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Top Shot Award 22
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Contest Finalist in Animals And The Night Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Rule Of Thirds Extravaganza Photo Contest
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Contest Finalist in Creative Composition Photo Contest Vol 2
Winner in More than 200 Peer Awards Photo Challenge
Contest Finalist in Inspiring Shots Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Into The Moonlight Photo Contest
Winner in Owl Love You Forever Photo Challenge
Contest Finalist in Dodho Volume 3 Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
Well this is actually two photo's one is a studio shot of the Transformer Owl which immediately strikes you with it's stunning eyes. In this shot I have only used the studio flash to the right of the Owl in total I took 15 shots of the owl min different light conditions and ofcourse natural poses from the Owl The studio was in a Bird Sanctuary in Ringwood near the New Forest in the UK The film speed was set at 100 ISO shutter speed down to 1/125 sec using a 100-400mm Canon Zoom Lens, Aperture f6.3 manual shooting Mode. As studio shots they lacked Soul and the second shot wasn't shot until 4 weeks later from my own back yard, it took at least ten shots to capture the moon and tree's in the right sequence and position< knowing I wished to add the Owl with the lighting from the right the settings for this shot, This time from a tripod and again using the same Lens but the shutter speed set at 3sec, film speed 320 aperture f/11Time
first shot midday on a very hot studio day, the second late eveningLighting
Lighting is the most important feature especially in creating this shot the bird fully lite would not look right but false, am I trying to trick you to think this is an Owl sat on a post conveniently under the moon. Hell yes but I couldn't of done that without having the forethought to get both the original photograph setting right in the first place. Photography has become mainstream but it has also become possible to be more individual of what we choose to produce.Equipment
Using Canon Camera's all my life from a A1 onto a 50E onto digital 400D, 600D and now the wonderful 70D also slowly improving my lenses as time progressesInspiration
The inspiration for the Photo has to be the Love of Owls and their Eye's that mesmerize and become the focal point of any photo. that together with the drive to experiment and produce art using the technology and imagination that now surrounds us in the 21st century. What inspires me though is other peoples photographs how did that turn water to a silky flow etcEditing
Little did I understand at the time but the technique I have used for this photograph is used by many a professional for me it continues to be a journey to not only take and capture one off shots but also to think outside the box to use post processing but to think about that in the pictures we are taking ie. for me to imagine the picture and then to produce the lighting and background to produce the final piece of art The photo's were taken in RAW format and slightly tweaked for sharpness and definition, the background cropped and the Owl copied as a layer and scaled to suit. Minor shading to one side to highlight the moons raysIn my camera bag
As for my normal companions in my back a big slice of imagination, Camera Canon 70D, which normally has attached the Brilliant Tamron 18-270 zoom giving me instant flexibility. However given time to plan the 100-400 Canon zoom is never far away, coupled with my other favourite lens the 60mm Macro. and ofcourse a spare battery or twoFeedback
as for Advice it has to be don't be afraid to experiment anything is possible and strive via sites like these to let the Photographs others have taken to inspire for you to produce better shots. Whether its like other shots in my collection one off one chance Air displays where planning to have the right lenses and POV are so important. take your camera off of full auto and experiment. Or like this one take the opportunity, plan your image and be patient, learn by practicing your favoured photoshop software. it's all part of the skill, learn to take good photo's first as software cant make a bad exposure perfect it can improve it, but your after perfection. or should be your aim as you can never reach that. If you think you have think again.