Great Horned Owl(C)

[Joe Senzatimore]

Two great people in our area have an animal rescue/rehab that they operate completly on their own with no outside funding other than donations. They take birds to schools to educate children and run educational programs of all kinds. All in their spare time. We have called them a few times to come and collect injured/stranded birds and they have never refused. So we at NWPLI decided to do a little fund raiser for them today. We asked club members who wanted to attend a captive raptor shoot to make a donation and Cathy and Bobby brought out 7 magnificent birds for us to photograph. All attending had a great time and we raised a little over $500.00 for the rehab people. Everyone won. The skills Lou,Luis and I learned on an Alan Murphy workshop came in very handy today.

400ISO F8 at 1/1000th
Fill at minus1&2/3

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

Lovely owl, nice coy head tilt, great view of talons on perch, shows the soft ear tufts well.

I wish there was a sliver more room at the bottom. I also have a sense of the slightest green color cast.

I did try a version where I set the black point on the darkest spot in the image, and it added a little more bite to the image and removed the cast, but it is very close as is, and you saw the bird in person, so get to be the final judge.

Nice story.

Randy

[LouBuonomo]

Nice Joe, can't comment on the cast due to being color blind !

It was a super morning I was just in love with the Ferruginous Hawk.. and the Kestral was a rockstar !

Yes, the perches weren't half bad.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Joe, you guys should be applauded for the good deed you guys did for that rescue/rehab centre!! Great story to go with an awesome image.

I thought there was a slight cast too, and added a tiny bit of magenta on the repost. While at it, I thought the image was a little light so I darkened the midtones, and the highlights (to taste). Also removed the tiny remnant "red-eye" caused by the flash (and I added saturation to the iris), and patched out the two OOF twigs close to each shoulder. Hope you don't mind, as it was an image worth working on...only other thing is that I wish for more room for the clipped tail.

Great looking perch, and the colours in the BG are awesome. Couldn't ask for a better pose either. Way to go!!

[Alan Murphy]

Proud of you Joe. Beautiful work. I might have had you back off just a bit, as already mentioned.

[Fabs Forns]

I am so glad to read stories like this, Joe :)
Great portrait if a bit tight at bottom as mentioned. Very pretty BG that complements the subject.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Proud of you Joe. Beautiful work. I might have had you back off just a bit, as already mentioned.

Wanted to back off but ran out of room. Too much glass. Not a bad problem to have!!!!!
Thanks Alan.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Joe, you guys should be applauded for the good deed you guys did for that rescue/rehab centre!! Great story to go with an awesome image.

I thought there was a slight cast too, and added a tiny bit of magenta on the repost. While at it, I thought the image was a little light so I darkened the midtones, and the highlights (to taste). Also removed the tiny remnant "red-eye" caused by the flash (and I added saturation to the iris), and patched out the two OOF twigs close to each shoulder. Hope you don't mind, as it was an image worth working on...only other thing is that I wish for more room for the clipped tail.

Great looking perch, and the colours in the BG are awesome. Couldn't ask for a better pose either. Way to go!!

Thanks Daniel. Ran out off room , thus the tight bottom. Guess I could extend the canvas. May try when I have some time to sit and play.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Joe:

Lovely owl, nice coy head tilt, great view of talons on perch, shows the soft ear tufts well.

I wish there was a sliver more room at the bottom. I also have a sense of the slightest green color cast.

I did try a version where I set the black point on the darkest spot in the image, and it added a little more bite to the image and removed the cast, but it is very close as is, and you saw the bird in person, so get to be the final judge.

Nice story.

Randy

Thanks Randy. What I posted was very close to what was seen. Do appreciate the helpfull coments.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Lovely pose and stare sight.

Daniel's repost works great in here. It's a pity about the lack of more room especially on top and bottom.

[Harshad Barve]

beautiful bird and techs well covered here
I applaud you for the good deed you guys did
TFS

[Matt Vosniak]

I used to volunteer at a raptor center that would at times allow folks to get images on selected days. It was always a lot of fun to be a part of. Congrats on helping out the rehab center and making the most of this opportunity. I especially love Daniel's rework of the shot. Well done on all accounts!!

[arash_hazeghi]

Very beautiful, sharpness, colors BG everything spot on. TFS

[Clement Francis]

I love owls, this is a very gorgeous picture of this beauty. The clarity is mind blowing

[paul leverington]

Hey Joe--What I like is the line that directs up to the left top corner and then shifts by way of the head angle to the right. All in all, one heck of a fantastic shot. My vote on the contrast boost is somewhere in between the original and daniels post. For a captive this might be one of the best looking ones I have ever seen. Usually you can tell they're not wild but not here. Great story and great work to help out the cause. What by the way is going on with this guy as far as what is, or was, wrong with him?

Paul

* next time point the camera down a bit and take a shot for canvas.

[Kiran Poonacha]

good to donate for a cause like this one, the tail issue already covered, great Job on the repost. I loved the colours and eye contact on this on..