Fall Colour Background (Northern Pygmy Owl)

[Steve Large]

• SONY ILCE-1
• FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS + 1.4X Teleconverter
• ƒ/5
• 560mm
• 1/1250s
• ISO 800
• Flash not fired
• Sat, 05 October 2024 11:40 AM

Another great performance by the northern pygmy owl. I was concentrating more on static shots that day and still managed to have a great time! Background is fall maple leaves and arbutus trees.

 

[Daniel Cadieux]

Oh yeah, I love the pose here. Looks quite poised to pounce on whatever it had its eyes on. Excellent background, good perch, and those eyes.....

 

[Steve Large]

Hi Daniel!
Thanks for your comment! It's been a lot of years since we last communicated. Good to see you are still around and still shooting.
All the best in 2025 and beyond.
Steve, "The Owl Man"
www.stevelarge.com

 

[Kurt_Horne]

That's a fantastic pose, detail, and framing.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Personally I find it just a bit too saturated even in the fall colours Steve, and just pulling things back does help, however you were there.

The key here though for me is, with the overall image and that if, (and at ISO800 there should be any need for NR), everything is just super smooth and so the plumage lacks the finer detail, creating the form and structure. Saying that, it could well be using Gigapixel and how it works that has created this look and feel????

Steve what do you use to convert your raw and do you use Ps afterwards?

TFS
Steve

 

[Ray Rozema]

Great pose and color. I wonder about slight crop off the bottom and slightly more room on top

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Steve a great capture but I feel you have overprocessed. I would expect far more detail and I feel it is too saturated - everything looks so "dense", I would suggest a "less is more" approach.

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

LOvely shot of this little Owl species I have never seen .
I like the funky posing
I do like the kinda intenser color palette , maybe a bit less would not hurt the image.
What bothers me more is the very smooth look and the missing critical sharpness .... at least here on my screen

TFS Andreas

 

[James Babbitt]

Certainly my eyes go to the owl's eyes first. Draws me in quickly. I can see what Jonathan and Andreas have said-upper wings and body do lack detail. Also, love your logo on your signature.

 

[Jan van Holten]

Great posing and action.