Welcome Joe and first let me say that I'm envious that you've photographed a barn owl. I like the light here and the wing spread. That being said it would have been nice to see both eyes on this bird as well. The colours in the BG are good but I find the brownish spots in the blue area a little distraction. You may want to consider adding a touch more space on the left side of the frame to give the bird more room to fly into. I still wish that I had this in my collection.
Last edited by Stephen Stephen; 03-02-2008 at 10:07 PM.
Thanks for the kind comments Stephen. I was very lucky as an unususal combination of weather conditions brought these guys out during the day. They basically were starving so they were both bold and agressively hunting. I will clean up the sky a bit and try to extend the left margin. "Proper" cropping is one of my greatest challenges, so I do appreciate your advice on that.
Thanks, Dave, for the kind comment. My vast experience on this site (two days) has made me much more aware of the necessity to get better head position. Hmmm, wonder if I can turn his head using photoshop.......
Lovely image with beautiful detail. This is a wild and free bird 'going about it's business' i.e. hunting so it is concentrating on that. Why do birds always have to have 'eye contact' with the photographer? This would indicate that the presence of the photographer had caught the birds attention and possibly interfered with its hunting pattern. Personally, I like to see birds doing something rather than just sitting on a twig - not that I am against well lit and posed 'bird portraits' - they all have their place. Digital photography has greatly increased our chances of 'action' photography - it makes you wonder how we managed in the days of K64! Anyway, it is a lovely image caught at the right moment - well done.
Hello Joe. I find this image just lovely. The natural pose and the colors, details and bg are all top notch. I hope I can see and photograph this wonderful species some day. I see a bit of noise in the bg, are you using a noise reduction program? Also, I might consider putting your name with a copyright symbol a little lower in the right bottom of the frame.
Dave
Dave, I did not use any NR on this shot. I thought about the copywright symbol, but can't find it on the keyboard. Will do some research. Thanks for your kind comments.
Fabs, Thank you for the very warm welcome. I am very excited about the caliber of feedback I have seen on this forum, and am looking forward to the help.
Melvin, I don't know how they did it in the film days either. But I do think I shot some world class shots with my Canon AE-1. One of these days, I'll get them developed. Thanks for the kind comments.