Brown Wood-Owl

Nice close up of this owl with a nice perch. If you have the room on the bottom to add back the tail , that would be great! You have posted some of the most interesting birds! Sharon

Very nice. The detail is really solid. I don't find the double catch lights to be a bother though some might. I might try darkening the lighter patches on the branch. I'd also love to improve the separation from the black BG at the top of the head, but honestly can't think of a way to do it that wouldn't look like that was what I was trying to do. Good job.

Great image. I feel the picture is slightly under-exposed. It has helped saturate colors, but some of the shadow details are perhaps lost.

Many thanks for offering your valued feedback Sharon, Rick, and Murali, much appreciated :^)

Sharon: Unfortunately in my excitement of the encounter I failed to notice I'd completely sliced off this beautiful bird's tail ;^.

To be fair, this is far from a great shot IMO, but the memories it brings back to me each time I look at it help to cover up it's flaws ;^)

Just finding owls is a challenge and then to get such a nice image is a huge bonus. Looks really good at iso 3200. What kind of lighting is in play here?

Another interesting species, Ashley. Looks like you were mighty close to him. Very sharp for 1/15th. Nice details and great eye contact. Having the whole owl in the frame would have been tops, but this is still a fine image given you were handholding on a boat. Looks like a very productive outing.

Thanks for taking the time to view and leave comments Keith and Govind :^)

Keith: The only source of light I had was that coming from the beam of my guide's flashlight shinning directly on the subject. I wasn't too keen on this idea at first, seeing as I know how I'd hate someone shinning a light directly into my eyes, not to mention I reckoned the Owl was probably looking around for something to catch and eat, but my guide suggested that my concerns were unfounded and, in all fairness, none of the birds and animals we found in this way seemed bothered by the light at all; only if we came closer than they were apparently comfortable with did they move away, which rarely happened.

Really nice job for the conditions you had here Ashley. I agree that having the whole tail would have been nice.

Thanks Nate, and couldn't agree more about that tail ;^)

Nice image, Ashley! This guy has some interesting markings (compared to the Owls we have out my way). That's so cool how you got to see two different Owl species in one night!

Thanks Jenaya, thought you might appreciate this one ;^)