This is a very popular bird here in the Northwest. He is actually in B.C. Canada, but this is such an unusual sighting that people are traveling far and wide to see him. He is a gorgeous bird, but he is also very active and fun to watch. For over an hour I was trying to catch him in flight as he was swooping across a yard. He never caught anything, however. I was hand holding, so finally I got tired and sat down. Not minutes later he plopped down about 20' right in front of me, killed a vole and then was gone within 30 seconds. I was not at all prepared for that (as my settings and clipped wings prove), but it sure was exciting! This was the only shot I got of him looking straight at me. I realize the focus is not all that sharp, but I love how he seemed to engage/challenge me. The rest of the images he is looking right or left, or has his head tucked as he is killing the vole.
7d, 100-400 @ 400, 1/1250, 1250, 5.6
LR3 - slight foreground crop, exposure, noise and sharpening
It was fun watching the hawk owl, was it? Sometimes I think he was teasing all the photogs around there. He once landed less six, seven feet from us on a sign by the road and all big lens folks had to jump back fast to get a shot before it took off again
You certainly have taken big advantage of the moment. Great capture !
Great capture, Asta. A real nice pose and great eye contact. I think the owl looks pretty good. I wish the wings weren't clipped and it's right eye could use a little sharpening and maybe a catchlight?
Peter
hey Asta, I envy you - it sounds like you had a blast, and you got a wonderful picture too. congratulations! playing with a browser crop, if you wanted to play with an additional look to the photo - cropping down to the first joint in his wings and closer to his head might give you a really nice close up of him too.
Desmond - You are right. It sure seems like this bird is purposefully messing with the photographers. He literally flew at thigh level between two photographers after he finished subduing his prey. And, when I first got to the site he almost got hit by a car swooping over the road. That bird got my heart rate up several times that day.:eek:
Peter - I agree with the clipped wings issue. If I had any presence of mind I could have simply kept my butt planted and simply zoomed out. I did try increasing the exposure on the right eye and cannot seem to get it quite right. I don't know how to add catchlight. My least favorite part of photography is the post processing. Something I have to work on!
Pat - I will try another crop, but my focus was not spot on, so I am thinking that a further crop will hurt my IQ. You as so right though, I really enjoyed watching and trying to "catch" this bird.
The Hawk Owl has landed
I did try increasing the exposure on the right eye and cannot seem to get it quite right. I don't know how to add catchlight. My least favorite part of photography is the post processing. Something I have to work on!
