Posted by Nigel Blake on February 15, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Barn owl hunting at dawn, a complex shot to get and a shot I've wanted for several years.
An area on the ground baited with grated fruit and nut chocolate under a piece of ply attracted the small rodents, car used as a hide (rather than the hide as it was so cold) this was the first of only two frames, the bird's wing covered its face on the second.
2009:01:29 09:04:16
600mm f4IS and EOS1DsMkIII
Subject dist: 21m
1/200 sec, f/4
Mode: Manual
Metering: Evaluative
ISO: 400
AF mode: AI Servo AF
Drive: Continuous (high)
White balance: Auto
Flash: External E-TTL (X 2 one slaved)
Flash exp comp: -1/3
File size: 18.6MB
Image size: 5616 x 3744
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: 0
Contrast: 0
Tone: Normal
Custom Functions:
CFn III-8: AF expansion: surrounding assist points
CFn III-13: AF point brightness: brighter
Posted by Mark Wilson on February 15, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Love the pose and night setting on this, great image Nigel
Posted by Craig Jones on February 15, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Well done and great shot nigel,these are beautiful birds and you capture this in this image.
One of two frames.... Nigel you only need one of this quality....
Excellent
Posted by Andy Astbury on February 16, 2009 at 4:37 AM
Superb capture Nigel - nice composition and technically flawless
I'd be curious to see where you had your flash heads set up....
Posted by Nigel Blake on February 16, 2009 at 4:44 AM
They were both mounted on Manfrotto "magic arms" Andy, one above left of camera (off-camera lead) approx 3ft away at 45 degrees, the other (slaved) at -1EV above right 4ft at about 30 degrees.
Posted by Gary Beers on February 16, 2009 at 4:47 AM
Excellent! Nice to have the band of green to put it in context
Posted by Anthony House on February 16, 2009 at 6:16 AM
Excellent work Nigel...
Posted by Dave Bartlett on February 16, 2009 at 8:18 AM
That's really excellent Nigel. I'm not sure I could have parted with the fruit and nut though !!
Dave
Posted by Tim Taylor on February 16, 2009 at 9:18 AM
Superb shot Nigel. I love the wing positions and the excellent catchlight. I'd never have thought of using chocolate to attract an owl...
Tim
Posted by Matt Cole on February 16, 2009 at 9:48 AM
wow, that's great. It looks like a very tricky shot to take but has worked out very well indeed.
Matt
Posted by Dave Courtenay on February 16, 2009 at 10:31 AM
Really nicely done-I like the faint green strip at the bottom-gives it some depth and doesn't look so much like a studio shot-if you know what i mean
Great shot nigel, I do some off camera flash for other things, and would love to attempt something like that.
Fascinating to read about techniques (both tech and chocolate based!)
I don't know what I admire most, your wonderful image or your ability to resist the urge for eating all the fruit and nut
A fine shot.
Posted by Ian Cook on February 16, 2009 at 3:26 PM
That really is beautiful Nigel :)
Posted by Major Gilbert on February 16, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Cracking shot Nigel. Action stopper.
Major.
Posted by Ian Mason on February 16, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Superb! Well worth the effort and thanks for the tip - must try that sometime!
Posted by John Robinson on February 16, 2009 at 7:43 PM
Its a shame , but I really do have to make a point here.
This picture has been taken by attracting live small rodents to an arificial baited area with chocolate etc or whatever, not to enrich or enhance their brief rodental lives , but to increase the possibilities of getting a picture of barn owl going after them. A picture which has been done a thousand times before anyway.
Is this really what it's all about.? Sorry but ethics seem to have gone out the window with Ektachrome !
JR
Posted by Magnus Hird on February 17, 2009 at 3:48 AM
First of all its a cracking shot Nigel, very well planned and executed
John raises an important point though. I think the bait was covered with a sheet of wood from what Nigel said, so the owl wouldn't be able to capture them in situ. The rodents would be out foraging at night anyway and be hunted by the owl at that point - although perhaps the energy rich bait would concentrate them in one place for longer, not sure. The interesting bit though is that this is no different in principle than using live mealworms for birds or small fish in a tank to get kingfisher shots (which I've certainly heard described here), in fact if anything its worse - at least the rodents get something for their gamble, which may increase their chances of raising the current / next set of young.
