Barn Owl

A few Barn Owl shots

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Very nice

Fantastic set - but if I had to pick one, then #9.

Phil

Excellent work Steve

I know the sky is the sky, but I do prefer it in one and two, as opposed to say three. That said they all benefit from the evening light to make a really good set

Excellent shots of a fantastic bird! All great shots especialy No9 for me too.

Very good set and as above, No 9 is a stand out shot. Well photographed.

Best regards

Lovely captures. Any details on camera, lens and af settings? (plus exposure settings for the one against the tree, I always blow these when following from sky to trees and just get too excited to remember to dial in ev compensation...)

K3 and DA*300mm all taken RAW.

I was experimenting a bit with settings but found AF-C with AF-select (expanded Medium) with +1 exposure compensation for shots against sky worked best.
For shots against grass/trees I found AF-C spot/center focussing with minus 0.3-1 exposure compensation seemed to give best results but because the light changes pretty quickly as the sun drops check the histogram after every burst of shots and keep taking test shots regularly.
It takes a lot of practice and a lot of misses to keep the AF point on the bird but I found at a distance the camera would pick up the grass or trees instead of the Owl.
I think I'm going to try manual focus next time, could be fun

Thanks for the details, sounds like you work as I do adding/subtracting ev as required, only you're much better at it than me! Also sounds like you are fighting the same issues trying to get the af to lock on when the background is not sky. A couple of weeks ago I was out taking manual focus shots of hobbies in flight (because the af issue) and walking back to the car a barn owl skimmed by, I now have out of focus AND over exposed shots of it.... Just got to keep trying.... Thanks again for posting.

Great shots,nice capture with prey ( a vole!?)

Wonderful set. I love these bird and photographing them, but you blow me out of the water!

I particularly like number 6. Why? The unusual angle. We usually see the bird against the sky, looking down onto the bird against the ground is an interesting angle.

Yes Ted you're right - that one is special with its looking-down view. I love the way the sun catches the wings as well and there's a nice amount of space ahead of the bird also.

All good shots well captured! Personally for this kind of image I like muted colours in the backgrounds, like grey skies, to offset the birds - I don't think deep blues complement it so well - it is something we have a fair bit of control over in PP, so I'd probably reduce the saturation a bit.

Numbers 4 & 6 for me, no obvious PP, unlike the ones in flight.

I love owls - lovely shots there and I'd agree that number 9 is the standout. personally I'd prefer the owls not to be places dead centre ... but that's just a personal preference.

Were these also cropped or does the 300mm get you that close ?