Southern Boobook Owl

[Paul Randall]

Thanks to some good advice on night photography from fellow aussie Akos (check out his Barn owl shots if you have'nt already) I was able to get some good shots of these fantastic little owls (about 9 inches tall).
There name comes from the "boobook" or "mopoke" contact call that they make constantly during mating season.
This one was ripping apart a small honeyeater that it had caught. Funnily enough a group of the same honeyeaters had been swooping and alarm calling around the hollow that the bird had been sleeping in for the final hour before darkness. Could this have been a revenge attack for disturbing the owls last hour of sleep?:confused:
Such a pity I was not a touch higher so you could see the prey in the talons of the bird.
Thanks again Akos and thank you BPN community.

P.S. I had to Photoshop the eyes (they were of course red from the flash). Do they look natural enough?

Canon 5D 400mm f5.6 L iso 400 1/800 f8 ,430 speedlite and better beamer, handheld with torch to gain focus

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Mate, I think we are starting a craze here with torches and nocturnal photography! :) I love this image and seeing the full wingspread shows the magical details under the wings. Your method worked really well mate! The eye looks perfect and looks like the pupil was almost entirely dilated. I love seeing the hint of yellow in there. You gotta get yourself a tower hide man! I am working on a mate to get me his, but some part for it had been lost. How high up was this Boobook? Congrats! Hard work paid off perfectly! Want to see more!

[Paul Randall]

This one was approx. 5-6 metres high but luckily there is a steep embankment right next to this tree (one of their favorite perch trees). I think I need a better torch with a more concentrated beam to get focus a bit quicker. It is heaps of fun photographing them but the downside is that I come home and can't get to sleep because I'm buzzing too much and thinking about how best to photograph them the next night.
The other night I was still buzzing at 5 in the morning so I decided to get up and shoot them coming back to their hollows (they are 5 minutes from my house).

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Take a tall ladder mate! one that you can safely secure against a nearby tree or something like that! Even if you can gain 2 meters of height.......well.......know what I am saying? 5 minutes! Cool. :) The Barnies were only 20 minutes from me. So we are lucky here in OZ. ;) I know about the BUZZ!

[Wally Nussbaumer]

Great image of something we normally do not see. I have been using a flashlight (torch) to focus on mammals at night. I found one that is small, compact and provides an extremely bright light. The downside is the batteries do not last long using the high intensity optional bulb (200+ lumens) Manufacturer is SureFire, model 9P.

[Lorant Voros]

Nice one, mate. Are you using flashlight or a large battery powered light? Good pose and nice exposure. Such a shame you didn't grow a bit taller....shooting angle isn't the best, but it is still a nice one. Hope to see other images made by using this technique. Congrats.

[Doug Brown]

Very cool wing position and eye contact. I do wish that you were a bit higher and I like the idea of a stepladder. The pupil looks a little too black to me. Could you explain exactly how you lit this image? Thanks!

[Paul Randall]

I just used my 430 speedlite with a better beamer attached. I used manual mode and did not set any flash exposure comp. The flash was on my cameras hot shoe and I just used a torch to get focus using one shot focusing. Hope that explains it.

[Brian Barcelos]

The angle doesn't bother me as much as the fact that his beak is hidden behind the branch. Still an excellent image, especially for your first try with "night ops".:D I'm sure as you keep doing this you'll come up with plenty of creative ways of getting these guys. Congrats and keep sending these night shots.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely pose by bird , I liked it very much as posted
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Great capture Paul, and love the posture with the upturned wings. Great flashwork too. You have a great teacher in Akos.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very difficult photo, given the technical difficulties this is excellent. I guess next innovation in camera AF needs be IR laser range finder for nigh time tracking of owls!

[Simon Bennett]

Very interesting pose Paul.

[Rob Drummond]

Great pose Paul - ripping apart a honeyeater or has a fart lifted if off the ground?

cheers
Rob