Northern Pygmy-Owl repost

[Dan Brown]

Here's another try with a vertical crop (50%) C&C welcome.


Camera Model: NIKON D300, handheld
Shutter speed: 1/500 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Spot
ISO: 400
Lens: VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D
Focal length: 400mm
Focal length: 600mm (in 35mm film)
VR Image Stabilization: On
AF mode: AF-S

[arash_hazeghi]

Love the blood on the beak, those large yellow eyes are so cool! I might increase the contrast and sat on the bird just a bit to give it more pop. wish the tree in BG had not collided with the owl. TFS

[Kurt Bowman]

Very cool shot Dan! I also like the blood on the beak. I agree about the contrast. The bird doesn't look super sharp, but if you increase the contrast or even the blacks, it should create more detail. Might still need a bit more sharpening, but might not after the changes.

[David Fletcher]

Agree with the suggestions above Dan. Love the way those eyes leap out at you.

[Kim Rollins]

I woke up to this image as the first I viewed this AM and it was a treat.


I played a bit with it to see if I could pop the bird a bit more. Ran and action and curves on it and here is the result for your consideration

[Danny J Brown]

Hey Danny - It must have made your day running across this little critter. It would have made my month, or maybe even year! Good job of capturing the little guy. As usual, the eyes on this species really make the shot.

[Dan Brown]

Thanks for your efforts Kim! I did play with the image with curves etc, but I really tried to keep the image close to what I actually saw that day with the owl, he was not very contrasty! I seem to have lost some sharpness on upload to the forum here IMO? I have printed this image 8x11 and it is very sharp? Thanks all for the comments and help!