White-whiskered Screech Owl-is it believable?

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bajadreamer

bajadreamer

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This is a shot of a White-whiskered Screech Owl. I was using a crop camera, a 500 mm lens + a 1.4 extender shooting hummingbirds in a flower garden when this guy flew up and sat about 20' away. I had no time to change cameras or remove the extender; I switched to portrait mode and shot away. I was able to get the bird in the frame, but little else. In PS I added canvas to both sides (about 2 centimeters), but the background was super busy so the added canvas looked funky. I used the clone tool to attempt to mitigate that. Did it work?
White-throated Screech Owl Yanacocha 1 dpp lr ai ps flat.jpg
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bajadreamer said:
This is a shot of a White-whiskered Screech Owl. I was using a crop camera, a 500 mm lens + a 1.4 extender shooting hummingbirds in a flower garden when this guy flew up and sat about 20' away. I had no time to change cameras or remove the extender; I switched to portrait mode and shot away. I was able to get the bird in the frame, but little else. In PS I added canvas to both sides (about 2 centimeters), but the background was super busy so the added canvas looked funky. I used the clone tool to attempt to mitigate that. Did it work?View attachment 174
Click to expand...
I guess it depends on what you intend to do with it. I would gladly add that shot to my collection. Would I enter it in a contest? Probably not. Maybe put it on canvas though. Overall I think it's a fine shot.
 
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I think you got away with the canvas stretching. I agree the biggest issue is the bright spot that draws the viewers eyes like a magnet.

FWIW have you tried the image cropped as more of a head and shoulders portrait? I haven't seen the original framing but you might have been able to kill two birds with one stone (ok, lousy metaphor for this image :) ) by cropping out the bright background and possibly eliminating the need for the canvas stretch. yeah you'd lose that perch that has great character but you might end up with a pleasing image that didn't require big fixes in post and that facial expression is really good.
 
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bajadreamer said:
This is a shot of a White-whiskered Screech Owl. I was using a crop camera, a 500 mm lens + a 1.4 extender shooting hummingbirds in a flower garden when this guy flew up and sat about 20' away. I had no time to change cameras or remove the extender; I switched to portrait mode and shot away. I was able to get the bird in the frame, but little else. In PS I added canvas to both sides (about 2 centimeters), but the background was super busy so the added canvas looked funky. I used the clone tool to attempt to mitigate that. Did it work?View attachment 174
Click to expand...
Great capture of the owl; the rest can be 'fixed' in PS et al to your liking.
 
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Steve said:
Looks fairly convincing, but I do see some repeating patterns on the left. I'm more interested in how to get owls to just drop by like that :cool:
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I was with a guide in Ecuador; she heard the owl calling and then saw it flying (likely chased by jays). Although it was close when it landed, good chance I would have missed it without her. My attention was on the swarm of hummingbirds on the flowers.
 
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birdied said:
What a lovely owl. Very nice shot. I feel the green you have added is a bit too blue . Do you mind if I play with your shot ??
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Not at all. Please let me know your suggestions. The problem I had on both sides is limited choices for clone samples. The spot on the lower right is partially colored by a flower that was in the far background.
 
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Okay, here you go. Of course this is all very subjective :)

I selected the background in Photoshop ,Inverses selection then

Hue/Saturation - Greens reduced hue by -71 and saturation by -31
Yellows hue -25 and saturation by -2

Then I brought into OnOne Effects , darkened midtowns in background only, did just a bit of blur on the left and right side

I cloned some more of the moss to the bottom.

Basically, I was just trying to neutralize the background and draw attention to your marvelous subject. Just my vision if it had been my shot.

White-throated Screech Owl edit .jpg
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White-throated Screech Owl edit .jpg
 
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birdied said:
Okay, here you go. Of course this is all very subjective :)

I selected the background in Photoshop ,Inverses selection then

Hue/Saturation - Greens reduced hue by -71 and saturation by -31
Yellows hue -25 and saturation by -2

Then I brought into OnOne Effects , darkened midtowns in background only, did just a bit of blur on the left and right side

I cloned some more of the moss to the bottom.

Basically, I was just trying to neutralize the background and draw attention to your marvelous subject. Just my vision if it had been my shot.

View attachment 250View attachment 250
Click to expand...
Much better background. Nicely done.
 
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@bajadreamer: wonderful photo for a quick-capture-use-what-camera-you-got situation! The look on that owl's face—priceless!
@birdied: great edits and a really improved look. I don't know that country-side, but for Texas realism, I would tone down the foreground greens a bit more. Soft, subtle vignettes can be helpful too.
 
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birdied said:
Okay, here you go. Of course this is all very subjective :)

I selected the background in Photoshop ,Inverses selection then

Hue/Saturation - Greens reduced hue by -71 and saturation by -31
Yellows hue -25 and saturation by -2

Then I brought into OnOne Effects , darkened midtowns in background only, did just a bit of blur on the left and right side

I cloned some more of the moss to the bottom.

Basically, I was just trying to neutralize the background and draw attention to your marvelous subject. Just my vision if it had been my shot.

View attachment 250View attachment 250
Click to expand...
Great job! I agree that you made the background fade away. I attempted to select the owl and perch (moss) but that proved to be beyond my poor masking skills. Need to work on that. Thank you for the suggestions. Will go back to the RAW file and attempt to duplicate your efforts.
 
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Okay, so I may be in the minority, but I like the original background better. It makes a better and I would assume more accurate environmental shot, and I did not find the green distracting at all. I would maybe try to get the green on the left to match the rest of the green in color temperature, though. Anyway, great shot. The look on the owl's face makes this shot, IMO. Congrats!
 
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bajadreamer said:
This is a shot of a White-whiskered Screech Owl. I was using a crop camera, a 500 mm lens + a 1.4 extender shooting hummingbirds in a flower garden when this guy flew up and sat about 20' away. I had no time to change cameras or remove the extender; I switched to portrait mode and shot away. I was able to get the bird in the frame, but little else. In PS I added canvas to both sides (about 2 centimeters), but the background was super busy so the added canvas looked funky. I used the clone tool to attempt to mitigate that. Did it work?View attachment 174
Click to expand...
Looks great! 👍👍👍
 
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I like the collaboration. The background blurring puts the emphasis on the owl. The rest I’d prefer to not think about in this case due to the bird’s expression.
 
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