First Post - Short Eared Owl

Hi, have been lurking for a long time, and been deeply inspired by some of the shots on here. Some of the names look familiar from elsewhere too :) so apologies if you have seen this before ! :)

Was taken last Thursday, at a site in Buckinghamshire, 1D MK3, 600 F4L IS, with 1.4 TC, sitting in the open drivers side window of the car. The image has not been cropped, and only had levels and a minor USM sharpen on the lightness layer. I have edited a closer crop of the image, and am not really sure if it works or not, but ill put this uncropped version up and see what you think :)

ISO 100
F 5.6
1/500th
-1/3 EV

Not much wrong with this, a superb capture, exceptionally well done. Nice one.

Very nice indeed, I think I'd tone down the egg shaped bright patch on the background, but thats a minor nit.

I agree with Nigel about the egg-shaped patch in the background, but as he says it's a minor point only!

Otherwise its a fabulous image!

Like this a lot, agree that the brighter areas in the bg could be toned down some... was there still snow around?

Love the pose from the bird..

Wonderful pose captured here

The brighter spots can be dealt with but the bird is the thing. Nice first post.

Major.

One of the better SEO images I've seen. Maybe more contrast and brightness and/or a bit more USM. Try this as a sharpen: Amount 20%, Pixels 75. Should get POTW
Dave

Thats nice , its different.

Bob.

Thanks all for the kind comments, i have a series of 4 shots from this moment, before it flew off, it was only about 30 feet (rough guesstimate) away at the time and paid me no attention at all.

PhilH yes there was snow on the ground, well actually it was more like Ice, may explain why these owls are out all day at the moment. There are 3 or 4 SEO and 2 Barn owls on this site :)

Have taken on board some of the comments above, re the light background and the USM etc, and this is what i ended up with.

Not sure how to post a second pic in this thread, so link only im afraid.

Short Eared Owl

Welcome Very nice first post.

I'd be happy with that one Ian.

You couldn't have wished for a better pose than that! Just beautiful! I agree it would help to tone down the bright bit on the right.

You already know I like this Ian...and nice to see it without a 'frame'

Welcome.
Phil

Thanks again guys :)

Mark, funny i knew you would say that ;)

It had a frame????

Great post and for me nicely composed and a nice pose captured

I have some sharpening techniques on my website if it helps at all for posting to the web.

Thanks Graeme, had a look through your site, and will have a go with your technique as well, i usually apply USM to the lightness channel as this reduces the chances of halos etc as well :)

Super pose Ian, really shows off the plumage. Great shot

Thanks Magnus :)