Northern Saw-whet Owl

[Raymond Barlow]

Grimsby, Ontario Canada

Nikon D300 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR


1/25s f/8.0 at 200.0mm iso200

tripod, no flash, 75% of full frame, basic PS, and sharpening.

for some reason, this bird likes my 2 year old, Maria, and it won't take its eyes off of her when we visit. I used this to my advantage, to try to get a "peek" type shot, after several images of the bird in full frame straight on.

[Doug Brown]

Beautiful owl Raymond. Amazing that it was shot at only 200mm. I like the idea of a 'peek' shot, but the problem I have is that the OOF tree trunk is a little too dominant in the frame. Also, I think the owl could stand to be a little brighter. I'd love to get that close to one of these owls some day. BTW, I went to your website, and some of your other Northern Saw-Whet Owls are outstanding.

[Fabs Forns]

Compositionally it is extremely well done, for some reason the OOF tree doesn't bother me.
The Owl looks oversharpened to me, specially on the light tan plumage in the face and the reflection in the eyes.

[Raymond Barlow]

Compositionally it is extremely well done, for some reason the OOF tree doesn't bother me.
The Owl looks oversharpened to me, specially on the light tan plumage in the face and the reflection in the eyes.

thanks for your critique Fabs and Doug... here is a re-edit with no sharpening applied at all., I agree, it was over sharpened, but it is hard for me to tell on this monitor.



Also, I left in the dinner left overs this time., so this image is cropped, levels adj., and resized only.

[Fabs Forns]

Much better Raymond!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the repost better and like the peekaboo look. What is the red spot underneath the bird's left eye in the repost? The dinner leftover you mentioned?

[Raymond Barlow]

I like the repost better and like the peekaboo look. What is the red spot underneath the bird's left eye in the repost? The dinner leftover you mentioned?

thanks Axel, and yes, i believe this bird didn't have a napkin!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I Iike the repost,very nice pose!!!

[Jim Poor]

I prefer the original, but then I get told a lot that my images area over sharpened.

The eyes in the original look so much brighter and more alive to me. Maybe somewhere between the two with a little enhancement specific to the eyes would be a good middle ground.