Evening in the Forest

Gallery: AvianPosted November 23, 2015124 views8 comments

Hi again, all! I'm back with another capture from our extended session with the Great Grey Owl I posted earlier perched along the aspen trees. At one point during our time with this owl it flew into the pines and cleaned itself for a while, alternating between preening, resting, and watching the surrounding meadow for movement. I was delighted that it chose a setting with some soft backlighting.

This one just felt right in black and white for me...I'll post an alternate frame or two in colour in the future so you can see the dark greens of the forest at dusk.

This is about 85% of full frame with a light vignette added to maintain the look and feel of the forest as we experienced it.

Thanks in advance for any comments and suggestions!

--------------------

Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4D IF-ED
ISO 1600
1/250sec @ f/4.5
-1.3 stops underexposed from meter
Mounted on FEISOL CT-3372 Elite tripod with Acratech GV2 ballhead and Wimberley Sidekick

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Cay-Uwe Kulzer on November 23, 2015 at 6:38 AM

John,

as I commented on another of your photos, I like the idea to show animals in their habitat. Your conversion to black & white works fine for me and also your idea to add vignette to focus more on the owl is OK. Anyhow for this picture I would have prefered a still standing subject, which would have fit better in the overall scene mood.

Just my toughts may be because I prefer a closer view when it comes to action images enlightened

Registered on January 27, 2004, 494 Posts, 4021 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on November 23, 2015 at 10:55 AM

Very cool, John. I know a lot of contests don't allow it, but I think a little cloning of the bright spots above the bird would make this work even better. They tend to draw my eye from the bird, which otherwise would hold my attention pretty well.

devil

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

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on November 23, 2015 at 11:29 AM

I think this has a nice mood. The action of the bird is pretty cool. I'm distracted by the bright tree behind the bird. Wish you could have taken a step or two to the right to change the angle. Don't know if that was an option or not.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Katie Jones on November 23, 2015 at 5:08 PM

John,
This is so striking - from the black and white processing to the owl's activity. I think the framing is complimentary and I like the vingnette.

Registered on November 17, 2015, 17 Posts, 91 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on November 23, 2015 at 6:21 PM

Very nice preening activity you captured of this beauty in its habitat John. This image seems to work well converted to black & white. Thos white spots a little distracting for me also, but hey, thats nature!

Sweet One John!

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Frye on November 23, 2015 at 6:26 PM

I like how the main subject is separated from the background -- look like a 3D image to me -- I get a nice peaceful feeling from the image --

Registered on February 3, 2007, 387 Posts, 1136 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on November 23, 2015 at 7:49 PM

I like it when you think outside the box John. You have to view the large image to really see what the owl is doing (I did anyway). And...yea, I agree the bright spots in the bg pull your eye from the owl some. Still the black & white conversion makes a real nice birdscape. Nice work!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on November 26, 2015 at 10:04 AM

Your choice for B&W works very well here, and I like the overall view we get here. Great image, John ! Cheers, Hans

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