A friend and I spent 52 miles on foot/kayak over 2.5 days exploring coastal and swamp areas of South Carolina. Nearly every image taken was a new species for me! It was thrilling! We saw the tail feathers of many owls in flight who saw us way before we saw them. But this guy, for whatever reason, was very cooperative. It was a spectacular experience. And all of the effort that went into my images makes it worth it all the more.
7D, 500mm, ISO 1600, f/4, fill flash, and somehow managed to get it tack sharp at 1/250 in the kayak. (ISO 3200 was not desired, since I want to get this printed at 16x24). This is a very slight crop.
I do want to get this printed large, but want to leave it as natural as possible. Any C&C would be appreciated!
Last edited by Colin Knight; 06-20-2010 at 08:58 PM.
Sounds like a nice trip. Nice unobstructed view. For your print I think you'd only need to lighten the darker spot in the UL and maybe darken the brighter spot off his left wing. Nice pic.
Thanks for the comments! I found another comp that I think I like better. I tried to incorporate the suggestions you guys gave. Anyone think the trees in the BG are distracting? I don't think I could ask for more for an owl in habitat shot.
Last edited by Colin Knight; 06-20-2010 at 08:59 PM.
Colin, these guys usually find you before you find them.
I find that these guys usually stay at the same spot for a long period of time.
Owls are fun, love the stare they have and seem so full of curiosity.
Trees are fine, you got a clean view of this guy, good job.
I like the composition in the repost, the tree is not distracting but for some reason I like the first one better even though it is centered. How much did you boos the saturation? I would go for something between original and repost.
Axel, thanks again for the help. What do you think of this pose? Is it too unnatural? I caught him as he was either yawning or calling, I don't remember which.
I think the open beak definitely makes this very interesting. Have you tried to lighten the iris a bit? I know, the eyes of Barred Owls are very dark, but it might worth trying.
Thanks again Axel. I don't think I want to try to lighten anything, since it's already at ISO 1600. I don't want to deal with any extra noise with a large print.
Barred Owl
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