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Little Owl portrait

Discussion

14 replies
Posted by John Swift on July 9, 2009 at 3:56 AM
Little Owl portrait
MK2DN, 600 f4 USM, x2 TC, ISO 800, 1/80 @ f11, fill flash -2 1/3, full frame, Noise Ninja, CS2
I've been watching a family of little owls for quite a while now and noted an occasional use of this perch so I set my hide up to give me the opportunity to make this image. On the fifth evening in the hide I got my chance.
Posted by Brett Lewis on July 9, 2009 at 4:07 AM
Your patience has rewarded you with a great image. I am a little distracted by the OOF part of the perch in the FG but not much because the detail and stare of the bird does hold you. Might also try for a slightly off centre comp to maximise the image uses. Nice one.

Brett :toast: :toast:
Posted by Liam Pauling on July 9, 2009 at 4:10 AM
Great image, well worth the time, I would agree with Brett and maybe crop the oof branch out.


:toast:
Posted by Craig Jones on July 9, 2009 at 4:30 AM
Beautiful image and well worth all your time and effort as its a cracker :biggrin: :biggrin: love the 'stare' and detail is very good, very nice John :wink: :wink: :wavey:
Posted by David Sewell on July 9, 2009 at 4:33 AM
The oof part of the stump does not bother me, and a central composition suits that very direct stare.

David

:toast: :toast:
Posted by John Robinson on July 9, 2009 at 5:42 AM
Hi John
I put a comment on this one last night and the picture dissappeared !
I mentioned the oof part of he stump too. nice work though.
JohnR
Posted by jack chapman on July 9, 2009 at 7:09 AM
lovely image, the central composition combined with the weighted background is great, am inclined to agree about the out of focus part
Posted by Mark Sisson on July 9, 2009 at 7:37 AM
Classic Little Owl and great to see you back enjoying the waiting game again!!

:toast:

Mark
Posted by Chris O'Reilly on July 9, 2009 at 8:15 AM
Hi John
Like this - the soft light really brings out the detail. Great eye contact and nice setting (despite the nit).

Cheers,
Chris
Posted by Des Ong on July 9, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Lovely photo but no invite :biggrin: :wavey: . Also need to update your watermarque John, still says 2008. Hope the pods working for you...

Des
Posted by Phil Shaw on July 9, 2009 at 2:57 PM
Are you going to be able to get any closer? If not then I think you need to crop the image so that the tree stump is not so dominant. If cropped, the central placement of the subject works particularly well giving a strong triangular composition with the eye placement on the two-thirds line. The diagonal oof branches in the b/g pointing towards the eyes of the bird and the generally darker tones of the background also make for an extremely strong combination of compositional elements. If you selected the hide position to capture the image like this, well done. If you just lucked-out, I would put it down to instinct :wink:

I would try to get a little closer if possible, but try to keep the compositional elements in place.
Posted by Phillip Tomkinson on July 9, 2009 at 3:05 PM
Hi a very nice image as is.

Phil.
:toast: :toast: :wavey:
Posted by Bob Cox on July 9, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Well worth the wait, no nits for me.
Posted by Mark Davies on July 9, 2009 at 5:42 PM
Its a belter. Pleased someones had a joy with their LO,
Posted by John Swift on July 11, 2009 at 4:58 PM
Many thanks to all for your thoughts and comments.