Short-eared Owl

[Geoff Malosh]

I'm fortunate to live in a location with several areas nearby that are used by Short-eared Owls in winter. This image was made at one of those spots about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh. I had been waiting in my car for dusk to get closer (and for the owls to come out) and had just stepped out onto the road to photograph a nearby Northern Harrier, when suddenly this bird popped up from a ditch about 50 feet away from the car! I think it might have heard my camera and was curious about the clicking sound, because it proceeded to fly directly over my head, watching me the entire time. (I got one in-focus shot of the bird overhead but the top of the head above the eyes was cut off...) Anyway, this was the best of the series. It was still only about 3 PM, but once this bird was up, several others also came out. Needless to say I got a lot of Short-eared Owl photos that day.

Canon 50D, 500mm f/4 +1.4x, 1/1250 @ f/5.6 (manual), ISO 250, evaluative, handheld, 23 November 2008.

Comments appreciated.

Geoff

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Lucky you, great to have these nearby. I like the soft light and eye contact and would only sharpen the bird a bit more.

[bobby]

I love short ears and this is a classic shot. Sharpening looks just perfect on my monitor.

[Randy Stout]

Geoff:

Nicely captured, fun story, excellent pose and composition.

I agree with Axel about a bit more sharpening. If it were mine, I would do just the face/eyes, and see how it looks.

Was there snow on the ground? The underwing area looks beautifully filled in like you get with snow reflections.

Cheers

Randy

[Gal Shon]

I love the flying pose and the eye contact.
There's a lack of fine details, maybe a strong NR?

[Geoff Malosh]

Thanks for everyone's comments. Here is a repost with some additional sharpening. As to some of the questions... yes, there was snow on the ground which really improved the overall picture, and no, there was no special NR needed... just some shallow DOF and motion blur I think.

[Harshad Barve]

amazing image , lovely wing pose and great eye contact
repost looks better
TFS

[Dave Barnes]

Oh super exposure on this one. Love the detail in the feathers and the comp. The revised post does look better.

[Stu Bowie]

Great sighting and capture Geoff, and love the flying angle. The direct eye contact puts this over the top. Your repost with the additional sharpening does look better. Well done.

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly image and the repost is much better. You might try lightening the bird's left eye just a smidge. Also, for a print, I would suggest cropping a bit from the right and adding the same amount of canvas right. All in all, superb; that stare is killer.

[Geoff Malosh]

Thanks everyone. Artie - it's funny you mention the left eye, because of the angle to the sun in the raw image the left side of the bird's face was significantly darker than the right, and I had already done some work to bring it more into balance both in brightness and color balance (the shaded side was much bluer). Like the original sharpening I probably didn't take it far enough.

PS - my favorite aspect of this image: the bird's left eye is hidden from the sun, but the right is exposed... and if you look close the left pupil is clearly wider than the right...

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Geoff. I was aware of the light angle. You did very well. And I did not notice the difference in pupil; size.

[david cramer]

Great pose and wonderful eye contact. Nice work on processing the image.

[Danny Laredo]

Geoff, your repost is by far the better. The added sharpness made all the differnce in the world.
Love the eye contact and flight pose.