Barn Owl Two

Taken this morning this time with the 300 and a 1.4 and I know I have an out of focus branch from the bush to the right of picture which I am not sure I can do anything with but how is the rest of the bird. This time no crop but on post with wire he would not go to the tree.

40D
300 2.8 1.4 TC
f5.6
ISO 800
1/320
AP

Regards

Dave C

hi Dave nice composition, , but the eyes are all wrong, it looks like they have been poked out.!!
most likely because of the pic being underexposed.

Cheers
Mark

I think it's sharper than the previous post, especially on the body, but the face still looks soft to me. Mind you, I find it hard to tell with barn owls though. Perhaps someone could help more if you gave some more details about how you took the shot (eg hand-held or tripod?) and what processing you used. Presumably the lack of detail in the eye is simply due to the lighting on the day?

A nice capture and as you say the OOF vegetation is unfortunate. Just return with some “twine” or secateurs and some surreptitious gardening around this and any other suitable perches. What have you got to loose.

Ian
I had tripod setup in car for a hide. processing was CS3 levels + 1 round of USM 100 @ .4 then Bibble Lite Ninja noise reduction.

Dave

Dave - sounds as if you could therefore use a good bit more USM, selectively, on the bird. Don't know the noise reduction software, but again, I presume you use it only on the background?

Looks like you've got a very co-operative bird there. Nice image but does look soft again and I think it's down to your post-processing. Try this: apply your noise reduction software to the full sized image, then open in photoshop, make your levels adjustments, resize to 720px, convert to sRGB, increase saturation by about 20, then apply FIVE rounds of usm at 100%,0.2rad,0 threshold, save for web.
Hope this helps and I'd like to see the results.

Simon

Simon

Followed your advise here is the result how does it look on your monitor

Thanks for advise

Dave C

Hi Dave,

Your getting some nice shots of this owl and its a shame that the processing is letting them down. Added some USM, 10 rounds at 100,0.2,0. And upped the saturation by +12.

HTH

Regards

Rob

I am doing something not right just need to find what it is. Yes he is giving me some great shots and I just need to complement him, so hopefully weather permitting I will try again tomorrow. Thanks for everyones advise.

Regards

Dave C

Keep going Dave, the poses and setting are good, just need some help with the light I think - the lack of a catchlight or reflection from the eye makes them look a bit dead