Barn Owl Portrait (c)

Gallery: AvianPosted April 2, 2012160 views6 comments

Hi Everyone! I've been pretty busy helping my daughters in their photography and processing, and haven't had time to do much of my own! I finally sat down the other day and processed several avian images from the past year or so, and thought I'd share a few of them with you (in hopes some of you might suggest further improvements if you see something I've missed).

This is a beautiful barn owl from the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale, Alberta. We were there on my daughter's (Jenaya) birthday, so they put several owls on the glove and even let her handle a number of them. I was about to move around to the opposite side of this owl for some nice forelighting, but just as I started to move I saw this beautiful background and couldn't resist a picture or two.

I'm afraid I did miss with the exposure a little, and underexposed the owl a touch given the bright background. I was only about two weeks into digital photography at the time and was still getting a grasp on the best techniques and capabilities of the sensor on my D2X. As a result, this is a blend of three different RAW conversions...I also changed my capture sharpening settings. [EDIT: after posting this, I see I seriously missed some horrific green fringing on the OOF lower left side of the owl caused by the prevalent CA on this lens...I'll have to have another go at this and see how I can fix that.]

I really like the expression this owl gave me, and personally find the background tones and softness to compliment him nicely.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments!

Nikon D2X
Tamron SP 70-210 f/2.8 LD @ 175mm
ISO 200
1/750sec @ f/2.8
tripod mounted
cropped to about 80% of original to remove glove of handler

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on April 2, 2012 at 9:12 PM

I really like that pose, John. And I agree that background really works well with the colors of this beauty. The detail in the face is excellent, however I do wish for a bit more detail in the body for such a close up. Based on your techs, with tripod, you may have been able to get away with f5.6 or f8 for a bit more DOF.
Beautiful image as posted.

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

Comment posted by Richard Teller on April 2, 2012 at 11:49 PM

I like the close feel of this image. Great detail and catch light in the eye. I like it as is.

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

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 3, 2012 at 12:21 AM

HI john. Ilike the bg for the most part, though the dark patch at the top is a trifle distracting. The pose of the owl is great.

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

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on April 3, 2012 at 4:12 PM

This is a difficult shot to pull off with the strong background light. I would agree that using more DOF might have helped bring the lower body area into more focus. I do like the background and might try having the background more of the same contrast. The left side background color transition looks good to me but the dark area in the upper right is kind of distracting to me. I really like the look and pose from the owl.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on April 4, 2012 at 2:03 PM

Cute bird in lovely pose.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on April 10, 2012 at 1:22 AM

Thanks, everyone! I can't disagree with your suggestions, and wondered about that dark patch in the URC but decided to leave it as shot (I did open it up a little in processing, though).

I actually tried a couple different apertures using my depth-of-field preview button (sorry, old school...should have just SHOT!) and chose this (wide-open) for the pleasing effect on the background. The owl was not actually THAT removed from the vegetation behind him.

As far as more detail in the body, particularly the breast, I must confess I actually chose to emphasize this in processing. While the 2.8 aperture at this close range meant the areas of the bird "behind" the face were softer, I decreased my capture sharpening on the second version of this file (see my notes above) and chose to use the slightly softer layer for all but the face of the owl. Further, I masked this out in my output (for web) sharpening. So, I took the effect created in camera through my aperture choice and distance to subject and took it a step further on the computer. For me (at least at the time!), it worked. I might have another go at this and leave the body with the same processing as the face, though in the end these processing decisions have a pretty subtle result...this is awfully close to the RAW file in those respects.

Thanks again!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments