A weakness in an image can often be mitigated by a strength.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
I was able to get an entire series of images of this Barn Owl in flight as it hunted near the road last December at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but I’ve never posted this particular shot because there’s no light in the eye. When I stumbled across the image again last night I had a change of heart and I include the rationale behind that decision below.
I like the background in this shot very much. And I realized that I much prefer this image as it is (including the lack of a catch light) over a similar image with a catch light but a featureless, homogenous sky as background. If I’d have posted that second type of image (and I would have) why would I not post this one which I like even more? It just doesn’t make any sense…
No image is perfect and sometimes I stick with my initial knee-jerk reaction to a photo longer than I should. This was one of those times. After all, most any decent photo of a nocturnal Barn Owl in flight is something special – most folks never even see them in flight during daylight much less get the shot.
Ron
I love this photo. This is how I always picture barn owls in flight. I have never seen a barn owl in person let alone in flight. Thank you for deciding to share this one.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Debbie. Thanks.
Oooh. And ahhh.
This is a glorious image.
Power, grace, style. Thank you so much.
I would so love to be given access to your discards.
“I would so love to be given access to your discards”
Most of them are so bad they’d give you nightmares, EC. But I must admit that I have my own occasional nightmares about some I may have banished to the garbage heap in my haste to finish culling (which is exactly what I’m doing right now – culling. And I HATE it!)
Ron, I was curious about the barn owl’s length and wingspan. The length varies from 12-16 inches and the wingspan from 39-49 inches. I was quite amazed at these numbers, considering that the wingspan is about 3x the body length [using rounding]. I do not know if this is a common variance with these types of birds.
Thank you for the beautiful photo.
Alice, I think part of the reason for that is their relatively short tail.
Maybe also the male/female size difference?
Beautiful, glad you saved and shared. Most people hate winter, I love it. The birds are what you call stickier, and the contrasting colors are beautiful!
“The birds are what you call stickier”
They absolutely are stickier, April, especially when it’s very cold. Add to that the fact there are fewer people out and about and it becomes an ideal situation for this bird photographer.
Beautiful shot, Ron. Catch light or not, this bird rules the sky!
Thank you, Diane.
This beautiful photo makes me itch to fly! Especially in the morning…i agree 100% with the last two sentences and find them reassuring that there actually MAY BE hope for you (and that someday ypu can be trusted with culling)…,
And YOUR last sentence made me laugh, Patty. Thank you.
LOL Patty!! Yes, he’s not all that trustworthy with culls, is he? And I want to fly every time I look up. There are so many deficits with the human design and no feathers/wings/flight capability is a biggie 🙂
I have bad knees and a bad back partly because of my many, unsuccessful,, attempts to fly from the hayloft…sheets didn’t work, umbrellas of any size didn’t work, even a WW II parachute made of real silk didn’t work. I wonder if I might have liked Harry Potter better if the owl had been a Barn owl……
He definitely isn’t to be trusted with the culling finger. And flying? Under my own power? I would love it. And if I was granted a super power that would be it, without question.
And I don’t like flying under some one else steam.
Just LOVELY (yes, insert string of superlatives here)! Barn owls are so wondrous in so many different ways and what a gift to catch one in flight during the daylight hours!
Thank you!
Thanks, Laura.
Beautiful photo. It made me think of the aerodynamics of flight and I loved the soft sunlight on the owl’s wings.
“It made me think of the aerodynamics of flight”
You’re right, Elizabeth. That “air foil” shape of the wings is certainly apparent.
Beautiful shot, Ron. 🙂 I think sometimes we get caught up in what we think is technically what we “should” have, “prefer” to have and lose sight of the big picture. The background adds much to the photo and, in my opinion, no light in the eye wasn’t even noticed. 🙂 Glad you go back over photo’s and reevaluate – some “keepers” there for sure. 🙂
I agree, Judy. I’m glad I gave this shot a second chance. I wonder how many more images like this lurk in my files…
Lovely shot nice light.
Thanks, Eddie. I love that warm light too. It’s largely coming from the right side of the bird so the left side of the owl’s face is in shade but I don’t really have a problem with that.