GHO

[Kim Rollins]

The Great Horned Owls have been calling near my home for about two months now (night and day). Calling to mate and will soon be on nest, in fact I have been occasionally observing one perched on old RTH nest about 100+ feet up in a Cottonwood Tree for several weeks now.

This one will come down to lower branches at times and let me have a go at it.


E-3 Focal Length 313 mm (Sigma 50-500mm)
Exposure Time 1/160 sec f/6.3 ISO400
Metering Mode center weighted (2) Exposure Program manual (1)

Critique and comment always welcome and appreciated too.
Thank you in advance.

[Randy Stout]

Kim:

Striking owl with great eye contact, sharp, well exposed.

Typical owl habitat, bit cluttered.

Looks like a little sharpening halo near head and sky junction.

Cheers

Randy

[Kim Rollins]

Kim:

Looks like a little sharpening halo near head and sky junction.

Cheers

Randy

I noticed the halo after I posted :( and was working on it as you replied, not finihed yet but will repost when I am.

Thank you for your honest critique and comments.

[Dan Busby]

Yes, nice eye contact, sharpness and exposure. The BG branches make it difficult to bring the bird into focus but I know this is usually how you see them.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice Kim, love the pose of the bird the natural blending of the owl with BG makes it a bit more difficult for the owl to stand out but a nice shot. TFS

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice neighbors to have! I like the stare and adding to the other comments, I would give it a bit more room at the bottom.

[Kim Rollins]

Re: Sharpening Halos

Instead of going back through the layers to figure out where I created the halos I just did a bit of selection, clone, healing, smudge tool work.
Reworked but with slight change and/or removal of a few bg twigs at head and neck



Thank you all for the replies. They were considered and appreciated.