Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction
Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
If you don’t know this species, would you now recognize it in the wild?
Other Information
Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.
Image Description
The barred owl (Strix varia), also known as northern barred owl or hoot owl, is a true owl, native to eastern North America. Adults are large, and are brown to grey with barring on the chest. Barred owls have expanded their range to the west coast of North America, where they are considered invasive. The powers that be are actively killing them here. This individual lives in Llandover Woods Greenspace, Seattle, which is adjacent to my home.
Technical Details
Canon EOS 5 D II; Canon EF 200-400mm @ 400mm; f/4 @ 1/200 sec, ISO 800; handheld
Specific Feedback
The shallow depth of field was intentional to make everything but the bird soft-focus, so he is more prominent. Was that effective or overkill?
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Nice image of this owl, Bob. Thus far the killing of them is just proposed, but it seems to be the only solution they can ever think of. The focus looks fine. I don’t think anything you could do in-camera would make the out of focus branches really disappear. I might be tempted to play with removing them in processing, but I’m not sure how it would work.
Thank you @Dennis_Plank for your comments. The notification from the local animal control folks I received listed numbers of kills. We only have one mating pair in residence. This is the male. where he was perched cannot be eliminated. The smaller branches behind him were the primary target of the intentional blur—bokeh. I suppose I can darken them selectively to reduce their visibility more.
Thanks, Bob. I didn’t realize animal control was doing anything. I was just familiar with the US Forest Service proposal. It’s just plain completely silly in Seattle. They’re not out competing anything there that I’m aware of.
Thank you @Dennis_Plank. Now for some governmental obfuscation: Barred Owls out-compete Spotted Owls, and in some instances even hybridize with them, both sources of concern. Currently, however, there are no measures to control Washington’s growing population of Barred Owls.
WDFW: Barred owls must go to save spotted owls - Capital Press.
Hi Bob, nice catch with the owl looking our way and in habitat. I’m wondering how you got pinpoint eye catchlights in that soft lighting.
Thank you @ Allen_Sparks for your comments and question. The answer is incidental light. I am attaching another image from earlier in the day. The owl is farther up the perch to the left and is looking over his shoulder. The catchlight is visible in the right eye, the only eye visible. You can see the day was bright. There are holes in the foliage. It was 12:12. Light from straight over the owl. In the original post It appears I darkened the foliage and obscured the highlights to make the owl more prominent.
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