Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
We were driving down a 4-lane highway when Barry spotted this Great Horned Owl and a hatchling in the V of a 20th tree. That required getting off the highway and setting up across the four lands for this first shot. The next three photographs were taken around 6 PM in a park.
Thank you for stopping by.
eter
Specific Feedback
any
Technical Details
Z8, Nikon 180-600mm & 1.4ext, f9, 1/200, 840mm, -.7EV, ISO 400, 840mm, +1EV, 1/800, ISO 25,000, 1/1250,ISO 10,000, and cropped in DXO PhotoLab 9 by 50%, 12% & 50%.
Nice set of owl images, Peter. The parent and the owlet makes for a pleasing image, My favorite is the second one, which I feel is the sharpest and shows some nice habitat.
Well, your explanation helped a lot, Peter. I thought that might have been a long distance shot in the first one as it didn’t quite have the punch. I suspect you lost a little to atmospherics. All those cars in four lanes of traffic are adding a lot of atmospheric disturbance, exhaust and heat, so you lost a bit of fine detail. That said the adult and chick together are always worth shooting and it looks like your focus was right on.
Like @Allen_Brooks, my favorite is the second. It really has presence and is sharp enough to cut stone. The third looks like it has a bit of motion blur-not at all unusual for a take-off shot when I’m shooting. The 4th is very good as well, it just doesn’t have the impact of the second.
Very nice collection of owl captures. I really like that second one. I love to get “owl” photos. One of my favorite bird subjects. Well done.
Hi Allen, Dennis & Dave
Thank you for the comments. I agree that the second shot is the best. I dropped the shutter speed to 1/800 in the hope of gaining some light. I was shooting in small bursts, and just as I pushed the shutter down, the Owl launched from the tree. That produced the motion blur.
Peter
I like the final one the best and go with a vertical crop for improving the comp. I agree that heat shimmer, haze and other atmospheric anomalies reduced the sharpness slightly. Overall, each image is nice considering the difficulties you overcame getting the shots. Well done, and I like pose in the last shot which is my favorite one of the lot…Jim
Hi Jim
Thank you for your comment.
Peter
