Pertinent technical details or techniques: D500 600mm f4 +1.4TC (1/640sec at f7.1, Iso 640) In lightroom, I set Dehaze at 52, restablished the blacks with levels. In Photoshop, Topaz DeNoise was applied more conservatively, and a series of adjustment filters for Shadows and Highlights to tame down the highlights followed with Brightness & Contrast and Topaz Details. I did not do any dodging as I felt that the faces of the owls appeared well enough to my eye. I rubber stamped out some OOF branches on the RH side.
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It’s looking a lot better, Jim. I’m wondering if working on the owlets eyes would make this image really pop. They’re rather dull and nondescript here, but if you could give them some oomph it would really cap off a fine image.
A fine capture Jim and this looks much improved. Having both birds looking at the camera is really nice. Brightening the eyes of each bird may help. A special image for sure.
Something very alive looking identical to something very dead. High marks for spiritual depth of field. The bird bark similarity would be encouraged with a crop that had less white.
Very nice image thank you.
Thank you. This was a fun bird to study and photograph. Steven–I have several closer photos of the parent and there’s an opportunity for less white with more owl and wood. I’m amazed that this snag is still upright. The number of carpenter ant mines visible on the wood suggests that there will not be a nest at this site next year…Jim
The repost here is a better image without losing the feel of the original post. Good job on improving the contrast in the repost. I like the pose and the high key effect on the background. Our pair of Great Horned Owls at our local wildlife refuge just arrived two days ago which is quite late for these owls. They typically arrive in early February. You are very lucky to have such a clear shot as I have to shoot through a lot of branches to get anything.
I agree that this is much improved. What a fantastic opportunity. I’d still suggest lightening the eyes of both owls, and I think I’d decrease the contrast in the tree. On the one hand, the tree shows how well-camouflaged the birds are, but on the other, it is competing with them a bit because the tones are so similar.
