More Short-eared Owls

[Allen_Sparks]

Critique Style Requested: Standard

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

Description

I visited the fields again this morning where the short-eared owls roost and hunt. The first two images are of the same bird coming down after prey. The third image is of an owl scanning the field.

Specific Feedback

These are fairly sizable crops at high ISO for the R7. I processed the images first in DXO Pure Raw 3, then into Photoshop where I eventually cropped, and then used ON1 Resize to upsize the images. I think the images here at 100% are showing signs of being a bit pixelated on the bird. Any thoughts on image quality?

Technical Details

Canon R7, 400mm f4 DO IS II, 1.4x extender III
ISO 6400, f5.6, 1/1600s, hand held

[Dennis_Plank]

These are all wonderful, Allen, but number three is just plain awesome, I think because of the distant tree background and the wonderful eye contact. You’ve found a gold mine of of these and you’re taking full advantage of it.

[Jim_Gavin]

Great way to welcome the new year–with three superb images for us to enjoy. I like 2 (love the location in the grass) a little better than 3 which I like a bit better than 1.

[Ron_Meeker]

Allen, I’m so envious of your find here. I’d be there every day! I’m with @Dennis_Plank favoring number 3 for both impact and image quality. Number 2 comes in second for me, but they’re all incredible shots. Keep 'em coming!

[David_Bostock]

Hi Allen, All of these are great, but number 3 is my favorite. Awesome.

Looks like DXO did a great job with the high ISO images. I use Photolab from them for my high ISO images. It has the same NR engine that PureRaw has.

Cheers,
David

[Allen_Brooks]

All excellent, but my favorite is the second because it’s flying through the environment and the eyes are sharp and bright. Great work; very envious.