Lift-Off

Gallery: AvianPosted January 7, 2013241 views14 comments

Here's the follow-up image to my earlier Great Grey picture, captured just a second (or less?) later.

I love her continued concentration on her possible prey, and the beautiful markings on her side and underwing.

BTW I think this is a female owl because of her size and we spotted her later feeding her fledglings. I know males often drop off food for their young as well, but in my (limited) experience I don't recall seeing the males do that (or even remain present) this far into the babies lives (they were already branching). In any event, I THINK this is a female.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this comp/crop...I went back and forth about how much to include of the somewhat busy bottom elements but opted for this to show habitat and perch details. Thanks in advance for your time, comments and critiques!

Field Notes:
Nikon D7000
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED with TC-14EII teleconverter
ISO 400
1/1000sec @ f/7.1
-0.3EV to preserve detail in whites
monopod mounted

Processing Notes:
Converted from RAW using Phase One Capture One Pro 7 with identical adjustments as prior image
Minor tweakes to tonality and contrast with Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza
Dropped brightness on lower 1/4 of image to keep it from being too distracting
Rotated slightly CCW to improve apparent camera angle (in fact I think I was bang-on but something about the owl's positioning made it appear tilted CW)
Added canvas at top of image to increase space above wings slightly, used content aware scaling on background layer and blended
Usual selective sharpening
Cropped to app. 70% of original

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Marella on January 7, 2013 at 8:56 PM

John, this is an amazing capture. I have no problem with the stuff on the bottom although I might burn down the bottom branches and corners a bit. Is it possible to add just a bit to the top? I get a cramped feeling and I'd like her to have a little more room fly. All that being said; this is great!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 142 Posts, 862 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on January 7, 2013 at 9:01 PM

wow! fantastic pose with great detail and a really nice setting. I like your comp in terms of the room at the bottom, though I wouldn't mind some more room in front of the bird if you have it. sweet shot--must have been a great day.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Tjie Poo on January 7, 2013 at 9:33 PM

SPECTACULAR ! WONDERFUL ! STUNNING !

Registered on December 4, 2012, 51 Posts, 511 Comments

Comment posted by David E Lester on January 7, 2013 at 11:05 PM

Outstanding!!

Registered on March 24, 2010, 155 Posts, 793 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Cothran on January 8, 2013 at 8:46 AM

Wonderful capture. But I would definitely burn the bottom section significantly. Possibly even lose some of it. In PS, I might suggest a duplicate layer set to Multiply blend mode, making a full black mask, then painting in the bottom portion to taste, Or perhaps, a dark gradient layer instead.

Registered on December 5, 2012, 31 Posts, 730 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on January 8, 2013 at 4:12 PM

great wing position, feather detail, and eye.
Feels tight at the top to me.
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on January 8, 2013 at 5:20 PM

Nice timing to get the wing spread. I like that yellow eye plus it is sharp where it needs to be and you still get to see those nice feather patterns with the wings up. For me, I would crop some off the bottom since the perch area almost takes up 50% of your frame. This is such a nice shot I would be inclined to show more owl and less perch, wonderful image, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 8, 2013 at 8:26 PM

Nice, John. I love the wing position. Ideally, I'd like even a tad more room above the wings, but this still works well. The room at the bottom doesn't bother me.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on January 9, 2013 at 12:36 AM

Fine image John, maybe just a little more room in front of the owl.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on January 9, 2013 at 9:56 AM

Hey John...to get this out of the way first...agree with others about a touch more in front and perhaps a tiny bit more up top if you have it. With that being said and done...GREAT shot! Love it! Any shot of a Great Gray is a celebration to me, but a take-off shot puts it over the top. Nice and sharp, good exposure and colors...nice job of processing as well. Congrats!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on January 9, 2013 at 4:49 PM

Excellent capture. Congratulation. TFS.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on January 10, 2013 at 1:21 AM

Geez, that's good stuff John.

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

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on January 10, 2013 at 3:27 PM

great wing position, feather detail, and eye.
Feels tight at the top to me.
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on January 13, 2013 at 12:10 AM

Thanks so much for the comments and suggestions! I will take another pass at this one in seeing if I can tweak the comp a little better and tone down the hot vegetation at the bottom even further.

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments