Barn Owl in flight
Last night finally my persistence paid somewhat better dividends. It's just a bit soft on the disc, but overall I am still pleased. Yes, it was on my own again. No one wants to shoot with me. :( Well maybe shoot me, but that is a different story. :D
30D, 300/4L, ISO400, f/8, 1/125th, 430EX at -1/3, beamer, HH, manual mode and manual focus, used squeaks to get it to fly around me a couple of times, then it lost interest. Added some canvas below and I cropped just a touch from both edges.
Terrific pose and very dramatic BG.
Did you use a trigger release?
One keeper for sure!!!
Thank you Fabs. No trigger, just by hand. Manually tracked owl in VF while lighting at the same time. It's very tough and I miss many shots. Looking at the stats, my two best shots were from last night's outing. And they are just acceptable for me. Even at this rate my success alone is barely 1-2%.
Lovely flash work, and excellent job in obviously tough conditions. The web version sure is sharp enough.
Wow, the eye contact is great! Well done, and it does look quite sharp here.
Very Cool! Great results from the technique you described. Heck nice results for any technique. I love the eye contact and the view of the underside of the wings. Look plenty sharp to me. Very nice!
Akos:
You need to mount the flashlight (torch) on your hat, so you can move it while using both hands on the camera.
That or get a friend to help!
Are you using a recorded sound, or just your own squeaky voice? :)
These have been great fun, keep them coming!
Randy
Amazing photo! I cant believe you manually focussed this in the dark. Incredible!
thanks for looking! :)
Glenn, only my narrow maglite helped with seeing the owl in the VF. I hold it under the lens barrell and have to constantly adjust the angle of the beam as the owl gets closer. I use the thumb and middle (or ring, can't remember) fingers to turn the focus ring on the lens. The birds still fly fast even though they are not necessarily a fast flying bird.
Randy,
When I see them in the torchbeam over the fields, I squeak for a while, that raises their interest. Last night, I just squeaked without even seeing an owl and about 30 seconds after I started, one almost brushed my head from behind as it passed over me and sat on a fence post 30 feet from me. Occasionally I will use their calls to see if there is response, but I squeak mostly as it is far easier than getting my iPod out with a speaker and press replay (not an iPod, but similar and cannot loop). Not that I would. I play the call 3x then let it rest for about 30 minutes so as not to overdo it.
Killer shot Akos, love those whites against the black BG. This sure was a very challanging situation with you doing all the work, I'm glad the effort has paid off.
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Way to go Akos, great work!:)
Holy cow, this is sweet! I have no idea what it takes to capture this type of action, but it is very nice. Great job, your patience paid off.
Awesome shot Akos your efforts sure paid off .... Well Done!
I just logged on and my eyes were drawn to this picture. It is amazing how you can take these pictures with all that gear in your hand. I'd go with you for sure, but would be holding my own camera gear and probably my own torch...but I'm not sure I'd have this great result. Well done, Akos.
Stunning image, mate!! Well done.
Akos - No one wants to shoot with you??? What the??? Even if you were not intrested in photography this would be a great experience.
Were abouts in sydney are you - I figure its only a 8-10 hour drive from were I am. Are these guys there over a extended period??
Stunning shot - Well done mate!!!
Good show Akos! Especially considering that you did this in manual focus! The facial disc is a tiny bit soft but it's in the ballpark IMO. I squeaked one of these guys down to within 10 feet one night while my wife and I were in our spa, we thought it might land on our heads!! You might try ISO 800 next time, that would allow you to stop down to f11 for more DOF. Love this!
wow, what a shot !! Will they come out like this during the day??
Thanks for looking and the encouraging comments folks. :) I'll post some more normal images over the coming days.
Lance, I am just north from Penrith in Cambridge Gardens. The owls appear to be fairly reliable here lately. In the past week I went out four times and saw 2,2,3 and 6 respectively, with most seen last Thursday night. I was performing one of my squeaks blindly, not knowing if there were owls, and one almost brushed my head from behind and landed about 8-9m in front of me on a post. Cool birds for sure mate. One sad thing, that the one with the badly broken leg seemed to have disappeared. I have not seen it at all.
Very well done Akos!
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Stunning image Akos! Very well done!
Ákos, this is perfect. Awesome wing pose makes this really cool.
Sharpness is outstanding.
Szimi
Akos this image is great! as you I love raptos and this one is no exception. Everything has been said already but I wonder how would this image benefit from making a more pano version and warm up the image a few points, could be my monitor but any ways is just an idea.
You're definately the OWL man.
Great shot--Great impact. Like your description of your technique. I think this would look great in b&w or sepia.
regards
dan
This is a beauty Akos.
Thanks everyone for looking and the encouragement. :) Now that I start my new job today on nights, I finish before midnight. There is every chance I will visit here once a week on my way home from work for an hour or so and try to refine the techniques. The hat mounting of the flashlight sounds good. :)
Sorry Ray, forgot to answer earlier.Originally Posted by Raymond Barlow
I have seen them hunt late afternoon just as the sun dips down over the horizon. However, I had no luck getting them close. I think they are too hungry and are busy searching the fields for rodents. Funny, as I saw Black-shouldered Kites at the same time of the day. Doug Brown (from memory) has a great evening shot of one in flight. It's in the general discussions forum somewhere.
Stunning image, mate ! Well done !!!
Why is it stunning? Because I can't do it :o
Yup, it's stunning, mate ! Well done !!
Just stunning !
Huge Congrats !!
Thank you Desmond. You are way too kind. I appreciate your kind words. :)
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