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Image Description
When a huge Ural Owl launches itself from a treetop and heads in your direction, you only have a moment to fire off a shot before getting out of the way. This was the only image I got of her flying.
Technical Details
Sony a1, Sony 200-600mm at 600mm, manual exposure, 1/2000th at f/6.3, ISO 640. I was quite close so this is only about a 50% crop.
Wow! What a fabulous pose. The immediacy grabs you because it’s so exciting. Terrific sharpness and frame-filling energy. I love everything about this. Except your processing. I know that’s quite subjective, but this screams fake to me. It’s the difference in the color and luminosity of the tree that does it, but also the shadows are lifted within an inch of their life and it makes her not seem part of the scene, but rather pasted on. I think if you harmonize the luminosities for some deeper shadows things would look much more natural. There’s also a bit of chromatic aberration going on that could be corrected (I just had to with one of my high-contrast bird images). The bones are here and I can only imagine the excitement of seeing her and then seeing her come straight at you. Great training and reflexes you have to get this so well. Those wings, that stare! Bravo.
Terrific impact, Charles. Like Kristin, to my eye, it has a pasted in look, largely, I think, from the fact that everything is in focus and that just doesn’t seem real for that large a bird and for the tree behind it. It might be, but it doesn’t feel that way.
Hi Dennis,
The tree was indeed in focus. That’s the effect of f/6.3 at 600mm plus the crop factor in the camera. But as you can see in my repost, I blurred it for effect.
Thanks for giving it a try. I think it’s a step toward realism for sure. Tough lighting conditions, but a great catch.
Site tip - If you do make changes and have a second edit, you can add that to your original post by clicking the pencil (edit) icon at the bottom of your post. This allows us to compare both photos in the viewer one after the other. You can also edit the title with something like + 1 Rework or similar to alert the group that you have done it.
The blurring of the treetop makes it look much more realistic, Charles. You must have been some distance away to get that depth of field. I use the same camera/lens combination and don’t usually get that much.
