Eurasian Eagle-ow (spring) (Bubo bubo)

[Jonas.Bergqvist]

Another picture of the beautiful eagle owl.
This is the same place but the picture is taken in the spring when the male attracts the female and marks his territory with his deep resonant call (“ooh-hu”).

I tried to capture the Owl's natural environment, while the image gives the viewer the sense of stealth and mystery surrounding the owl.

Camera Model: NIKON D200
Focal Length: 300.0mm (35mm equivalent: 450mm)
Aperture: f/2.8
Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)
ISO equiv: 640

[Jim Neiger]

This one is not my cup of tea. The subject gets lost in a clutter of silhouettes some of which are in focus and some that aren't. The most interesting thing is the colors in the sky bleeding thru the clutter.

[John Chardine]

I like the idea here Jonas. It is definitely out of the box for avian but I think it is effective in conveying the mood you describe. It might be interesting to crop vertical and just include the in-focus trees in the vicinity of the owl. You could pump up the saturation a bit to make the image pop.

[Danny J Brown]

John said exactly what I was going to say so just refer to John's words of wisdom above.

DB

[Paul Jones]

I really like what you are doing here. Maybe a little closer crop would increase the drama.

PJ

[Jonas.Bergqvist]

This one is not my cup of tea. The subject gets lost in a clutter of silhouettes some of which are in focus and some that aren't. The most interesting thing is the colors in the sky bleeding thru the clutter.

Thank you for your critique Jim! I appreciate that you are honest and point to what is "wrong".

The atmosphere captured is just right, the subject is just too small. In order to get the stealth to work, the owl must be a bit bigger than presented, as it looks overwhelmed in the current setting. But I do like the mood you wanted to create, so keep them coming and get closer.

Thank you Peter! I think you're right, I should try to get closer to the owl, but not much. because the out of focus trees helps the mood a lot.

I like the idea here Jonas. It is definitely out of the box for avian but I think it is effective in conveying the mood you describe. It might be interesting to crop vertical and just include the in-focus trees in the vicinity of the owl. You could pump up the saturation a bit to make the image pop.

John said exactly what I was going to say so just refer to John's words of wisdom above.

DB

I really like what you are doing here. Maybe a little closer crop would increase the drama.

PJ

Thank you John, Danny and Paul. I've tried several different crops with this one but I always come back to this version (uncropped). I don't know why this one works the best for me, it just does.
If any of you want to show what you meant, you are welcome to make your own version of the crop (is that common on this forum?).