Burrowing Owl at very last light.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This little guy was located in a busy spot, and hunkered down into the vegetation. The trick was to find an angle that minimized distractions but still have good light on it. By lying flat on my stomach and shooting through an opening between grasses I was able to throw background and foreground elements more pleasingly out-of-focus. I did have to sacrifice light angle a bit, but liked the very late evening feel this gave. I find the taller grasses give the imprerssion of being in a natural field rather than an empty housing lot.

Canon 1D MKIV + 100-400L +1.4TC @560mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/9, ISO 800, -1 1/3 EC, FF.

[Craig Brelsford]

Serious work as usual, Daniel. A good bird-in-habitat shot. You had a lot of problems to solve to make this one work, and you solved many of them. The left eye however reduces the impact of the image. On the plus side, the golden sun hits the breast of the owl like a spotlight. Question: Did you soften the BG in PP in order to make the owl stand out more?

[Joe Senzatimore]

Real tough condition handled very well. I know it was late but it still seems a bit too dark. The habitat works well. Love the composition as well. You made lemonade from lemons.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks guys! Craig, I did not soften the BG in PP - just naturally OOF from the low angle.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

This image works very well IMO, although would have like a bit more space at the bottom. Light falls nicely on the eyes and the image has a great dark out of focus BG. Foreground elements do not distract, I like the subject and those beautiful eyes TFS

[Gary Hamilton]

Good job just spotting this opportunity--I'm terrible at finding owls. Agree that having a little more of the left eye showing would be helpful. Although the available light was apparently pretty low, the techs suggest you could have used less negative EC to brighten the image. Having said that, I like the image as is--not every photo should look like it was made in perfect light, especially when the maker wants to convey a sense of last light, as you have done here.

[Bill Dix]

I like this one - very different from the usual Burrowing Owl images we've seen here. I particularly like the softly spotlit bird and the way he stands out from the oof vegetation. Well planned and captured.

[Charles Scheffold]

The lighting in this image is superb - very moody. My only criticism would be the dark shadow next the left eye. For some reason it draws my attention. I wonder if brightening that area up slightly would improve it? Not sure.

Still, this is an image to be proud of.

thanks
Charles

[Greg Basco]

Daniel, beautiful image -- love the light, the OOF foreground and background and props of course for getting it full-frame and composing in-camera! Congrats on a seriously fine image.

Cheers,
Greg

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Very moody, strong sense of time of day, good separation from his natural habitat.

I find the lighting very effective overall.

Cheers

Randy

[Gary Hamilton]

Good job just spotting this opportunity--I'm terrible at finding owls. Agree that having a little more of the left eye showing would be helpful. Although the available light was apparently pretty low, the techs suggest you could have used less negative EC to brighten the image. Having said that, I like the image as is--not every photo should look like it was made in perfect light, especially when the maker wants to convey a sense of last light, as you have done here.

Just to clarify, by "perfect light" I meant a higher quantity of light. The spotlight effect here works very nicely.

[Stu Bowie]

Perfectly placed for the light to fall on the head and eyes. Furthermore, it just makes the little guy pop even more. I like the darker surrounding grasses too. It all came together here. Well done Dan.

[Pieter de Waal]

Very effective use of the light and surrounding habitat to create the late evening feel to the image. Love the image as is as the faraway stare just adds to the mood.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

What a challenge nicely solved. I like the mood but feel the shadow encroaching from the left on the owls left eye is a bit unfortunate. Great job! JR

[denise ippolito]

Daniel, This has a nice painterly look to it. I like the dramatic looking light and the pose.

[Danny J Brown]

This is a super shot for sure, Daniel. I love it!

DB

[Todd Frost]

As mentioned, very nice mood to this Daniel. As a lover of darker images I find this very appealing, I have a hard stuggle (with myself) brightening my images to satisfy the bulk of people viewing my images. Love the eyes on these guys. Would like a bit more below if you have it, good sharpness. Well done.
TFS
Todd

[Don Thompson]

Anyone who says that the 100-400mm is a bad lens, needs to check out at your pictures. With a 1.4TC no less.

Beautiful. TFS

[Johan Kruger]

simply awesome