Barn Owl

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Another from my series. This individual was easily recognized by the markings on its bill. If you look carefully, you can see a rodent's tail hanging under the owl's tail. The night after I photographed this individual I took two friends out and we noted the owl's right leg was so badly broken that it was dangling by the skin only. That was Saturday night a week ago. Last Thursday night I visited again and saw six owls except this one. I am afraid it perished as it possibly would have had a very tough time hunting with one leg only. :( That Saturday night, the right leg was hanging below the tail when it perched on posts. I tried to follow this individial that night to hopefully capture it eating its prey or to get a different angle, but I am sure you do understand the difficulty of the situation.

30D, 300/1.4x, ISO400, f/8, 1/125th, HH, 430EX and beamer, flash on 0 EC. Almost FF image.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent shot Akos, I am sorry for this fellow, wish he had access to a doctor. tech details are perfect with lots of detail. How about straightening the perch and getting rid of the wire behind it?

[Ramon M. Casares]

I have seen Owlswith broken legs hunting so I will hope for the best :)
How I love these Owls, they are to me one of the most beautifull night raptors ever. Nice image, pose, detail and of coulrse.. species! Congratualitons!

[Randy Stout]

Akos:

Now that is a look back pose! :)
Sad story, lets hope Ramon is right about them surviving with a broken leg.

The perch and wire are my only concerns here. You might try a version with them at a lower luminosity level, might downplay their impact.

The mouse tail sticking out is great!

Randy

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Really nice image Akos. Great exposure with a lovely BG. Let's hope for the best.

[Connie Mier]

Akos, thanks for sharing the story, always difficult to see injured animals, but such is nature. These night shots of yours are fascinating, and a lovely capture here. The barbed wire doesn't bother me, but the mouse tail seems a bit strange if you didn't know what it was.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the pose, sharpness and eye contact. I'm not a big fan of barbed wire and would probably remove it.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Akos, thanks for the story. Great flashwork, and I like the direct eye contact. The shape of their faces are amazing, and good to see the tail of his catch below his tail. I truly hope you get to see him again. Cheers.

[Dave Barnes]

I love the feather detail captured and the good eye contact. Sad story Akos.
I would consider removing the wire from the perch

[Rob Drummond]

Nice one Akos, love the over the shoulder look

cheers
Rob

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

What a shot and what detail, stunning.

Now the question as I have a resident owl that comes and sits on my Hills Hoist some nights but try as I might I can't get a decent shot of him with my 580 EXII and I have ordered my Better Beemer.

What distance did you shoot from and is the Better Beemer the way to go?

[Ilija Dukovski]

Congrats Akos, that's one wicked image.
This is one of the "I wish it was mine!"
Agree with Axel about removing the barb-wire.
Congrats again!

[Gal Shon]

Brilliant shot that is only overshadowed by the sad story.
I like the look-back, sharpness, BG, colors and eye contact.
Another vote for removing the wire

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Thanks for looking guys and for the suggestions. I sincerely appreciate them. :)
I don't personally mind the barbed wire, albeit would have loved it to be rusty. IAC, I removed it and burned the perch post a little.
Thanks again. :)

Chris
You should be able to approach it to within flash range even sans beamer. Though it all will depend on your approach and the owl's personality and tolerance limit. I have been extremely blessed to be able to get to almost touching distance of Boobooks and Barn Owls at night when obviously they are far more alert and ready to flee. I did use the beamer on all shots even though they were very close. Probably lucky that I didn't ruin pics.
With the beamer my understanding is that you should use it when the subject is more than about 8-10m away. If you shoot a subject that is closer you may get an image that has a dark band on the bottom as the fresnel really concentrates your flash beam into a very small rectangular area.

[Kiran Poonacha]

The repost looks great Bhai, cool pose, loved the head turn and you have controlled the light well.. congrats..