Barn Owl.+ Repost.

Hi! I think its a really unique shot of a barn owl. I think you did a great job with the slow shutter speed it looks sharp enough. This picture tells a cool story great job!

Looks very nice to me too. You did a great job capturing this urban beauty in its habitat Keith. I really like the way he's looking at you under the vine.

Agree with others that this is a neat shot. Colors look really nice and its sharp. Shutter speed was enough to freeze any movement. I'm not seeing anything I'd call noise so your D4 did well for you. If it were mine, I think I would crop off the blue board on the bottom. It's not necessary to tell the story and it just adds another element that your brain needs to process to see how it fits in the story here.

Hi Keith,

I like the image--a great pose of this urban mouser! A little crop off the bottom would not hurt either..................................Jim

What makes this shot to me is the great inquisitive pose that he's giving you. Looks great considering the techs you had here Keith. If it were mine I would crop the gray/silver strip from the bottom.

Hi Keith, like the environment, both nature & manmade. Seems you have quite a bit of detail in the facial disc, but push that ISO, 6400+, nothing to loose and everything to gain, even try f/4, just adds a bit more to your SS. I would look to pulling back the Cyan and a little of the Blue based on what I'm seeing, i.e. that bar. Will help other areas too.

TFS
Steve

Keith, this is a really interesting shot. The peeking pose and ivy cover are wonderful. I agree with the others that the blue bar should be cropped out though.

Max

got lots of shots of these Owls but like I said with the OP not sure about all of them, lack of experience shows a bit tried spot metering to see if this would help in the conditions but did seem to bring noise into the image something I have never had with this camera, might be a bit long in the tooth but still very keen to learn. Did wonder about leaving the hinge, here it is without it.
Thanks a lot for your comments and tips.

Great job at this shutter speed Keith. Agree about the bottom crop which I saw the repost and it looks better IMO. I am honestly not seeing the noise you're speaking of in the post. I also agree with Stephen about pushing the ISO even higher...Im not a Nikon user, but have friends with that camera and they shoot up to 6400 quite often when needed without any issues. I am not sure why spot metering would have an impact on noise, I have never experienced that.

Hi Keith, I will drop you a line about metering and the 'pitfalls' of certain metering i.e. Spot. Think you will find it useful as it's Nikon based. A good read and when you see where it's comes from you know it makes sense.

Keep the hard work going, 2015 will be a good one.

Love the natural framing combined with the man-made perch, a unique image..
Excellent work in the low-light, great pose as well.
Merry Christmas Keith!
PS: I'm on the 'fence' with the repost like em' both though.

This is just fantastic! Love that face staring right at you. Wonderful setting.

Ray

Thanks to you all, much appreciated.

A very merry Christmas to you all.