The Landing


A while ago I tried framing landing Little Owls, which was much harder than expected. It was from a fixed hide in Belgium, close to the nesting box of these owls. Although the owls go out in the fields to catch mice, sometimes they may opt for the mealworms that the owner of the land provides when they have chicks. Light was not that great and my reaction time even less great, it felt. This was one the image that turned out okay, although sharpness is not as I had wished for - in post processing I tried to make it a bit sharper.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Does the image look okay in terms of sharpness ?

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Nikon D850 with 500mm F4 | 1/2000s | f6.3 | ISO2800 | overexposed 1FS

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1 Like

Wow Hans! Brutally tough image to capture. These little guys are really fast and youā€™ve done a great job getting this one. Lovely soft background on top of that. The only thing Iā€™d like is just a bit more room around the entire frame.

Hans, I would be thrilled to call this my shot! I have yet to get an opportunity to shoot a photo of an owl in the wild. I love the angle in which you shot this. He has plenty of room to ā€œmoveā€ in the direction he is going, in my opinion, so for me the close framing is fine. The owl looks sharp in the face and eyes, so if there was any softness there, I think you fixed it in post processing. The background makes the owl stand out nicely, and I just love those feet up and open like he is getting ready to capture prey. I canā€™t imagine how hard it was to get this shot, so I think it is one to be proud.

I see what you mean about the sharpness but this is an extremely hard shot to pull off, Hans. You have done a mighty job and hopefully you will get a better frame down the line but man this pose is just awesome. I like the crop, too. Hoping to see more!!

Thanks for your reactions @Keith_Bauer and @Shirley_Freeman ! @Adhika_Lie for better images Iā€™ll have to wait for next year Iā€™m afraid, since the owlets have left by now and the parents wonā€™t be that much around anymore either for the momentā€¦

1 Like

I love this action shot. My only problem is that I am hopelessly distracted by your logo. To me itā€™s big, and eye-pulling.

Whoa! Awesome landing shot Hans!

Great position on the owls part, Hans. The face looks very sharp so Iā€™m thinking the softness is mostly a depth of field issue. You indicate that you overexposed a stop-if you underexposed by the same amount, as Iā€™ve often seen you do, you might be able to get enough dof to bring the feet into focus, which is the one thing that bothers me about the image.

Itā€™s still a great action shot.

Great shot Hans! This is a very difficult one.
The sharpness on the eye is very good and if IĀ“m very critical I should wish more sharpness on the toes.

Hans,

An amazing shot. You managed to squeeze this one into the frame. The head is nice and sharp with DOF falling off on the birdā€™s right wing tip and toes. The BG is ideal for this image. My guess is that you will go out next time and get a photo better than this one which will be well worth the wait. Overall, this one is a very amazing shot and you did extremely well for this very challenging subject. Well done :beers: ā€¦Jim