Posted by Nigel Blake on February 19, 2009 at 7:36 AM
"This picture has been taken by attracting live small rodents to an arificial baited area with chocolate etc or whatever"
Interesting that you have in the past explained how you groundbait around your Kingfisher perch to bring the fish in! and are you going to stop photographing the Sparrowhawk that comes after your "baited" garden birds, what really is the difference?
"A picture which has been done a thousand times before anyway."
What, do you mean like the dead Owl/ Badger/ Fox roadkill cliché?
And I won't mention the strange "give the game away" artifacts on Dipper image; if you are going to pontificate about ethics John, you need your own to be better than sqeaky clean!
More to the point John you know full well that the Moderators had banned you from commenting on my images after your previous campaign!
Posted by Iain Tookey on February 19, 2009 at 7:54 AM
It's a lovely shot, but I do share the concern around how the shot was arrived at.
Another thing I was wondering, and this is not meant as 'having a go', but how did the owl react to the flashes? This is a genuine question, as I've thought of using off camera flash a couple of times as I regularly have owls go right over my head at the locations I frequent. I've always not tried it for fear of frightening the owl whilst it goes about the business of trying to survive!
Posted by cedric jones on February 21, 2009 at 10:55 AM
As a member of a Barn Owl group dedicated to preserving and maintaining the habitat and existence of this threatened owl, I cannot support the unnatural way of attracting this bird,
I do not understand why Mr. Robinson should be banned for making a fair and justified comment.
Discussion
25 repliesAn area on the ground baited with grated fruit and nut chocolate under a piece of ply attracted the small rodents, car used as a hide (rather than the hide as it was so cold) this was the first of only two frames, the bird's wing covered its face on the second.
2009:01:29 09:04:16
600mm f4IS and EOS1DsMkIII
Subject dist: 21m
1/200 sec, f/4
Mode: Manual
Metering: Evaluative
ISO: 400
AF mode: AI Servo AF
Drive: Continuous (high)
White balance: Auto
Flash: External E-TTL (X 2 one slaved)
Flash exp comp: -1/3
File size: 18.6MB
Image size: 5616 x 3744
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: 0
Contrast: 0
Tone: Normal
Custom Functions:
CFn III-8: AF expansion: surrounding assist points
CFn III-13: AF point brightness: brighter
Regards
Craig Jones
Staffordshire
Steve
A great shot captured so well.
Barry
Excellent
I'd be curious to see where you had your flash heads set up....
Dave
Tim
Matt
Dave
Fascinating to read about techniques (both tech and chocolate based!)
I don't know what I admire most, your wonderful image or your ability to resist the urge for eating all the fruit and nut
A fine shot.
Major.
This picture has been taken by attracting live small rodents to an arificial baited area with chocolate etc or whatever, not to enrich or enhance their brief rodental lives , but to increase the possibilities of getting a picture of barn owl going after them. A picture which has been done a thousand times before anyway.
Is this really what it's all about.? Sorry but ethics seem to have gone out the window with Ektachrome !
JR
John raises an important point though. I think the bait was covered with a sheet of wood from what Nigel said, so the owl wouldn't be able to capture them in situ. The rodents would be out foraging at night anyway and be hunted by the owl at that point - although perhaps the energy rich bait would concentrate them in one place for longer, not sure. The interesting bit though is that this is no different in principle than using live mealworms for birds or small fish in a tank to get kingfisher shots (which I've certainly heard described here), in fact if anything its worse - at least the rodents get something for their gamble, which may increase their chances of raising the current / next set of young.
Interesting that you have in the past explained how you groundbait around your Kingfisher perch to bring the fish in! and are you going to stop photographing the Sparrowhawk that comes after your "baited" garden birds, what really is the difference?
What, do you mean like the dead Owl/ Badger/ Fox roadkill cliché?
And I won't mention the strange "give the game away" artifacts on Dipper image; if you are going to pontificate about ethics John, you need your own to be better than sqeaky clean!
More to the point John you know full well that the Moderators had banned you from commenting on my images after your previous campaign!
Another thing I was wondering, and this is not meant as 'having a go', but how did the owl react to the flashes? This is a genuine question, as I've thought of using off camera flash a couple of times as I regularly have owls go right over my head at the locations I frequent. I've always not tried it for fear of frightening the owl whilst it goes about the business of trying to survive!
I do not understand why Mr. Robinson should be banned for making a fair and justified comment.