Kissimmee barred owl

[Alfred Forns]

Went out on the boat with Jim Neiger and got lots of action ... not much surprises here :D He put us in lots of birds particularly raptors with two kinds of owls, barred and great horned.

Had multiple chances at this owl and its partner but the keeper rate was low. Very difficult to focus on these guys with all the bg elements. This is probably the best place to have a 300 2.8, I'm sure will have a better keeper rate than anything else !!! Looking forward to the next trip !!!

Comments welcome and much appreciated

Canon 7D
100-400 IS
f 5.6 1/1250 sec
ISO 500
Manual exp

[Dave Mills]

Hi Al, Nice head on pose with a pano crop that really fits the subject. Not easy grabbing the focus on the narrow profile with a backround thats close to the subject...Well done!

[arash_hazeghi]

Tough to focus Al!!! naked fast prime probably the best choice here focus wise. Did well with the zoom
Very nice! Jim's boat sure does magic attracting these birds!

BTW, did you get one with eyes open?

Best

[Lance Peters]

Hi AL - well done - can imagine how hard it was to get focus with that BG.
Big Congrats :)

[Bob Miller]

Hi Al....nice focus with a very difficult bg.
BTW...Did you handhold? ( jim's teaching specialty)

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Alfred,

Greetings. I like the centered composition & the pano aspect ratio... I find the background distracting... tried to mute it down a bit.



Monochrome channel mixer with emphasis on red channel, curves adjustment flattening darks, blended back color with luminosity blending mode. (also tried desaturating the background to lesser success).

What I would do... anyway.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Myer Bornstein]

Al
Nice capture, it is a tough BG, but that is the location. Jim has these birds trained :D

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Michael

Good idea re posting to show what you did, always like it.

Changes wise all I see is the bg a little darker which would be a matter of taste, for this image could go with either one. For making the changes you don't need to get that complicated with procedures but in PS there are always 99 ways of doing something !!!!

[Michael Pancier]

was this from the boat? I saw the ones by Overstreet and Cypress lake yesterday but had similar issues getting a lock with the background elements.....nice getting him out in the open though

[Alfred Forns]

Yes Mike It was from the boat, not many keepers !!