The-Art-of-Darkness
FollowJack the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) at Leeds Castle
Jack the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) at Leeds Castle
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Awards
Member Selection Award
Featured
Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 22 Photo Contest
People's Choice in Up Close with Nature Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Superior Skill
Outstanding Creativity
Genius
Virtuoso
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The-Art-of-Darkness
May 07, 2016
Thanks ever so much - being able to shoot Jack is pure magic. Got to love the little fella
joycealicesmith
May 07, 2016
Fantastic capture!! Feathers look like a painting. So beautiful! Congratulations on winning People's choice! Rightly deserved!
The-Art-of-Darkness
May 09, 2016
Thank you kindly for the compliments, I really appreciate them. The painting effect is exactly the look I was hoping for :)
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at Leeds Castle in Kent, at the Falconry CentreTime
It was just after midday but you'd never tell as the day was so overcastLighting
There was very poor natural light due to the heavy cloud & rain - Jack was perched near the front of his cage which in itself added an extra layer of shadow into the mixEquipment
I used my Sony A99v plus 50mm f2.8 macro lens, hand heldInspiration
Jack is a tiny burrowing owl and very photogenic. He's also not shy which endeared him to me greatly. There are many great birds of prey at Leeds Castle but Jack stole the show for me - my son even got to fly him later on in the dayEditing
Yeah, not a lot of choice in this case as I needed to edit out the mesh from the cage and wanted to achieve a soft painting effect to replicate the dream smoothing filter that I really like that used to be on GIMP. In this case I edited first in Paintshop Pro V6 and thenTopaz Impression. There's a fair bit of tweakery pokery been done in Paintshop Pro to remove the wire mesh dominating the bottom right quartile of the image plus some vignetting to add mood and reduce noise in the background whilst highlighting Jack. Finally I mixed in some Topaz painting effects to create the look I wanted and which also helped mask noise in the main subject caused by the low light levels in the original imageIn my camera bag
I had my standard kit - my A99v plus spare batteries, cleaning kit and three lenses. The lenses were my Sigma 150-500mm and 50mm macro that go everywhere with me and for this shoot my third lens was a Zeiss f1.4 85mm portrait lens. I also had my trusty Mk1 RX100 as a backupFeedback
I always try to carry a macro lens with me, wherever I go. They're usually small and easy enough to carry and they add a whole new dimension to your shooting whether it be a dandelion in the street or an eager little burrowing owl through the mesh of his enclosure. If you want to make images that stand the test of time don't limit yourself to "the far without the near" (to quote Ronnie James Dio)