Innocence

[Willemd (Alexander Willem Degroot)]

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

A local state park has had a nesting pair of Great Horned Owls raising their chicks in about the same location for 7 or 8 years. I had already been a few times to take pictures, so I knew exactly where to look to see them. On this particular day it was extremely windy and I was there early so I decided after taking a few pictures to walk a few miles in the park. When I returned to the owl tree, I saw yellow tape marking a spot near the base of the tree and on the ground was one of the baby owls. She had blown down from the tree. I got down on the ground and started taking a few pictures. The baby appeared to have no fear of me at all and maybe curiosity. She didn’t move from her spot and just stared at me. A few park rangers arrived shortly and put the owl back in the tree.

Specific Feedback

Typically when I edit my bird images I try to make the bird stand out in as natural of a way as I can. In this image I darkened the back ground and brightened the eyes slightly. Any ideas on other things I could do to make the image more pleasing to view would be most appreciated.

Technical Details

Canon R5 with the Canon EF 100-400mm L lens hand held
Camera settings: ISO 500, 400mm, F6.3, 1/1600sec
processed in LR and PS

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[karlag (Karla Gerst)]

This looks lovely to my eye. You have really nice focus separation and a fairly clean background. I’m always afraid of losing the natural look when I edit, but I don’t think anything you’ve done looks pushed. It seems like it blends well. I don’t have any ideas, but I’m interested in what others might have to contribute. Lovely image. She’s so cute and fluffy looking.

[Jens_Ober]

Hi Alexander,
that’s a wonderful image. What a cute little guy. I love the DOF you chose because it shows just enough of the environment it lives in. Good for you that you have such a great location nearby.
In my opinion, your processing also looks very good.

@Willemd

Any ideas on other things I could do to make the image more pleasing to view would be most appreciated.

There is one thing that bothers me a little. It’s the plant or the branches on the right-hand side of the picture. It’s a rather busy area that stands out against the otherwise clean background. My eye is drawn to it.

I hope you don’t mind that I downloaded your image and messed around with it.

I first tried to crop the image. But there was still a piece of the plant in the picture, which I finally cloned out.

Here is a second version in which I have completely removed the plant. I quickly used the generative fill in PS.

It’s a matter of taste how creatively you want to edit the images. Your original picture is great just as it is. But I was curious to see what the picture would look like without this distraction.