Sleepy head - first post

[Eric Wilmot]

Hello every one, this is my first post on this great forum.

This image was created in Montreal (a five hour drive from home - I live in the southern part of the boreal forest - about 850 km north of Boston :cool:). I was there to see the Carolina wren but got this eastern screech-owl instead.

I know that the mid-open eyes wont please to everyone but I like the mood of it.

Canon 40D, 500 mm, 1/100s, f/6.3, ISO 400, hand held.

Thanks for looking !!

[Erich Stevens]

Hi Eric,

Great job spotting this guy. Good exposure and I like your comp showing his environment. I can see some movement in the image, most likely from camera shake. I suggest bringing your tripod wherever you go. Excellent work!

[Mital Patel]

well this is good subject to start with Eirc. nice catch and good .. i would suggest you to clone out the bg OOF busy twigs... and little warm touch to the entire image. rest is fine to me..

[Bryan Hix]

Welcome, nice first post. Great example of camoflage. I would consider a tighter crop to focus more on the tree/owl than the BG to the left. Maybe something like this (I applied more unsharp mask to it as well)?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Eric, and I'm glad you've decided to post some images. Good subject, man it is nicely camouflaged with the tree. I like the mid-closed eyes at it gives us a first hand account of the resting mode this owl was in, and I like how large and wide open the crevice is behind it. I prefer the impact of your original comp, but I would crop it at left to eliminate the thin dark branch. I'm thinking a slight boost in contrast would be benificial. Good stuff, and keep them coming!

[Grace Scalzo]

Way to go. I like the camouflage, suggest you eliminate some off the left side. Looking forward to more of your images!

[Phil Ertel]

Nice image showing natures camouflage. Doug covered all of my comments. I just wanted to say I enjoyed this image and am looking forward to seeing more. Thanks for sharing.

[Eric Wilmot]

Welcome, nice first post. Great example of camoflage. I would consider a tighter crop to focus more on the tree/owl than the BG to the left. Maybe something like this (I applied more unsharp mask to it as well)?

Hi Bryan, let just say that was not sure about composition at first :confused:. So, I tried some tighter crop but at the end, I got back to the actual composition. Thanks for the work and the good comment.

[Harshad Barve]

i am enjoying that camo. all points well covered here,
keep them posting
TFS

[Randy Stout]

Eric:

Nice capture, and thanks for your first post.

Daniel hit the most important points. In particular, I believe his rec. crop works very well (I tried it). I might also consider reducing the brightness of the bright background just a bit, it helps the subject stand out a bit more, while not reducing the camo effect.

As Bryan showed, you can get a little more sharpness as well.

Thanks for sharing and look forward to more.

Randy

[Eric Wilmot]

Thanks everyone for your feedback - I will rework my image base on your comment to see how it work.