Pel's Fishing Owl

[gail bisson]

Canon 7D
F 2.8 70-200mm
Manual
Aperture 3.5
SS 1/125
Cropped from landscape orientation to full vertical
ISO 400
I was unbelievably lucky to see a pel's fishing owl twice during my trip to Africa.
There are only 400-500 pairs left of this ginger giant left in Africa.
This guy roosted in a tree for 2 days outside of our "tent" at Little Mombo. The first day I couldn't get a good shot because of angle and branches in front of him but on the second day he roosted lower and by standing on the railing of the deck with hubby holding onto my legs I was able to get a few clear shots.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from
PP in LR3 and NR and cloned out bird poop and OOF on bottom of frame in CS5

[Randy Stout]

Canon 7D

This guy roosted in a tree for 2 days outside of our "tent" at Little Mombo. The first day I couldn't get a good shot because of angle and branches in front of him but on the second day he roosted lower and by standing on the railing of the deck with hubby holding onto my legs I was able to get a few clear shots.

Well Gail, I knew there was a reason you took your husband along with you!

What a treat to see such a rare one. Rather like having a whooping crane land in your backyard!

The exposure is good, talons great, good framing between the tree trunks, sharp. Couldn't do much about the shooting angle obviously. I might darken the bright leaf in LLC, esp. with your sig. there creating high contrast edges, it really jumps out.

Congrats on such a rare one!

Cheers

Randy

[Ken Watkins]

Gail,

I think it is time to own up to what you did not see, I have spent over 460 days on safari in Africa and have seen only one Pel's Fishing Owl, too high up for images.

Looks to have a slight Magenta cast on my monitor, but I would not rely on that.

You seem to have got "good value for money" at Mombo

[Jim Crosswell]

Congrats on your rare capture! I like the sharpness, details and exposure. You did really well under the challenging conditions.

[dankearl]

I would have been thrilled just to see one, let alone get a very nice photo.
Congratulations!

[Melissa Groo]

What a special find, Gail. Good job making the most of it. Great call on the vertical comp. I too think I see a slight magenta cast.
What a treat to view!

[gail bisson]

You guys are great. You are absolutely right about the magenta cast. I missed it completely so here is redo. I also toned down bright leaf in llc and moved my signature.

[Doug Brown]

An excellent frame of a bird you were apparently very lucky to even see. I like the suggestion about darkening the LLC, and I see a bit of a magenta cast too.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The repost fixes the issues mentioned. Great find Gail, and good work teaming up with your husband to augment the opportunity!!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, OK, you now beat me with a species that I dont have in my files, let alone even having seen one. Great sighting, and I like how those claws are hanging over the perch. Your repost looks good.

[Karl Egressy]

Striking image, Gail. The repost looks better.
Have you just desaturated the magenta, or did it otherwise?

[James Salywoda]

Awesome shot Gail excellent detail the repost looks much better.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Man what a sighting...Still waiting for my turn to see one! Not easy to get a clean image of them due to there chosen environments.

[Arno Ellmer]

Excellent ,Gail ! A bird hunted ( and most often not found ) by many a southern african photographer !
The redo is much improved and allround a great shot ,despite the steep angle.
Would have wished that he stared straight at you.