Snowy owl taking off

[Yves Matteau]

I took this picture of this snowy owl after waiting for almost two hours for him to take off.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good timing, Yves. I like the wing tip motion blurs suggesting the power of this bird. Nice snow "splash" too. I would consider taking a bit off the bottom, and reducing the blue cast on the bird's plumage. What were your techs (exif)?

[Peter Farrell]

Wow, it was worth th wait. I relly like the contour and blur of the wings, the snow splash and eye contact.
Peter

[Mark Theriot]

Two hours well spent - great shot! I'd also like to know the techs.

How about cropping him more towards either the top or bottom of the frame?

Mark

[Yves Matteau]

Daniel,

Here are the spec.
f/8
1/640s
Iso 250
420 mm

Correction on the title: snowy "taking off" and not "Landing".

How to make this correction???

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Definitely worth the wait. The wing blur and the splash snow help shows great motion, like the sharpness, feathers detail and the incoming look too. Agree about the blue cast and wish the light was more evenly lit on the face.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks for the additional info Yves, and I've changed the title for you:).

P.S. Don't be afraid to bump up the ISO for action photography...

[Raymond Barlow]

beautiful image Yves., I am so happy to see that someone is willing to put the time in to catch a great shot.

[Stu Bowie]

Great timing, and your patience paid off. Good eye contact too. Im not familiar with snow BG's - just the images I see on this site. Does the BG have a blue cast in it?

[Doug Brown]

Great take-off pose with good eye contact. You're a patient man to wait 2 hours for this shot, but you were handsomely rewarded for your time in the snow. Regarding the techs, I would have chosen a higher ISO and gone for more shutter speed. Agree about reducing the blue cast a little.

[Yves Matteau]

Thanks everybody for taking the time to comment on my picture. By the way is there somebody that can teach me a way for reducing the blue cast on the bird or on the snow itself?

[Doug Brown]

Here's a repost with a white point adjustment in levels, a multiply layer to tame the bright whites, and a color balance adjustment layer. On the last layer I set the yellow/blue slider to -100 and the magenta/green slider to -37.

[Hendri Venter]

Lovely take-off pose and sharp where it needs be. Doug's post a nice improvement.

[Albert Froneman]

Great posture and dramatic take-off action. The movement in the wings add to the image for me! Personally I would have preferred someting inbetween what Doug had reposted and your original image ;) Still a spectacular image and a shot to be proud of!