My First Snowy Owl !!!

[Doug Brown]

I just got back from a whirlwind day and a half of Snowy Owl photography; I took close to 50 GB of images in that short period of time! It was probably one of the most memorable avian photographic experiences of my life! Many thanks to BPN member Don Nelson for his hospitality!



Canon 1D Mark IV, 600mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 800, manual exposure, tripod

[dankearl]

Oregon Coast?
Great shot, Surprised to see you used a tripod.
Details, inquiring minds want to know?

[Doug Brown]

Great shot, Surprised to see you used a tripod.
Details, inquiring minds want to know?

Hey Dan. I use a tripod when I'm going for perched birds in low light (translation: Costa Rica and this trip). You've got to stay on the birds for extended periods of time in order to get good eye contact and cool poses. I only had a day and a half of photography, so I wanted to make every minute count. I also didn't want to have to push my ISO in order to maintain sufficient shutter speed to hand hold.

The rest of the time I don't even bring a tripod with me.

[stuart wanuck]

lovely

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I am so jealous of all these snowy owls. Oh well I get snowy egrets LOL. Beautiful Doug. Great oerch and bg. What is on the LRC? a leaf?

[Doug Brown]

What is on the LRC? a leaf?

Hi Cheryl. It's more of the fallen tree. There are no leaves to be found in this spot.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Hi Cheryl. It's more of the fallen tree. There are no leaves to be found in this spot.

Hey Doug. It kinda looks like a soccer ball or something. Yeah Im nuts


Bye the way Congratulations!!!!!

[arash_hazeghi]

gorgeous! you were cheating with that tripod.

[Sid Garige]

Doug,

Excellent pose and perfect details. Awesome Job.

[Ishmeet Sahni]

A beauty...tripod or not, an amazing image.

[yogesh_puranik]

this is amazing superb photo...pls share some more..BTW: how do you manage to get the photos without tripod for such big lens?

[Doug Brown]

BTW: how do you manage to get the photos without tripod for such big lens?

Thanks Yogesh! I hand hold my 600mm lens for more than 90% of my photos. It just takes a little practice!

[v.p.nurdeen]

Hi Doug,
Beautiful image excellent pose.
VPN

[Brendan Dozier]

Beautiful snowy and nice comp Doug. Congratulations on having such a memorable, fulfilling experience.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Doug, your vertical comp works well in this, and I like the eye contact. Nicely exposed, and I like the distant OOF BG. Sounds like you guys guys had a very productive shoot. Looking forward to more.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Congrats on the lifer !! This one is awesome !! Lovely exposure on the whites . Do you mean , you handhold the 600mm regularly . Would be interested in your technique .

[Richard Unsworth]

Perfect

What a day you had. Thumbs up on the tripod for low light in CR didnt take hardly a shot without mine.

1000 images in one shoot is going some, make sure you post one every day = 3 years

[gail bisson]

I really like the composition and the texture of the wood. Nice colors and , of course, a beautiful subject.
Gail

[Doug Brown]

1000 images in one shoot is going some, make sure you post one every day = 3 years

It was actually over 1,400!!!

[Ronald Zigler]

Wonderful photo. What I'd like to know, is how anyone finds an owl to photograph in daylight that is not in captivity?

[Sachin Saraf]

Doug, Tripod really did the trick for you...an excellent image...I loved that BG and perch ...

[Doug Brown]

Wonderful photo. What I'd like to know, is how anyone finds an owl to photograph in daylight that is not in captivity?

Thanks Ronald! This is an irruption year for Snowies, so they are being seen quite a bit further south than normal. This group of between 6 and 11 birds took up residence in an area that is frequented by bird watchers. There are no trees to speak of except for logs that have washed up on shore. The owls stick out like a sore thumb in this landscape.

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!! Amazing pic. Love it!!!
Well done.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, terrific shot. loved the whites and the perch. If me, I'd try selectively sharpening some portion of the perch( portion within the DOF coverage).

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Ronald, a snowy owl was spotted in Oklahoma and I know a few birders who did the 300 miles drive(from Dallas) to spot it. I have seen shots that they got in broad daylight.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Loved this Doug Bhai...

[Melissa Groo]

Beautiful image, Doug. Just love love those fluffy white feathers on the front, looks like he's all dressed up. My images were taken of my first snowys too, wasn't it a thrill!

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

Looks great, sounds like a special time, smiled when I saw the tripod listed.

Because of the shooting angle and the distant BG, static subject and tripod, might have been interesting to do a few at smaller f/stops, just to manipulate the DOF and see how it effected the perch.

I think Kaustubh was struck by the perch as well.

Look forward to the other 1399 images!

Cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

Because of the shooting angle and the distant BG, static subject and tripod, might have been interesting to do a few at smaller f/stops, just to manipulate the DOF and see how it effected the perch.

I think Kaustubh was struck by the perch as well.

I will try selectively sharpening the perch. I'm not sure that a little more DOF would have helped, because I was fairly close to the owl and the fallen tree was quite thick. The other issue was a stiff breeze; the blowing feathers started looking soft below about 1/500. It was a definite balancing act with the camera settings because we didn't have a whole lot of light.

[Randy Stout]

Doug;

I missed the wind issue, which def. further complicates the low light situation in regards to aperture flexibility.

I think part of the reason it is noticeable is because the perch is such a significant visual mass in the image. I don't see any effective cropping options to downplay that mass without looking to tight for the bird, or an awkward composition, or both !!

Cheers

Randy

[Don Nelson]

Otherstanding image.

While shutter speed/aperature/ISO(Noise) are all at disadvantage in cloudy overcast conditions, there is one as-yet overlooked advantage over direct sun for these extremely white birds -- you have infinite control over the setup angle of the photograph for both optimizing background as well as lining up the perch/bird perfectly. Of course in overcast you can also shoot all day - something you probably would normally do in the middle of the day with the sun more overhead (we're north of the 45th parallel which runs through northern Oregon, so its not like the tropics. Plus its winter in the northern hemisphere).

Since Doug joined me setting up on this bird, I can definitely say that this sun angle wouldn't have been good for this image at this time of day had the day not been overcast.....We are facing NW, and the sun angle would be coming from the left but angled in behind the log in the late afternoon.

Don

[Carmelo Cannova]

Fantastic shot. What a beauty!!

Carmelo

[Sandesh R.Dhareshwar]

Brilliant image of a snowy owl Just loved it

[Doug Brown]

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time to comment. Even though I was only there for a day and a half, I've got lots of images to share! Hopefully you won't be bored with Snowy Owls when I'm finished!

[Christopher Ciccone]

You truly made the most of this first encounter - everything about this image is great, and the eye contact is perfect. I especially like that the eyes are even, something I often find a bit frustrating with photos of these guys - often, one eye is opened more than the other or they are squinting. Looking forward to more!