Soft focus LEO

Gallery: AvianPosted June 6, 2015359 views9 comments

This juvenile LEO Landed on my deck rail, partially hidden by a door, that I was only able to get off a couple of frames before he/she departed for a flower box. On three different occasions the four nest mates came to our deck and used our unplanted flower boxes left from last season or the seats of our deck chairs to dig and knead their talons like a cat sharpening it's claws. Behavior I've never heard or read about. I liked the soft focus effect that resulted.

Canon 7Dii, Canon 400 2.8 w/1.4 ext. ISO 4000 1/60 @ f4 PP in LR4

Thanks for looking and any comments offered

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on June 6, 2015 at 4:51 PM

Very cool, Neil. That crisp eye in the middle of the soft-focus really draws attention. Did you add a vignette or did it just work out that way?

devil

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

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on June 6, 2015 at 4:56 PM

The eye is cool here Neil, overall I wish the image were sharper but given your techs you made the most of the opportunity. Neat to have these birds coming to your deck devil

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

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on June 6, 2015 at 8:48 PM

Hi Neil,

My only nit is to drop the green saturation down to reduce that lime green spot in the BG. The eye is wonderful and it is nice to see that the owlets are using your deck as part of their growing up process............................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by Neil Rossmiller on June 6, 2015 at 9:12 PM

Dennis: I did slightly enhance what was a natural vignette to lessen the OOF lower RH corner caused by the door.

Registered on October 30, 2009, 156 Posts, 749 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on June 7, 2015 at 2:25 AM

That is one terrific yard bird, Jim. Well seen and composed, given wha the bird gave you and the other constraints. If it were mine, I might have dropped some of the shutter speed to pick up a little more depth of field. Still, very, very cool.

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

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on June 7, 2015 at 9:46 AM

Cool shot ! Love the details and the composition here ! devil , cheers, Hans

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

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on June 7, 2015 at 9:54 PM

I really like the comp on this one Neil. I am not usually a fan of adding much vignette (if any at all), but it really works nicely here. My only nit is the same as Jim's. I wish you would have pushed it s touch more on the ISO (maybe 6400) to get to f/5 or 5.6. That low SS also caused a touch of motion blur. Don't get me wrong, this still works very nice...just a thought.

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

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on June 8, 2015 at 8:47 AM

I think this works and is just beautiful.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Pete D on June 8, 2015 at 6:53 PM

Soft focus sort of suits an owl, I think. I find the vignette, in-camera or not, is a little heavy. I don't ~~can~~ get anything this cool on my deck!

Pete D.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 590 Posts, 1794 Comments