Owl at Night
Jul, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Right place, right time! This owl was right in my front yard, perched in a lilac bush.Time
This was taken in February of 2011, so I don't recall precisely but I believe it was between 8:30 and 9:00 at night.Lighting
Lighting was awful. The moon had been up early that day and had already set. The street lamps did not offer any real lighting (if any at all). I was truly shooting blind. I just aimed at the tree and fired away. I actually only got a few shots. I tried the first few without flash, but there was not enough available light. So I shot a few more with flash. In the later shots he was looking to the side, and another look to the side and down. Thankfully the flash caught his attention, because the last shot was this one of the owl looking right at me.Equipment
This was handheld with a Fuji FinePix S700. An all-in-one DSLR model with a built-in flash.Inspiration
My wife, kids and I had just arrived home from a visit with family. We were walking up the walkway to the house when we heard a sound from the tree. My wife spotted him first and pointed him out to the kids and me. After we enjoyed the moment a bit I quietly retrieved my camera from the house and came back to try to get some pictures. This was a real treat for me. It was the first time I had ever seen an owl outside of captivity!Editing
I didn't do any color correction or exposure adjustments. For all the limitations of the FinePix, it took amazing images. I did crop the image to better focus attention on the subject.In my camera bag
Now I carry a Canon Rebel T3i with a Canon 50mm f1.4, an Altura x.43 wide angle adapter. I also have an 18-55mm and a 55-250mm that came with the camera, but I don't use nearly as much as when I purchased it. I keep a Vivitar tripod on hand and remote for long exposures.Feedback
Just shoot. You don't always have to use a mad rapid fire approach. I know some folks who do, and there are situations that call for it. Sometimes just being in a calm state of mind can help. I was very close to this guy so I think being slow and calm helped me get this without scaring him off. Other than that, don't let the camera stay in the house, have it on you. I might have had more time with him if I was able to shoot from the time we found him.
