I was happy to actually get out and do a bit of birding this weekend. Yesterday we had some intermittent rain, but managed to get a bit of birding in (and I got a state bird, but more on that in a later post.) This morning broke bright and warm after last night's pouring rain. I joined our friends Paul and Diana on one of their trips to Horn Pond - a local patch that they've been birding for several years. And in addition to knowing the area well, they are great birders as well, so their trips are always fun and well attended. - this morning was no different. Some nice looks today at some of the regulars, as well as some fall migrants (including brief looks at Fox Sparrow - a bird I've been trying to get a photo of for some time, and still haven't succeeded yet.) We did get some good looks at the (or one of the) resident Great Horned Owl. The light wasn't great, but tried to get a few photos nevertheless.
Well, when I got in, I was a little less than thrilled with the photos I got, but managed to salvage them a bit using Photoshop. (With the exception of sizing the images to take up less space on line, the "Before photoshop" pics are on the left, and the "after photoshop" pics are on the right)
Some differences in color and contrast between the first and second sets resulted from changing the angle from which I was photographing the bird, trying to get the sun behind me. I did get one more shot in before the bird flew deeper into the woods, with the sun a little more behind me.
Notice the color subtleties are a little more evident still. (Still not great photos, but the best I got this weekend)PS - as always click on the photos to see larger versions!
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6 comments:
That's a very interesting bird and I like the way you "photoshopped" your photos.
I think you did great with the photos, I have only seen the Great Horned Owl flying away from me. You did get some nice view of the owl.
You did well to get photos with that light.
Thank heavens for photoshop! But really, those are very good shots of the owl.
Nice job, Christopher! Even under less than ideal conditions you have a clear picture of the owl.
I totally empathize with you Chris. I have discovered that lighting is one of the most important aspects of bird photography. If I am out birding specifically to get some good photos, I rarely even look toward the sun side of the path I am on but am constantly looking to the side with the sun at my back.
The great thing about digital photography though is that it doesn't cost anything to take the shots, if you don't like them, just hit delete ;-)
I do, however take photos strictly for ID purposes, if I see a bird I'm not sure of, I capture it for later review.
Not being very good at photoshop, I find the backlit shots the most difficult to fix. If I can get the picture to look like what I saw out in the field, I am a happy camper.
I think your shots of the Great Horned Owl are fine. I especially like the first one, where it is looking directly at you. I love it when raptors look at you like that.
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