Year of the Owl

[NorthernFocus]

Owls(of any kind) are one thing that's been missing from my wildlife portfolio. Earlier this year I went to shoot snowies. Now just a couple of days after returning home to AK after a winter interlude we found short eared owls hunting over the marsh behind our home. It's kind of nice having the wildlife come to me for a change

All shot with Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500mm, handheld

1) Short eared owls hunt on the wing much like harriers.



2) Carrying a vole to a perch for lunch.



3) Giving me a look.

[Manfred M]

More great owl shots! I really like the eye contact in #3.

I guess you have re-acclimatized to Alaska by now?

One of the guys at the photo club shared a shot of his not taken very far from where you were shooting the snowy owls; a place called Riceville; about 16 km from Casselman. It seems that the snow geese migration is in the area right now and there were an estimated 45,000 there yesterday and even more are expected to come through this weekend.

[chaman]

Beautiful images. My preferred one is the first one because it shows a glimpse of the owl's surroundings.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Rita]

Another great set of images Dan. You have to appreciate when they come to you and even more so when they look right at the camera as in #3.

[JBW]

#3 = skill + luck to produce a once in a lifetime shot

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for commenting, folks. Glad you enjoyed the images.

#3 = skill + luck to produce a once in a lifetime shot

I find that luck comes in proportion with the amount of time spent looking through the viewfinder

[lovelife65]

#3 is just outstanding.
#2 is wonderful.

#1 I like but not as much.
No real important comments tho.

[billtils]

+1 to all the comments (and I'm in the 3 - 2- 1 preference club).

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for the comments, Bill and Sharon. Yes no.3 is the best bird but the bright grey BG is the worst. Just a few feet lower and there would have been nice mountains behind him

[Wildgrapherdj]

Nice clicks. Just want to know that is the 3rd frame is a High Key image?

[NorthernFocus]

Nice clicks. Just want to know that is the 3rd frame is a High Key image?

Hi, Wild. Glad you enjoyed the photos. First off, if you plan to stick around and participate in the forums we'd all appreciate it if you could flesh out your profile a little more with a name/nickname that we can call you and where you live(or are from). This is quite an international community and it's nice to have an idea what time zone people are in, an idea of there cultural background, etc.

Regarding the photo in question, I suppose it fits the definition of a high key photograph. It was neither shot nor processed intentionally to be so. Simply shot on in naturally flat light on an overcast day. I tend to "expose to the right" which in this type of lighting does have a high key effect. But when the image is processed I kick the contrast back up in order to show detail.