Results 1 to 19 of 19

Thread: Great Horned Owl

  1. #1
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Los Gatos, CA
    Posts
    551
    Threads
    73
    Thank You Posts

    Default Great Horned Owl

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    just back from great workshop in South Texas with Alan Murphy. One afternoon at Laguna Seca Ranch he called in 2 Great Horned Owls to his setup. It was incredible to watch the two birds flying back and forth across the clearing - beautiful. He had set the perch up for 500mm, but at the time this bird came in, I was shooting with the 800mm. So the tip of his horns to the bottom of the lowest talon is 1 full frame, with the bottom part of the perch and the little top edge being pulled in from the next couple of shots in the sequence.

    this was very slow shutter speed and high iso for me, but turned out pretty ok, I'm not sure about the post processing. Wonderful fun though!

    1/100 sec at f/5.6, AV mode, ISO 1250, 800mm f/5.6 lens, 1DMk4, tripod

    tried NIK tonal contrast on the bird and branch, NR on the background and a little smart sharpening of the final jpg. Realized at the end that i'd forgotten to do a little recovery in LR (a few blinkies in the white on his neck) so did last minute set of white point to tone that down.

  2. #2
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Kentucky
    Posts
    1,050
    Threads
    363
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Gorgeous! What an awesome opportunity. Just add a little canvas up top.

    Spectacular image.

  3. #3
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Fort Lauderdale
    Posts
    456
    Threads
    41
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Pat, nice image with a beautiful owl and super perch! For me the bird is too big in the frame. You had to move some 10 yard backward with the 800. Too bad!

  4. #4
    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    SW Michigan
    Posts
    14,112
    Threads
    820
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Pat:

    A fine owl image, with lots of detail, great stare, feet/talons, interesting perch, good job stitching it back together. Still a bit tight on top.

    Cheers

    Randy
    MY BPN ALBUMS

    "Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy" Sir Isaac Newton

  5. #5
    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    San Francisco, California, United States
    Posts
    18,545
    Threads
    1,318
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    this is awesome!!! very beautiful posr light details perch and BG. EXCELLENT

    I would suggest giving the bird a bit more room and also reducing the magenta cast.
    New! Sony Capture One Pro Guide 2022
    https://arihazeghiphotography.com/Gu.../Sony_C1P.html


    ------------------------------------------------
    Visit my blog
    http://www.arihazeghiphotography.com/blog

  6. #6
    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Nova Scotia
    Posts
    12,731
    Threads
    910
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi Pat,
    This is lovely. Everything is great except how tight this guy is in the frame. I would definitely add canvas to the top. Great pose and beautiful perch,
    Gail
    PS I too, see a bit of a magenta cast

  7. #7
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Guelph, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    8,509
    Threads
    827
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Wow, one of the best shots I have ever seen of this Owl. Great work!!!

  8. #8
    Banned
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    3,949
    Threads
    254
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Perhaps it is just me, but I think the image looks flat. The light looks like it is coming from the upper right behind the bird, with a phase angle greater than 90 degrees. The processing looks like an over processed HDR (I'm not a fan of HDR the way it is often processed). It would be nice to see an out of camera image for comparison. The feathers on the back of the wing are a little soft. On the positive side, I like the tight in frame, although a tiny bit more on top would be nice. A great potential image, I just think it needs different processing.

    Roger

  9. #9
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Los Gatos, CA
    Posts
    551
    Threads
    73
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    thanks Joel, Randy and Karl! it really was a wonderful opportunity, both the birds were incredibly beautiful!

    I truly know that my post processing wasn't up to the quality of the opportunity, so i will happily use all of your suggestions to try again.

    Clemens!! you better believe I was pushed back as far from the blind window as I could get! (but there just wasn't the 10 yards available!) --- have you been to the ranches in South Texas yet? I want to turn around and go back (hopefully with a couple of days with a little more light!)

    Gail and Arash, thank you for mentioning the magenta cast. The original file feels a little cold and blue so I changed camera profiles on this in LR, and I think i should have noticed and neutralized that overdone color change.

    Roger - thank you for your comments. yep, i need to get much better at the post processing, but the wonderful thing about digital photography is i still have the original raw of this and i can keep trying over and over and see if I can improve! (no intentional hdr type processing - will see if i can do better with the next try) I think it looks flat too.

  10. #10
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    CA Central Coast
    Posts
    311
    Threads
    25
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Roger,

    Phase angle is a non-sequitur here. This was shot at 5pm under heavy overcast. The sun was physically behind us, but there were no shadows at all. The bird was in the middle of a large open field. Look at the exposure, 6 stops below sunny 16.

    Alan

  11. #11
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Rotonda West , FL
    Posts
    3,642
    Threads
    198
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    It's a beautiful shot regardless and the look and ears are awesome. I really like those feet holding on to the awesome perch. So You add a little canvas work out the PP and it's a beautiful image.

  12. #12
    Banned
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    3,949
    Threads
    254
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Alan Lillich View Post
    Roger,

    Phase angle is a non-sequitur here. This was shot at 5pm under heavy overcast. The sun was physically behind us, but there were no shadows at all. The bird was in the middle of a large open field. Look at the exposure, 6 stops below sunny 16.

    Alan
    Alan,
    Thanks for the info. There must have been some brighter clouds to the right and behind the bird, as indicated by the shading on the legs and the highlights of the feathers on the edges of the legs, the neck and ears. But the rest of the overcast certainly helped to mitigate that backlight.

    Roger

  13. #13
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Philippines
    Posts
    293
    Threads
    24
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Beautiful bird, perch, and background. I agree with the others on putting some more room around.

  14. #14
    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Centurion, South Africa
    Posts
    21,360
    Threads
    1,435
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Great looking owl, and I like the eye contact. This view shows of the size of their legs and talons very well. I agree regarding the magenta cast, and adding a touch more room on top.

  15. #15
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Pretoria, South Africa
    Posts
    410
    Threads
    74
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    I like the strong colour contrasts between the bird and the background... Excellent eye contact and detail on the bird

  16. #16
    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Ottawa, Canada
    Posts
    26,266
    Threads
    3,976
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Nice pose and I like the fully erect "ear tufts". I'm a fan of overcast conditions so I am fine with the overall look of the image (except for the colour cast on the owl). I too feel more room at top would improve this lots, but Great job on the canvas extention at bottom!

  17. #17
    Banned
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    3,949
    Threads
    254
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Pat,
    One more idea. When I'm faced with this situation (subject too tight in frame), I simply make a couple more frames around the area surrounding the subject and make a mosaic. That improves image quality more than switching to a shorter FL lens as my final scene has more pixels and more resolution on the subject. This of course only works for static or slowly moving subjects. But if you have some other frames of this bird, for example, centered on the head, then the feet, then you have all the components of a great mosaic.

    Roger

  18. #18
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    El Paso, TX USA
    Posts
    3,456
    Threads
    162
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Beautiful image!!!! Just a stunning shot. Love the pose, excellent perch, wonderful background, and excellent detail.
    Very well done.

  19. #19
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Los Gatos, CA
    Posts
    551
    Threads
    73
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    my apologies to Alan Murphy for starting this post since it seems to have been jumped on as an example of perceived "workshop" evils.

    If anyone reads this at this point --- Alan's workshops are taught with his firm conviction that we should all go out afterward and do our own study of birds to become better bird photographers, and use what he teaches to improve our own photos.

    Yes, this photo is just my capture of Alan's concept and as such is just a learning experience for me. but what a beautiful learning experience it was. and notice that i very carefully labeled it clearly as what it was.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Web Analytics