My first owl.

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Got lucky on this one on a freezing cold morning. Sony A1 70-200g. Had to use manual focus bird eye af was not chatching the eyes at all. The fact that the wind was blowing pretty hard and I was shivering like crazy I opted for manual and let the focus peeking do the work.

a bit of processing in Lightroom.
wish I had a tripod with me. I have to stop being lazy about hauling that around. Would of been a gift in this situation.

would love to hear any advice on the composure as well as editing.

Joe
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Horrible? Heck no. You probably did about as well as most of us could have given the circumstances. The single biggest issue with the image is the obstructing twigs (IMHO). Probably not a heck of a lot could have been done about that issue. To my eye, the owl itself might be a touch over exposed.
 
Horrible? Heck no. You probably did about as well as most of us could have given the circumstances. The single biggest issue with the image is the obstructing twigs (IMHO). Probably not a heck of a lot could have been done about that issue. To my eye, the owl itself might be a touch over exposed.
Thank you. I tried different angles but he was buried pretty deep. Wasn’t sure if I should crop tighter like maybe vertical. I appreciate your comments. Thank you
 
Did you try switching to animal eye or human?
That is what I find works best on Great Horned owls up close.

Maybe just a touch hot on the white feathers, tough to get a clear look at owls in trees, nice shot. (y)
Never thought of switching. Good call. I’ll revisit the image in Lightroom. I will say it was a quick edit. But now I’m curious if it’s got some clipped areas. Thanks for the feedback
 
The reality is we all get shots like this at one time or another. There is nothing that can be done other than move forward and keep looking for your next owl shot. Maybe keep working the area to see if you can find him at a different location.

For me it was the Night heron.

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Since you posted in the critique section, i will make some suggestions :
The bottom part of the owl is cutted., It would have been better if not, maybe tilting a little more camera down, maybe moving backward a little bit, maybe a mix of both or maybe, better, framing vertical.
The night heron (i think it is one), is a little over-exposed. White part of it has no details and exposing less would have revealed feathers and general colors of the image would have been a bit more saturated and natural.
 
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Great photo of the owl. I have never seen a great horned owl with those colors however. The heron is great also. It is a bit over exposed but the focus is excellent. Herons like twiggy places and are hard to photograph and get the focus right. Excellent job and keep at it! ;)
 
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