Saw-whet Owl up close and personal

[John Chardine]

I spent a fabulous day at Amherst Island, Ontario this weekend and had great opportunities to photograph these amazing birds. They were roosting up pine/spruce trees near the trunk and there were no opportunities to photograph in the clear, so I decided to crop for a face portrait. I really like the way a close-up like this shows the detail of the many different kinds of feathers in the face of an owl.

The light sky in the BG was blown and produced some colour halos which I removed by de-satting the offending edges. I also removed some very low contrast OOF BG elements. The graininess in the irises is natural and not a noise artifact. There is some noise in the feathers but I didn't want to remove for fear of reducing detail.

I hope you like this image, and comments are of course very welcome.

Canon EOS 50D. 70-200 f4 IS x 1.4 tcII = 280 mm
capture date: Saturday, 21 February, 2009 12:40 PM
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 640
shutter speed: 1/250
aperture: f5.6
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF

[Ramon M. Casares]

IMO the crop is noticealbe, although you have some good detail here! I love the tight crop and the high key BG. Congratualitons!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the stare and would give it a bit more room and wish for wider DOF.

[Randy Stout]

John:

Love the image. Had mixed feelings about the reflections visible in the pupils. At first I found them very distracting, but the more I look at them, the more it ties the bird to its world. Because it is such a tight crop and their are no other habitat anchors, I am leaning towards really liking them.

I would be curious to hear your thoughts and what others think!

Randy

[Stephen Stephen]

John congratulations on seeing these birds on Amherst. I don't recall seeing a crop with such a close-up. It almost makes me feel like backing away from those piercing eyes. ;- )

Perhaps you also post another habitat type image with less of a crop later. I'd like to compare the two perspectives.

I've been there about 4 times before to photograph Long-ears and snowys (not this winter) but never had the opportunity to see this species.

If I had know that you were there I would have tried to join you. Perhaps another time.

[Roger Clark]

Hi John,
I like the close crop. It's different, and nice detail.

[John Chardine]

John:

Love the image. Had mixed feelings about the reflections visible in the pupils. At first I found them very distracting, but the more I look at them, the more it ties the bird to its world. Because it is such a tight crop and their are no other habitat anchors, I am leaning towards really liking them.

I would be curious to hear your thoughts and what others think!

Randy

Thanks Randy and others. For me the eyes HAVE to be distracting, especially in a tight portrait like this! The reflections/catchlights are an important part of this. I purposely cropped this tight to really focus on the face detail.