Silent Sentinal

[paul leverington]

Taken on a veeeeery cold and crispy morning up in Canada while trudging through thigh deep snow in the middle of a large field bundled up to the point where I felt I was in a space suit and everything took a lot of effort. I had nearly completely walked by this guy because I was looking down as I was trudging, and with trying to set up the tripod and adjust the legs to get low, I think I got quite lucky that he stayed put--- cause I definitely was making a lot of movement. The seed stalk he's on is normally straight up and down but here is bent over with his weight. This is a crop down of the enviormental version I originally made this to be--having shot that enviornment in succesive shots. I wanna say he wasn't even thirty feet from me, but I'm relying on the memory on that.

Mark II 600+1.4X(840) 1/160@f5.7 ISO 200

[Randy Stout]

Paul:

Nicely exposed, great pose, diagonal perch works well, like the repeating faint diagonal lines in background, the ruffled feathers speak to the wind, just the right amount of snow. It makes me shiver.

I would be interested in seeing your environmental shots as well, to see how you handled that.

Cheers

Randy

[arash_hazeghi]

This is one amazing shot, perch, BG, eye contact, SH and eye contact take this to the very top. The snow is really dramatic.

[denise ippolito]

Paul, I like how you included the the fork in the perch. Beautiful image.The snow is a fantastic touch. Beautiful BG. soft whispy plumage. Yet fantastic details-Excellent image IMO.

[Colin Knight]

Wow, Paul, that's great work. Looks like some more stalks to the bird's right that are a bit distracting. They may be hard to get rid of due to the snow. I can't think of anything to make it better.

Thanks for sharing,
colin

[paul leverington]

Full version less a few tweaks in contrast and tone.

[Matt Vosniak]

Both of these shots I don't think could get much better Paul. The blowing snow and the way the wind was obivously fluffing this guys feathers give the viewer a perfect sense of the coldness of the environment and the perch and detail in the owl are tremendous. Lastly how can you not love the piercing yellow eyes on a Great Gray. Awesome!!!

[Kiran Poonacha]

Paul I just loved the I loved the crop, the eye contact is superb, the perch is great, good details and the snow flakes put it over the top, congrats...

[Raymond Barlow]

sweet image Paul.. That is a big bird, and at 840mm @ 1.3 crop, I am going to guess it was about 80 feet at least., I wish I was there!! awesome environment with the snow., and a look that would kill!

I like the angle a lot too.

[Harshad Barve]

Amazing image Paul , I loved repost , give feel of place
TFS

[David Hemmings]

As good a shoof this Owl as you are likely to see, I actually prefer the full version, sweet stuff Mr L.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Amazing shot, love the direct eye contacts, the wind blowing the feather and snow put his over the top. I really like the repost with more environment shown.

[Glenn Bartley]

I just love this species....the snow really makes it special...

[Michael Zajac]

Fantastic image all around! I love the snow and the stare.

[Danny Laredo]

This is just excellent. Love the stare perch and the whole mood in this image. Just outstanding.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This is very cool and well worth the effort. Both crops work for me, I particularly like the soft light, stare and snow. Have you tried to apply a little bit CW rotation to level the eyes? Does it just look like you shortened the perch for the vertical crop and did you lighten the eyes? Thanks for sharing, makes me really want to see this species in the wild sometime.

[Fabs Forns]

I like both, but prefer the wider, the compo there rocks!

[Betsie Storm]

Paul, both images are great, personally prefer the one with more BG. Well done for getting this in the cold conditions. Like the sharp image still showing the softness of the feathers & mood with falling snow.

[David Fletcher]

Lovely images Paul. Really think the wider version rocks big time! Love the snow falling. Superb.

[Graham Smith.]

I think the consensus is this one beautiful capture.
I love the snow and the wind evidence, as well as the perch. The full version is my preference also.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Paul,
Both are absolutely wonderful.....and this may be a first for me.....I like the full environment image (2nd image) slightly better.....now don't faint Artie!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

The snow is a fantastic touch. Beautiful BG!!!

[Danny J Brown]

Paul: These are both extraordinary shots and truly the reason that I go out every moment that I can to take photos. I guess you realize that this is a "lifetime shot" for a lot of us. By the way, I like the second one best but I wouldn't kick that first one out of my....photo file (LOL).

[Nagesh Mula]

I must say both these pics are very good. Although I liked the second one more for its composition. Congrats Paul!!

[Doug Brown]

Killer yellow eyes and great habitat. I prefer the compositional balance of the horizontal version, but the vertical version is no slouch!

[paul leverington]

Paul: These are both extraordinary shots and truly the reason that I go out every moment that I can to take photos. I guess you realize that this is a "lifetime shot" for a lot of us. By the way, I like the second one best but I wouldn't kick that first one out of my....photo file (LOL).

Danny--Pretty much a one time deal for met too. I feel quite fortunate for getting it.

Axel- didn't shorten the perch, I think your right about doing a slight rotation,and I'm not sure I lightened the eyes as I did the work on it quite sometime ago. If I did-- I flattened the layer and have no record of it now in the version I am working with. They are quite bright yellow in reality. Sat boost was around ten done global, so that kicked it a little but not that much difference can be seen really..


So everyone pretty much favors the enviornmental one----me too. I'm glad for the concensus.

Paul

[Dave Barnes]

I love the atmosphere and feeling captured. I always prefer a tighter crop it seems to intesify the mood so I would go for the first post.
I would love to have an image like this in my gallery.

[Miklós Ónodi]

Gorgeous image, hypnotic yellow eyes...
I also prefer the full version.

Miklós
_______________________________________
Miklós Ónodi / www.cirlus.hu

BirdPhotographyHungary

[Paul Fusco]

Sweet shot, Paul!

- Paul

[Jim Zipp]

Paul, What a killer shot! Both are great but I really like the horizontal a lot.