Barn Owl in Karen's Wood

In light of the wintry weather, today I went to a different site for Shorties that is a little closer to home. As soon as I arrived, I immediately recognised it as the site where Karen's recently posted Shortie in the woods was made.

The Shorties did not put in an apperance until after the sun had gone down. However, a couple of Barn Owls appeared a little earlier but were intent on staying some way off in the trees which made life very difficult for the three of us who were trying to photograph them.

Nikon D3S, 600mm lens and 1.4TC.
F5.6, 1/60s at ISO 2000.
PP in LR3. Cropped off the top.

How dark was it? 1/60 at ISO2000 sounds dark. I would like to see a bigger owl personally although it is quite different to the normal BO shots you see.

Ian

Ian, it was pretty dark but not as dark as when this image of a Shortie was taken at ISO 102,400. Andrew

Hi Andrew ,its jus a little too far off to give enough detail but other than that i like it .personally i would trim a bit off the rhs (Barn owl image)


Simon

Hi Andrew looks like you had the same problem with the shorties hunting later, I saw two barn owls but they were keeping their distance, I like the crop you have done just a shame the owl didn t come a little closer, it does show how difficult it can be there because of all those trees but I am going to keep at it as I bet you are to so good luck might bump into you there one day

You have made the most of the conditions but I have to say that Karens SEO image is by far the more powerful. You are all very lucky having the opportunity to work in an area with two such enigmatic subjects and also the opportunity to visit on a regular basis.

Really nice atmospheric shot and the trees add to it. Saw a BO about half an hour ago hunting between the snow showers - difficult conditions for them, I fear.

Hi Karen, after chipping the car windscreen on the way to the site yesterday (what are they using in the grit - boulders!) and the day I have with them today (fortunately there were no other photogs around to record my antiques), I might take a break from shorties for a while. I might return to them later in the year as there still are a few images I would like to make.

I must admit that I agonised over whether to post these images. However, I recently bumped into a photographer, whoose work I greatly admire, at a well known location that did not perform that well this year. Despite this, his view was that there was always an image to be made. I think these images illustrate this philosphy.

Andrew

small in the frame works for me.

Stereotypical barn owl shot this isn't and all the better for that IMO. The interest value is increased with the inclusion of this particular habitat but perhaps the application of the thirds rule would have strengthened the image on this occasion. Nonetheless, this is a refreshingly different image of this species.

Cheer,
Chris