Snowy Owl

[Don Nelson]

Canon 1DMkIV, 800mm + 1.4 III TC, ISO 640, 1/800, f10, EB 0, no flash, 35.6meters

[Saverio Gatto]

Wonderful image of a superb bird. Excellent sharpness, warm light and magnetic eyes! I am very impressed!
Saverio

[Ofer Levy]

Excellent shot! Sharp with lovely shooting angle, pose and eye contact. Here is a repost with some levels adjustment and saved as sRGB for web presentation.

[ramesh anantharaman]

What a Brilliant Bird. love the pose. And Ofer's post has really taken it a level above.

[RAM MALLYA]

Truly amazing shot lovely eye contact .

[Kim.K.K.Lam]

Excellent shot,soft light,clean BG and nice details too...Don.

[Stu Bowie]

Don, well exposed, good eye contact, and overall nice and sharp. Comp wise, I would maybe move him back to the left a bit.

[Dumay de Boulle]

I like the image as presented...Lovely exp on awesome BG. Nicely done!

[Riju Bhattacharya]

One of my most favorite birds....lovely shot! Agree with Stuart on the composition

[Daniel Cadieux]

Amazing image!! Love everything about it...perch, BG, and of course the subject. The central comp works very well here IMO. Hope you have more!!

[Dan Busby]

Just adding to all the positive comments Don. Beautiful pose and lighting. I agree with moving it a tad to the left. The dark parts of the feathers look more brown than what I am used to seeing and I think Ofer's repost makes them look even more brown. Maybe just my eyes or my monitor ....

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely pose and perch. I really like the nice dof. Original looks closer to normal colors although I think bars are often a bit more black.

Don, I am curious if this is a recent Oregon or Washington bird? There seems to be a pretty big move south this year locally, near mouth of Fraser River.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful subtle delicate colours and then those big eyes, absolutely magnificent! I also really like the perch and background - a well taken shot excellent detail. I think it is perhaps a little central and I think it could look good off the the left or right in view of the head angle.

[Mital Patel]

Don this is really interesting image. Ofer's presentation here took this already stella image to another level. cheers

[dankearl]

I too would like to know where this was at?
If in Oregon, where?
Excellent photo!

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful bird, spectacular image. Gotta love those eyes. Wonderful detail and exposure.

[Arthur Morris]

Don, With the long focal length it would seem that this was a free and wild bird but I gotta ask: was this a free and wild bird? And either way, where and when?

[Don Nelson]

Absolutely free and wild. This particular owl was really interested in what I was doing -- it circled me at less than 20 feet, just directly overhead, several times watching what I was doing. No flight images -- didn't have a short lens with me, unfortunately.

(Other than my daughter's now-deceased parakeet, I've never imaged a captive bird). (and no, I didn't provide any food or other bait)

Its along the Coast in Pacific Northwest -- we're having an irruption here on the West Coast. Both the Washington and Oregon coasts are getting large numbers --- they are even in Portland, Salem and Albany (not coastal).

I've posted a few more images of additional birds on http://www.birdfellow.com/photos/gallery/394-snowy-owl. These are not finished images.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Don! I like the eye contact, perch, pose and composition.

[Arno Ellmer]

Oh what a bird ,Don!
Excellent image.I love the piercing yellow eyes !
Would also place the bird slightly more to the left in the frame .

[Don Nelson]

This is my prefered version
Thanks to all for all the suggestions -- here's a repost more to the left, and with levels a little darker (less red than Ofer's suggestion though).
The spots on the chest weren't that dark (look at the black feathers on top of the head in the original post) but this is more dramatic.


but here is another darker version(which do you like?)

[Arthur Morris]

Absolutely free and wild. This particular owl was really interested in what I was doing -- it circled me at less than 20 feet, just directly overhead, several times watching what I was doing. No flight images -- didn't have a short lens with me, unfortunately.

(Other than my daughter's now-deceased parakeet, I've never imaged a captive bird). (and no, I didn't provide any food or other bait)

Its along the Coast in Pacific Northwest -- we're having an irruption here on the West Coast. Both the Washington and Oregon coasts are getting large numbers --- they are even in Portland, Salem and Albany (not coastal).

I've posted a few more images of additional birds on http://www.birdfellow.com/photos/gallery/394-snowy-owl. These are not finished images.

Thanks for the info and I am glad for that! Love the image and especially the perch. I prefer the soft look of the original post with the bird moved left. Killer bird and BKGR also.

[Doug Brown]

Absolutely captivating frame Don! I'm jealous!

[Chris Martinez]

What an awesome bird!! The original suits me but with just the slightest curves tweak.
Those tail feathers certainly do look ratty.Could it do with a 1.5 deg CWR? Would/should the eye be level in this instance?

[Don Nelson]

Thanks, All
Final post: