Aerial Stalk

Gallery: AvianPosted January 14, 2013150 views5 comments

Hi all...last one in this series (at least I think! I did get one final "glide" shot but am struggling to pull off a compelling comp). Thanks for your patience with all these!

I personally prefer the look of the owl and wing position here to my prior post, but overall am not sure which is the stronger image. I welcome your input!

The obvious issue I guess is the deadfall behind the owl. In fact, I played with several B&W conversions to see how I might address this and liked most of them, but decided to stay consistent with the other images in this series. In the end, as I noted in a response to my previous flight image of this owl, the silver lining of these "distracting" elements is the rendering of the natural history occuring here: Great Greys really do hunt low and skillfully through some crazy obstacles (said obstacles prove to be great places to find a meal!).

I was sorely tempted to remove the towering seedhead behind the owl's wing, especially because of it's yellow colour, but I decided to leave this image completely as captured.

Once again, this is a horizontal crop from vertical, and is full-frame width-wise.

PLEASE VIEW LARGER VERSION (sorry for the emphasis, but it really is remarkably better in this case IMO)

Looking forward to your thoughts...

Field Notes:
Nikon D7000
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED with TC-14EII teleconverter
ISO 400
1/1250sec @ f/7.1
-0.3EV to preserve details in whites
monopod

Processing Notes:
Converted from RAW using Phase One Capture One Pro 7 with minor adjustments to overall tonality and contrast
Selective sharpening
Cropped horizontal from vertical

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 14, 2013 at 6:01 PM

I like the unobscured view of this frame compared with the last, John. The deadfall isn't an issue to me, but I do find that the seedhead pulls my eye a bit.

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

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on January 14, 2013 at 8:45 PM

I happen to like you previous post for several reasons. Both wings are blurred here but the previous has some good detail on the wing in the light. The wood being a lighter color I find more distracting than the bushes (all same color) which blend in better to the previous overall composition. For me there is just something about seeing a wing spread up in the air vs pointing downward. All posted great grey's are really nice shots but I happen to like 'On The Wing' the best for me. What a cool experience, way to go.

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

Comment posted by James Allen on January 14, 2013 at 8:50 PM

Wow John. The tack sharp focus on the head and tail are perfectly matched against the movement in the wings. The intent look of the hunting owl is still there too. I think the wood adds to the natural environment of the photograph. Taking the seedhead out might be worthwhile, but this is beautiful!

Registered on December 10, 2012, 14 Posts, 232 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on January 15, 2013 at 2:45 PM

Wonderful shot. Since I cannot edit myself at times, I might leave this image as it is, and on a copy clone the deadfall and the stalk and see how it looks. I guess it depends upon your objective and what looks good to you. I always need feedback from others about what is good and bad that I take. My objectivity sucks when it comes to my own photos. Not suggesting what you might experience, but I think I might have just used you as therapy on me.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on January 17, 2013 at 2:14 PM

A very nice flight shot of this GGO. The previous posts were excellent also. Glad you didn't remove the seed head. Personally I never remove anything but dust spots and the occasional beer bottle or candy wrapper.

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