Shorty Head On (Straight Down the Barrel - March Theme)

[Steve Large]

Hi Everyone,

Here is a picture of my favorite owl taken at the end of December. Towards the hight of the season he flies quite close. On this particular occaision he came right at the camera. It's interesting to notice his pupils being of different sizes. Owls can vary pupil size individually in each eye depending on lighting conditions.

Stats: Canon 50D, 500mm F/4 with 1.4X, ISO 800, F/6.3 at 1/1600sec

Thanks for your comments,

Steve

[Grady Weed]

Well I don't think you can be much more "straight down the barrel " than this. Like the clean eye contact. Would much prefer the whole wings be in the frame however. Seeing how I don't have an owl like this however...nice capture.

[Steve Large]

Well I don't think you can be much more "straight down the barrel " than this. Like the clean eye contact. Would much prefer the whole wings be in the frame however. Seeing how I don't have an owl like this however...nice capture.

Hi Grady,
Thanks for the comment. I cropped it that way to bring more attention to the face. As you can see in this second post, because the wings are so big some of the face detail is lost with everything in the frame.

Steve

[Neil_burton]

Wow love them both as they both have their merits.

[Johan Kruger]

steve this is brilliant

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Steve, I like the crop. Terrific natural light. If you've done some NR, very good job.

[Daniel Bailey]

I like the entire bird in the frame... just personal preference! Incredible shot!!!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Wow love them both as they both have their merits.

Ditto!

If you are gonna crop the wings for a straight-on image that is the way to do it.

I would have preferred more even lighting on the face, but the image has a good "wow" factor nonetheless.

[Jim Crosswell]

A beautiful flight image Steve! I like the seeing the complete owl in the second post.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

I love both these crops. It's so cool to see one eye with a bigger pupil because of the shadow. Beautiful bg too.

[Paul Guris]

I'm with the "like both crops" crowd. It's nice to effectively get two very different photos out of one image.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Steve, I must say I also like both images but have a slight preference for the second post. Love the upturned primaries on the full wing spread. Well captured.

[Steve Large]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your wonderful comments. You don't get these guys flying directly at the camera much. This particular owl has been doing it to me only a couple of times every winter for the last few years. He is kind of moody though and won't always let you get close. However, when he has been in a good mood I can get roosting shots from as close as 20-30 feet. If he is curious he will often charge the camera head on and then vere away at the last moment.

Take care and good light,

Steve