselves. Had a bit of luck with this guy and caught him in some even light in one of the shadows.
Canon 50D, ISO 200, 1/50 sec at F/5.6, 500mm with 1.4X, Manual exposure, No exposure comp.
Thanks for looking,
Steve
Looks pretty serious. :) I like the details and eye contact. There is a slight blue cast which should be gone after raising the color temperature and I would give it a bit more space.
Axel caught my comments. But do I love that face - a real winner Steve.
Great eyes, love the habitat. Could be warmer as said. I would be proud of this! :)
Looks great Steve finely got one. little different getting down low nice shot
Re-post
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all your helpful comments. I set the black point in PS levels for his pupil so I guess it was a bit out. Here is the repost with the noted changes. Hope you like it.
Steve
The repost looks much better on my monitor. The face might be a tad oversharpened.
The repost is alot more attractive because of blue cast eliminated, and also the added space around the owl. With 1/50s., I assume you used a tripod (or some other4 stabilizing method) to achieve such sharpness...but I would still recommend bumping your ISO higher to give yourself more shutter speed (and more leeway in regards to potential subject motion or camera shake blurs). Nice to have such a cooperative SEO!
Hi Daniel,Originally Posted by Daniel Cadieux
To answer your question as regards tripod, this was taken with tripod and Wimberly gimbal head. Not that I want to open up a can of worms but, I haven't been getting the high ISO results that I had hoped with my 50D and find that I must still keep my ISO down low (Ususally between 200 and 400 ISO), for detail sake. Sure I can take pictures at a higher ISO and then apply post production noise programs but all my shots end up coming out looking like a painting instead of real life.
As far as the short-ear owls are concerned, I have had to have a great deal of patience and taking shots such as this one involve moving at very slow rates for long periods of time in order to cover distance to get close to the birds. This particualr shot took about 40 minutes of moving closer in six foot increments after initially spotting him.
Take care and have a great weekend,
Steve
Last edited by Steve Large; 01-25-2009 at 12:52 PM.
Yes, the 50D is way noisier than the MIII. Great job on the repost--it is seldom that everyone's wishes are granted. Good job on the stalk too.
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Hi Artie,
Thanks for your kind words. The roosting birds are not a problem to get close to this year using the right technique. It seems to be a greater challenge for flight shots as the short-ears are not hunting during the day like they used to. Lots of vole trails in the grass after the snow melted so it could be that they feed at night and don't need to hunt during daylight hours because food is more plentiful.
Take care,
Steve
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