Great Grey Liftoff

Gallery: AvianPosted February 1, 201687 views4 comments

Hi Everyone! Here's another picture of our favourite Great Grey Owl from last summer. I was really excited to finally get one on such a nice perch and at eye-level! I got this shot right as it was about to fly to a nearby tree where it ended up preening itself for a while. This is the first time I've been able to get flowers in an owl picture! cool

The owl had been looking to the right so I had it composed with him on the left when it suddenly lifted its wings to fly and looked back over its shoulder. My dad and I cropped from the right so the owl wasn't on the left side of the frame anymore. I probably would have composed this a bit differently if it had been looking this direction the whole time but I only had a second to get the shot and we decided this was the best option.

Thanks for looking and I hope you like it!

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Nikon D7100
NikkorAF-S 300mm f/4D IF-ED with TC-14EII teleconverter
ISO 800
1/160sec @ f/5.6
-0.66 stop exposure compensation
Mounted on Gitzo tripod with Acratech GV2 ballhead
Cropped from top and right to about 75% of original

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Jefferson Silva on February 1, 2016 at 7:57 PM

Hello Josiah,
very nice bird pose, and I like that eye. I wish I could see this bird at some point in my life.
I need to honest about the background, it calls my attention a little bit, when it comes to that brighter area at the right side of the bird. Maybe some cloning work would allow you to get rid of it.

Cheers,
Jefferson

Registered on December 18, 2012, 162 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 1, 2016 at 11:12 PM

Excellent detail and a really cool pose, Josiah. Given the circumstances you described, this looks like a good compromise for the composition. If you wanted to decenter the bird a bit more you could go to a 6x7 or even a square format, but the tree on the right helps make this work, so I really don't think you need to.

devil

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

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on February 2, 2016 at 10:48 PM

Very nice timing on the shot, Josiah. For me the tree in the background is a bit distracting – watching the background and watching the bird at the same time is hard – but that's a pretty minor nit on fine shot.

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

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on February 3, 2016 at 9:12 AM

I agree about the tree in the background, but still a fantastic shot. I really like the grasses and flowers below the perch too. devil

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