Molly - The Great Grey Owl

[John_Nevill]

Captured at the weekend at a local Hawk Conservancy Trust.
Cropped using full width into 20x8 format.
EF500 f/4.5 1/1000s ISO320 - Manual Exposure

[John Harper]

Captured at the weekend at a local Hawk Conservancy Trust.
Cropped using full width into 20x8 format.
EF500 f/4.5 1/1000s ISO320 - Manual Exposure

Hi John

I really like this shot of "Molly" I have always found it very difficult to get a head on shot of her as she weaves in and out of the trees in the Woodland Owl demo, so congratulations on a fine shot.

John

[Lana Hays]

John
It can be difficult keeping focus as they are flying toward you......great job. Nice detail on the head. The only thing I'd like....in a perfect world.......would be a more uniform BG.....half is light and the other half is dark. If you speak to her kindly perhaps she''ll give more opportunities. She is beauty.

[John_Nevill]

Thanks for your comments Lana,

Quite a difficult shot really, dappled lighting in a woodland area with the Owl darting between the trees. As I'm not an advocate of static birds shots, I persistently try to improve on catching them in flight. I could edit the background to smooth out the contrasting tones but better to keep it faithful and try again.

[Lana Hays]

John
Oh I do appreciate the difficulty of this image. I have exactly ONE (and only one) such image coming head on and wingspan full width of a Short-eared Owl. There might have been a time when I would have tried to change the BG but in the past few years I've moved away from that. I'd be dancing in the streets with your Owl image.

[Jim Neiger]

John,

I love the head on look in this image. The light was less than ideal, but you made the best of it. Well done.