Great Gray Owl

[mao ouyang]

Shot late afternoon. Fortunate to get a ray of light through the woods on the bird.

1DMKIII, 200 mm. F2.8. 1/320 @ F5.6. ISO 800, handheld.

[Kim Rollins]

Outstanding. I really like this one! Congratulations on the capture.


Exposed to the left, I think it could stand about +1/3 EV and a little final sharpening.

[Brian Wong]

Hi Mao!

Fortunate I totally agree! I think the light makes your image and really brings out all the fine details. Great head angle, and you did really well to get most of the branches out of the way. I might tone down some of the brighter background stuff around the head.

[Grady Weed]

Congratulations on photographing this fine specimen! Just seeing one in the Great north woods is an accomplishment. You did well getting this guy with a minimal of sticks and habitat to distract. I like the dark tones. The straight on look is very nice. And those yellow eyes are pretty visible. About the only thing to wish for is a bit off the left side to lesson the lower left oof stick. But this is a keeper in any book.

May we ask where you live to get this one, time of day and some of the surrounding circumstances?

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I really like the soft light on this owl. Congratulations on a wonderful capture. :)

[mao ouyang]

Thanks everyone. When re-sizing for the post, I inadvertently forgot to give it another round of sharpening Kim.

Grady, this was shot in a private farmer's field in Ontario. He gave us a one time permission for 2 hours as he uses his field for hunters. This was shot around 6:00 pm.