SEO enviro + repost

Another shot from my recent stint with the owls. There were two fields the owls could be found in and to get to the second field required walking through a smaller area that had this long dead straw like grass in it, as apposed to the more typical greenery of the other fields. I really wanted to try and get a shot of one of them sitting in this field as it was visually so much more appealing than them sitting in normal, short green grass and made a change from the flight shots I was taking. Finally on my last day I saw this chap fly across in to the long grass ahead of me. So as I very slowly and carefully made my way back to the car I spotted him (her?) perched without being spotted myself. I watched for about 10 seconds as he looked on before the moment was over. I'm still not %100 sure I was even spotted as there was never any eye contact or looking in my direction! First person to say there are too many branches in the way gets a voodoo doll made of them

D300, 600 + 1.4x, 1/1600 (I was still in flight shot settings), f7.1, ISO 800

Looks right to me. May be a little darker would be nice, but that could be my screen.

Perhaps a little tweak with the levels just to bring the reeds down, just a little bit though, not too much.

It's a really interesting shot for me as it gives me the impression of peering into the SEO's lifestyle.

Nicely done

Drew

Thanks guys. It's funny you picked up on the brightness because my first edit I thought looked too dark so I adjusted it again to lighten the surroundings back up. I've posted a slightly darker version too. I'm still unsure myself which I prefer as the darker version doesn't hold as true to the nice light tones produced at the time I took the shot

You might need to point them out next time for my brother Lovely birds

Dave

Well, thanks for the re-post but it makes it hard to decide now. i think I will settle for either, not helpful I know but i can see where you're coming from !

Drew

Superb shot Richard.........ignore my elder brother

must do it again soon

Think I prefer the original. You've done really well to get the owl pretty clear of any obstructions but still show the dense habitat off. Maybe a bit off the right? Still a very ncie image

That's a very natural setting and a very natural pose , very nice.

Bob.