Great Gray Hunting

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padrepaul

padrepaul

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Was privileged to see some great gray action last week as they look for food, and I liked this one with his talons visible. Thanks for any thoughts on sharpness or background.
 

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Not much to critique, nicely done. I think I would experiment with rotating the horizon until the center line of the owl face was full vertical. Not a conventional choice but it would emphasize the full on in-your-face feeling of the shot. Also it would make that snow line a little more horizontal. Also I would consider removing some of the more infocus bits of brush sticking out of the wings. Same reason I would consider lightening the darkest areas behind the wing, making the background more uniform.

Definitely a keeper either way.
 
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MikeJ said:
That's phenomenal, Padre! Was that up at Sax Zim? I'm hoping to go up there this weekend.
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This was actually in Two Harbors off of Lake County Road 3; some owls had been hunthing there.

The native owls are in the bog and nest there; these are visitors from Canada where the vole population apparently is on a 7 year cycle and this is the low year so they are down here now looking for more food.
 
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bleirer said:
Not much to critique, nicely done. I think I would experiment with rotating the horizon until the center line of the owl face was full vertical. Not a conventional choice but it would emphasize the full on in-your-face feeling of the shot. Also it would make that snow line a little more horizontal. Also I would consider removing some of the more infocus bits of brush sticking out of the wings. Same reason I would consider lightening the darkest areas behind the wing, making the background more uniform.

Definitely a keeper either way.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I may tweek it some more just a bit.
 
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MikeJ said:
Good to know about the low year for the voles, I'm heading up to the bog Friday afternoon. Unfortunately I have a prior commitment Saturday night so I only get Friday afternoon/Saturday morning. Wish me luck!
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The bog has the native population of owls there, and others are being seen near the town of Floodwood, Minnesota; Highway 29 has been good, and there is a forest service road near there called Hedbom that has hawk owls though the forest service may unfortunately close the road as trucks have a hard time stopping on the snow and people pull out and stop on the logging road (legal to do but causes problems when a logging truck can't stop). These owls were near Two Harbors further north, but I've heard they've spread to other areas around Aitkin county.
 
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