Eurasian Eagle-owl (Bubo bubo)

[Jonas.Bergqvist]

I found the forum a while ago and signed up recently. This is my first post here.

An Eurasian Eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) at dawn waiting for prey.


Picture is taken from a hide.

Exif:
Time: 025 (AM)
Camera: D200
Lens (mm): Nikon 300/2.8 AI-S
ISO: 400
Aperture: 4
Shutter: 1/125
Exp. Comp.: -3.0
Program: Aperture Priority
Focus Mode: MANUAL

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Jonas, welcome to BPN!! Glad you've decided to post.

I'm really liking the concept of your image. The silhouette is succesfully managed, and I love the rosy hue to the sky. The tree the Eagle-owl is perched nicely stands out from the thicker clump of evergreens. One thing I would suggest, comp-wise, is to crop a good portion out from the bottom as their is just too much black at bottom half of the image IMO.

Nicely done, and hoping to see more from you, including critiques:)

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Dan; best would be 2/3 sky, 1/3 trees. The trees could use some selective sharpening. Sky color is sweet.

[Tony Whitehead]

Welcome, Jonas. Good cropping suggestions from Dan and Artie. I love the sky colour and sharpness of the owl in it's tree which puts it on a slightly different plane to the slightly soft forest.

[Jonas.Bergqvist]

Thank you all for your feedback!

I have made a new version of the picture with the crop suggestions you gave.
It was a difficult picture to crop. It is difficult to get good balance in it. Now the picture looks a lot heavier on the right side.

Also new is that I did not darken down the black so much so that the Owl's tree shows better.

Arthur: How does the sharpening affect the trees? DOF is too short for them to be any sharper. The distance from me to the owl was about 30 meters and the distance from the owl to the forest was about 10 meters. I tried to sharpen them but saw no improvement :/

New version:

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you all for your feedback! I have made a new version of the picture with the crop suggestions you gave. It was a difficult picture to crop. It is difficult to get good balance in it. Now the picture looks a lot heavier on the right side. Also new is that I did not darken down the black so much so that the Owl's tree shows better. Arthur: How does the sharpening affect the trees? DOF is too short for them to be any sharper. The distance from me to the owl was about 30 meters and the distance from the owl to the forest was about 10 meters. I tried to sharpen them but saw no improvement [/IMG]

Jonas, I only suggested cropping from the bottom :) So not really difficult at all. My suggestion to try to sharpen the trees was not a smart one; sorry. It might have been possible but it would have been a lot of work and probably not worth it. I much prefer the tree black.

[Jonas.Bergqvist]

Jonas, I only suggested cropping from the bottom :) So not really difficult at all. My suggestion to try to sharpen the trees was not a smart one; sorry. It might have been possible but it would have been a lot of work and probably not worth it. I much prefer the tree black.

Well now when I read your suggestions again, I see it. The picture is much better with that crop. The only problem is printing and framing. I have to make a custom frame if I print it someday.
Thank you once more for your suggestion.

[Arthur Morris]

We just critique the images not the frames :)