Snowy Fract

[Andrew McLachlan]

This afternoon I went looking for and found a beautiful male Snowy Owl in an agricultural area near my home. Now that I have found out where he is residing and the homeowners have given me permission to walk their property to photograph him, I hope to get many more images this season. I couldn't resist running this one through Fractalius. Forgot to jot down by settings for this one...sorry. I did use the 'rounded' preset on background layer and reduced opacity to about 60% and masked back in the eyes.

Look forward to comments.

[denise ippolito]

Andrew, Congrats on this great find! Beautiful fract effect! I might take a slice off the top if it were mine. He's stunning!!

[Dennis Bishop]

I don't know what it is about snowy owls that's so appealing, but you've sure captured it. The shadow on the right side (as we look at it) is worth a lot of extra points, and your use of Fractalius was just right. In terms of composition, I'd suggest cropping some from both the bottom and the right. That would do two things. The top and the right of the owl (as we look at it) would, then, be tangent to a horizontal and a vertical divine proportion line. In addition, being close to the bottom would make the owl more grounded (a lower center of gravity if you want to look at it that way).

I've never seen a snowy in person and have no idea how approachable they are. Do you know about how close you were when you took the photo?

[Nancy Bell]

Oh my goodness! Not only do you get to photograph a Snowy up close & personal, but you even get to fract it! Turned out great. I agree with the cropping suggestions. And that's a funky little squiggle on the post.

[Paul Lagasi]

Hey Andrew...thanks God for these beauties...its all we've had to photograph, the winter birds have been sparse around Ottawa.

Really nice work on the effects, I agree with comments regarding tighter crop...nice Adult bird...

[Steve Adkins]

When you mentioned you had spotted a snowy, I was sure hoping you would get some images! Great job, Andrew!

[Mark Fuge]

Nice image and application, Andrew.

Not probable that I will get a shot of one of these for awhile down here. Had a chance a few years ago, when one settled in Chitown, but I never found it on my visits there. Guess I have to head further north someday ... but the cold!!!

Nice fract work on this. Will let the crop comments to others who have spoken.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Andrew, they are such beautiful and oddly magical birds. (Maybe because of Harry Potter) I love the fract work and could see alternative crop as suggested.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks folks for the comments and crop suggestions, much appreciated. I saw him again today, but it was too overcast and drizzly and sitting on the same old TV antennae as yesterday. Will be returning frequently and hopefully get him on top of a pine tree or sitting on the snow-covered farm fields....but we need some snow for me to be able to pull that one off.