SE Owl Morning Flight

Gallery: AvianPosted January 9, 2012232 views11 comments

Another image from my first photo sessions with short-eared owls last month. I was striving for head-on shots, and while this one was fairly distant, I was really pleased with the look of the bird in its environment and with some of the colors. It ended up on my person "best of" list for 2011.

Canon 7D
Canon 500mm f/4 IS
ISO 800
1/1600th
f/4
-1/3 exp. comp.

I bumped the noise reduction for you guys since that was a major bother to some with my last shot of this owl.

Max

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Jim Salge on January 9, 2012 at 1:34 PM

Really like the connection to the owl, and the environment it is flying over...just fantastic!

Registered on February 23, 2006, 269 Posts, 2210 Comments

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on January 9, 2012 at 1:50 PM

Max-a neat habitat image. I like the composition and the bird shows good detail in the larger image. I do see some noise though you did indicate you used noise reduction. If this were my shot I might be tempted to run another NR layer.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on January 9, 2012 at 2:54 PM

Max: I like the environmental feel of this image. Doesn't bother me that the owl is relatively small in the frame. Still can see the eyes and that makes this work for me. Thee background has some odd artifacts in it. I don't know if this is from jpeg compression or what, but it isn't smooth like I'm used to seeing from the 500 f/4.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on January 9, 2012 at 3:36 PM

Excellent shot. Nice positioning of the owl in the frame. Personally I would crop just a little of the grass at the bottom, just a bit not all of it, maybe 3/4 of an inch so there is not quite so much light space at the bottom of the frame.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 9, 2012 at 4:03 PM

Max, I love the comp. Very nice looking image. In the larger version the NR has created a mottled look to the BG. I have seen this happen with my images when I have tried to use NR. Generally, if I tried to apply too much NR. I would go back and play with your NR software's settings and try to get it to remove the noise without creating the mottled look.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 9, 2012 at 4:23 PM

A very nice head on short-eared photo Max, the owl is nice and sharp and those eye's are great. I really like the multi-toned background and foreground, I am concerned about the artifacts too.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on January 9, 2012 at 5:54 PM

"In the larger version the NR has created a mottled look to the BG."

Yup, I noticed this as well, which is why I was hesitant to even try adding more. Do too much and it ends up looking like the Palette Knife filter was applied. I generally don't do much in the way of NR on most of my shots, so I guess this is what comes from experimentation.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on January 9, 2012 at 6:31 PM

I like the mix of habitat and subject. A well balanced comp.

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on January 9, 2012 at 8:08 PM

I agree with the comments regarding the effects of NR here but overall the image has a nice natural feel to it. I especially like the layered setting for the owl.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Dottie Short on January 10, 2012 at 12:06 PM

I would be proud if this were in my 'personal best' list. I really like this shot. The colors in the BG are arresting, and the owl's stare show how sharp the image is. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on April 12, 2010, 61 Posts, 375 Comments

Comment posted by Roman Kurywczak on January 11, 2012 at 2:12 PM

I normally don't like images with this much environs.....but it works for me in this case although I do agree with a few others about a bit off the bottom.....or perhaps darken it a few points? Very nice environmental shot with a great species!

Registered on November 20, 2009, 56 Posts, 748 Comments