Barred Owl

Gallery: AvianPosted October 23, 201424,427 views17 comments

I encountered this very social owl while hiking out of a state park in western Washington. It was nearly dark, but he/she would perch perfectly still while scanning the meadows for potential meals below, allowing me to lift the mirror in my camera and use a electronic trigger release to trip the shutter.

Canon MKIV; 600mm; 1/5; f8; ISO 800; manual spot meter; electronic release

All your comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

Comments

17 comments

Comment posted by John Neukirch on October 23, 2014 at 5:39 PM

Absolutely wonderful! You were certainly blessed by the birds gods that evening. Only thing I might play with is a version with that horizontal branch above his head cloned out. Might not improve the image much but I'd be curious. Still fantastic as is, almost dark heh and still ISO only 800 (1/5sec he really did cooperate didn't he). Did you crop this much?

Registered on July 9, 2012, 207 Posts, 1476 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on October 23, 2014 at 6:23 PM

Barred wls are so cool and beautiful - getting any light on those dark eyes is impressive and I'm impressed you had catchlight on both eyes. Awesome work with the slow shutter speed - just wish the composition could have been a touch different to avoid the OOF branch to the left of the bird - but it would probably have resulted in the branch above running through the owl's head

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Ashleigh Scully on October 23, 2014 at 7:48 PM

That's amazing 1/5! Wow!

I love barred owls and this one is really beautiful. I like the green background and that the owl is doing what it does which is looking down for food. I think the two branches help frame the owl so I think they are fine. Great job in little light!!

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

Comment posted by Bill Marsh on October 23, 2014 at 8:57 PM

Very impressive Ken at 1/5 @ 600 mm. He/she must have been perfectly still for you. Great job!

Bill

Registered on December 29, 2012, 21 Posts, 225 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on October 23, 2014 at 10:17 PM

Beautiful image of this owl, Ken ! The Barred is the most common we have down my way, but I rarely get a chance for such a clean shot. At first I was on the fence about framing that much of the trunk, but the sprig of green and cones add a lot to the environment. And at those shooting specs makes all the more impressive. Nice work !

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on October 24, 2014 at 8:46 AM

ken,
1/5th second, INCREDIBLE!
Wonderful pose and detail

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on October 24, 2014 at 12:02 PM

Nice that it sat this still for you, Ken. I think the framing with the tree works well, and the dark green background is perfect for this owl.

Max

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

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on October 24, 2014 at 12:14 PM

Amazing Ken, you were incredibly lucky to even see this owl in that light let alone create this image. I didn't mean lucky, I meant skillful!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on October 24, 2014 at 4:37 PM

Ken:

Great technique getting this at 1/5. Nice choice of ISO to get just enough shutter speed, yet keep the image clean on your MKIV.

If this were mine, I'd look a removing the branch above the owl. Just my 2 cents on that issue.

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

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on October 24, 2014 at 6:18 PM

Nice management of the low light; almost a painterly quality here. I really like the intensity you've captured.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on October 24, 2014 at 11:59 PM

Hello everyone, "Thank You" for your suggestions and kind comments on this photo. John this is full frame. I also wanted to let you all know that I was using a tripod. I pre-focused the lens on the owl, locked down the tripod head, then used the mirror lift custom function to raise the mirror. And when it seemed the owl and the lens were as still as possible I released the shutter with the electronic cable release. Out of 30 or so photos only 5 came out sharp enough to keep.

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

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on October 25, 2014 at 6:11 AM

Great achievement a 1/5s , well done ! And what a great species. You captured the circumstances very nicely I'd say ! Congrats ! Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Reed on October 25, 2014 at 9:56 AM

Ken, great job in tough light. I am in the camp that would vote to remove the upper branch....

Registered on September 19, 2009, 198 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Ralph Kerr on October 25, 2014 at 10:31 PM

Very nice of this Owl, Ken. I'll just ditto the comments of the others. You should be proud of this one

Registered on January 30, 2007, 369 Posts, 852 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on October 27, 2014 at 3:01 PM

Great setting for this owl, Ken. The techs look fantastic. I like the way you have framed the owl.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on October 27, 2014 at 8:45 PM

Excellent technique to get this shot Ken! The framing works out nicely

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

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on October 28, 2014 at 4:58 PM

Great job at 1/5 Ken, thanks for sharing the details of how you managed this capture. The branch over it's head doesn't bother me.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments