Cold Owl

[afdlips]

I'm new to this site, but im very impressed with the community here, and ive been searching for some critiquing, so ill submit a few.

There is an owl that flies around the park near my house and ive got a bunch of photos of him/her over a period of a few weeks. this one was taken when we were in a blizzard here.

[EOSThree]

Very interesting framing, but I think your subject gets lost in all of the busyness. Great capture in that he looked at you and you caught it. The focus seems to be at his/her tailfeathers rather than at the eyes. Focus should always be sharpest at the eyes.

[afdlips]

thats true. i wish i could get the chance to take the shot with the snow and the soft light again and take the focus more into consideration. when i shot it i was only given a window of like 2 seconds were he turned his head around and looked at me.

[Greg McCary]

Most times the tree limbs would be a distraction, but I really like the way the owl is almost camoflaged into the tree. This one works for me. Nice job...
Greg

[afdlips]

thanks. i was hoping to hear something like that. lol. im glad you can even see the owl, cuz some people have told me he's way to flush with the branches.
i wonder however, if i were to "burn" the branches and "dodge" the owl, if the owl would stand out stronger. any suggestions?

[OmahaAdam]

My wife was peering over my shoulder when I brought this up. She commented that from a distance it looked like a broken mirror. Very impressive capture. I don't think the owl needs to stand out any more than it does. It is giving the appearance of trying not to be noticed and to bring it out more would almost lose the subtlety. Good shot!

[afdlips]

haha! thats awesome. thanks a lot. now that you mention it, i can see the symmetry. i woke him up by making scratching noises on my camera bag and he just glared at me. cool lil guy.

[Herriot]

This looks like Mike again! Great capture of the owl's interest in you and great framing, the feathers are nice and sharp, agree it would be nice to see the eyes in more focus but I think you have done really well.

Thanks for sharing
Herriot

[Greg McCary]

My wife was peering over my shoulder when I brought this up. She commented that from a distance it looked like a broken mirror. Very impressive capture. I don't think the owl needs to stand out any more than it does. It is giving the appearance of trying not to be noticed and to bring it out more would almost lose the subtlety. Good shot!

I agree
Greg

[afdlips]

haha thanks! if the chance should arrive again, ill shoot with something more like f22... or something

[gahspidy]

There is a somewhat abstract quality to this image with all the branches twisting about and it looks like it becomes a frame surrounding the Owl. I think it is a neat random effect, but I still think that all in all it's too busy for me to really like. Nice capture under the circumstances.

[starriderrick]

This is way cool.The owl is semi camo',the snow and branches really frame this well.A very natural feeling. I see it as not wanting to be seen.Totally blending with the enviroment as in nature.
Well done.

[afdlips]

haha. ive seen him so many times now that everytime i show up he seems less intrigued by my means of getting his attention. he was drifting in and out of sleep here when i walked up.

[afdlips]

i really like this forum by the way. you all are very helpful.

[afdlips]

There is a somewhat abstract quality to this image with all the branches twisting about and it looks like it becomes a frame surrounding the Owl. I think it is a neat random effect, but I still think that all in all it's too busy for me to really like. Nice capture under the circumstances.

thanks. i deff. agree with you that the shot is very busy and almost too crowded. Enjoyment of it is all according to the viewers preferences. however, the tree he was "hiding" in was so clustered by branches that the "window" in which i was able to capture the entire body of the owl (or as i have been referring to as "Mike") was very small.
i apreciate your critique.
Thanks!

[readingr]

This might not be technically perfect but I love it. The colours and the compositon speak volumes to me and the glare he's giving you is priceless.

Print and sell it

Roger

[JTF]

The POV & colour aren't so good on this one.

[point*break]

IMO the POV and colours are excellent in this shot! there is deffinitley a symmetry with the braches, they act as kind of a natural vignette! Great Job and Welcome!!!:thumbsup:

[Loupey]

Nice job capturing the moment :thumbsup:

The colors are way too blue and I'm not too keen on the centering of the owl. I do like your depth of field (even if the focus is off slightly). Going deeper with the DOF would make this image even more busy.

For my curiousity, I changed the colors drastically and made a crop adjustment. I need your permission to repost your image here. Let me know if you'd like to see it.

[SmartWombat]

I think the colours need adjusting because of that almost purple cast on the snow.
But I think the framing is excellent.
The focus definitely needs to be on the eyes, true.
But the whole image with the owl almost camouflaged among the branches really looks good to me.
I don't think the centring of the wol is a problem, indeed if it wasn't centred I wonder how many people would find it!

[milhouse]

I like this one a lot. You see a lot of nature shots were the DOF is real shallow and a very non-competing background (ie. blue sky) and you are only focusing on the animal. In this case the background is just as interesting as the owl (almost) and it shows the subject in its environment. Although its camouflaged, its not difficult to make out the whole owl. Also, like others have mentioned, the larger branches frame the subject really nice.

Nice shot!

[livin4lax09]

awesome! But the focus is a bit off, and I think it would work even better if it were focused on the eye of the owl. But this is one cool shot! I like the busyness, I like the color tint, I like everything except that darned focus point.

[afdlips]

Nice job capturing the moment :thumbsup:

The colors are way too blue and I'm not too keen on the centering of the owl. I do like your depth of field (even if the focus is off slightly). Going deeper with the DOF would make this image even more busy.

For my curiousity, I changed the colors drastically and made a crop adjustment. I need your permission to repost your image here. Let me know if you'd like to see it.

i would be enthralled to see it. please post it! thanks.

[afdlips]

This might not be technically perfect but I love it. The colours and the compositon speak volumes to me and the glare he's giving you is priceless.

Print and sell it

Roger

Thanks! i got a 12 X 14 or some odd print size done and it looked nice that big. ill take your advice! haha

[afdlips]

IMO the POV and colours are excellent in this shot! there is deffinitley a symmetry with the braches, they act as kind of a natural vignette! Great Job and Welcome!!!:thumbsup:

thanks! i am very impressed with this site. i cant believe how quick everyone jumps to critiquing and helping me out! ive been so caught up with the subject of the photo i didnt even think about the background.