I have recently returned from a 2 week birding trip to western Cuba, and hopefully some of the images I made will be good enough to post here. There is a number of endemic species (most of which we saw), and unfortunately it's hard for most Americans to visit this fascinating country. but it's a popular winter destination for Canadians tired of the long winter. Here's an endemic species seen at a known, natural nest site in a dead Palm stump.
A very cute little fellow. I wish the light had been directly behind you, so the left side of the owl was evenly illuminated. You could easily bring up the eye, and I would also try a shadow recovery to bring up the left side of the face a bit.
The palm stump is very interesting on its own, but I think it competes with the actual subject matter a bit much. Perhaps cropping a bit would reduce its impact.
There haven't been many birds posted from Cuba, I look forward to more. Great find and angle. I might go for a vertical crop and it seems to need a bit more contrast, maybe you applied too much S/H and/or curves.
The darks do look washed out. Using "contrast" too aggressively might make the bark and owl's lighter plumage too bright, therefore setting the black point in Levels and then adjusting the midtones slider to taste may be a better option. Great little expression on this guy, and I like the natural cavity. Thanks for sharing this cute little guy!!
I'd start over with the processing as suggested by Dan above and then crop to a ear-SQ. Lots of fill flash would have eliminated the light angle problems. Sharp.
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Thanks for all your suggestions. Here's a re-post, incorporating them. An unexpected benefit was the reflection of the trees in the bird's R.eye. Hope this works better,
Bare-legged Owl (Cuba)
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