Interesting pose here. I really like the talons and his expression. Fill flash would have helped in this situation. I think that a little Shadows & Highlights would bring more emphasis on the owl. This is because the human eye is attracted to the brightest point of an image. I like the action.
Very nice Yves, I might prefer a little more room on the left and less on the right as he's looking to the left. I like the pose a lot, I would try a little highlight adjustment as well.
I tried a few things in Photoshop elements to minimize the backlight effect. Here is what I did.
1) Shadows & Highlights
2) Levels to brighten the bird (I masked out the BG)
3) Levels to darken certain hot spots in the image, notably the wing tip (everything else was masked out)
4) Brightness and contrast on the bird (I masked out the BG)
5) Brightness and contrast on the BG to reduce the contrast (I masked the bird)
All the Levels and the Brightness & Contrast adjustments were done with adjustment layers. Masking was done by selecting the adjustment layer and then clicking on the image with a black paint bucket. I then used a white paintbrush to reveal the areas I wanted to be affected by the adjustment.
I hope this helps. Looking forward more of your owl images:).
Yves,
I like the original best. I know some may comment on the angle of light but I think the first one lends more contrast and feather detail. I personally would be happy with this shot as is, natural.
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