Top Bunk

Gallery: AvianPosted April 11, 2014205 views9 comments

Hi -

Two Great Horned Owlets in an old tree trunk near my home. There is so much detail in the tree I had to reduce the quality to 81 in PS to get it under the max file size.

Canon 7D
Canon 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4xTC

Gitzo Tripod, Shutter release cord

ISO 640 | f/6.3 | 1/800

I did a small adjustment to the exposure and dodged the owlets faces a bit then selective sharpened their eyes.

I would like to know what you think of the composition? This is almost full-frame so I could probably crop it some more. I really wanted to show more of the tree and make the viewer find the subject. There is a texture to the bark that kind of leads the eye to the cavity anyway.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on April 11, 2014 at 2:49 PM

I really like the way you have composed this Ashleigh. You do not have enough pixels for a close up so placing the owlets in the corner the way you have is very effective. You are right, the damaged bark leads your eye right to the owlets. Very nice job!!

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on April 11, 2014 at 3:23 PM

Good job in just spotting them yourself. 700mm on a 1.6x effective crop or 1120mm equiv implies they were pretty well up there. I think you handled it wee with the composition. If you consider anything, I might look at a crop from the left just to the point of eliminating the light exposed wood on that side of the tree. It would eliminate a light tone that can tug at the eye while leaving your basic placement pretty much intact.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Frye on April 11, 2014 at 6:10 PM

Very nice photo -- I first see the imposing rough bark then those delightful little owls peeking out -- very dramatic shot

Registered on February 3, 2007, 387 Posts, 1136 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on April 11, 2014 at 7:17 PM

Excellent - just the way I've seen many of these birds.

The composition works for me as presented, and I like all the varied textures and colors of the tree.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on April 11, 2014 at 8:30 PM

Composition works well for me. Love natural habitat images. This fits the bill, nicely. Well done.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on April 11, 2014 at 9:28 PM

I really like the image. The owlets and cute and the tree has character. The only thing I might suggest is cropping some of the bottom of the tree off. The open space on either side of the trunk are a bit distracting.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 11, 2014 at 10:54 PM

This works for me, Ashleigh. I like the lines of the bark and the grain in the old snag. The owlets show nicely. The light looks rather flat, but I don't know if you could get the right angle with nice light or not.

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

Comment posted by Ashleigh Scully on April 14, 2014 at 7:02 AM

HI thank you everyone for your comments. Dennis yes it was overcast I haunt made it back to this nest on a nice day yet. Maybe this week. Thanks again, Ashleigh

Registered on November 4, 2013, 36 Posts, 210 Comments

Comment posted by Marina Scarr on April 14, 2014 at 10:44 AM

I like your composition b/c it's interesting and the tree leads your eye to the owlets. I tried to pull the file in to PS to work on other crops, but I guess it's not possible to copy files from this site.

Registered on March 6, 2014, 11 Posts, 104 Comments