The Snowy Owl
Jan, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this picture whilst on holiday in Spain around 5 years ago, at a place called Selwo Safari Park. It was my first real taste of nature photography, and I spent around 6 hours walking around the park on my own. As you can imagine, I came away with a lot of images that day!Time
This image was taken at around 6pm, shortly before the park closed. I had actually been around the whole park a couple of hours earlier, but the promise of a 'birds of prey' display kept me hanging around. I'm glad I did, and not just for the picture opportunities it afforded….this snowy owl was the most beautiful bird I had ever seen.Lighting
As it was getting late in the day, and was fairly overcast at the time, the light was pretty even….not spectacular, but by no means bad either.Equipment
I used a Canon 50D, with a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L lens, and hand-held it for this shot. My shutter was at 1/400, aperture f4, and iso 640.Inspiration
I had spent the entire day taking photographs of animals. But my breath was still taken completely away by the beauty of this snowy owl. After snapping a few full-length shots of it, I decided to get a bit closer in and try and capture some of the personality that shone through its eyes.Editing
I did my usual edit on this picture on my arrival back in England, which is fairly standard stuff such as checking the contrast, recovering details, etc. But a few weeks ago, some 5 years after taking it, I decided to re-visit my pictures from Selwo on a whim (I was actually taking a break from editing pictures from a wedding at the time. You know you love what you do when to take a break from editing….to do more editing!). This time, however, I decided to do black-and-white conversions on my images, which I feel gave them a more dramatic overall feel. I don't believe black-and-white conversions are always appropriate, but in this instance I'm glad I did.In my camera bag
These days, I carry with me a Canon 5D Mk iii, a Canon 5D Mk ii, and my old-but-trusted Canon 50D. I have the same Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L I used for this image, as well as a Canon 16-35mm f2.8, a Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro (probably my favourite lens!), a Canon 15mm Fisheye (which I used to love, not so much anymore), and a Canon 50mm f1.8 (which I can't even remember the last time was actually used)Feedback
Firstly, and most obviously, find the animal/bird you want to capture! Secondly, be patient. Its important not to disturb the creature you're photographing, and just let it naturally be, even if its not doing exactly what you want. Its also best to go in with an open mind and capture whatever presents itself…preconceived ideas about what you want when it comes to nature can lead to frustration, as well as potentially missing other great opportunities as they arise. A telephoto lens is also a good idea, to help isolate the subject from the background. And don't be afraid of a close crop….a lot of the time, isolating individual features (in this case, the owl's eye) helps to produce more interesting and aesthetically pleasing images than capturing the entirety of the animal.
