Great Grey Owl
Feb, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Canadian Raptor Conservancy located Vittoria, ON. They bring out 12 birds to photograph, 6 static and 6 that fly around the field (one at a time). This Owl is a Great Grey Owl and it was static so I got time to set up my camera and get the framing perfect to get a nice portrait of him.Time
This was shot in the middle of January (wasn't a very snowy winter last year in Canada Ontario). Shot in the morning around 9am so the sun wasn't at its peak yet.Lighting
It was an overcast day with a light flurry. The sun was behind me and since it was so cloudy it made the light soft (basically having a continuous light soft box behind me) and was perfect lighting on the owls face. Always have the light behind you especially for shooting wildlife and you'll get a way better result (if you can of course).Equipment
Nikon D7100 w/80-200mm 2.8 AF-D (This is an old lens and still gets super sharp images - keep that in mind) Focal Length: 85mm Shutter Speed: 800 Aperture: F/4 ISO: 500 The reason for ISO 500 is because it was very windy so I wanted to keep my shutter high and with the Nikon D7100 you won't notice any difference between 100 and 500 ISO. Aperture f/4 of course to get a very sharp image of the whole face of the owl. Still blew out the background perfectly!Inspiration
I love wildlife. I take photos of wild animals and ones that are in a conservancy area like this as well. Any time I have a chance to take wildlife shots I take it.Editing
I shoot in RAW, so of course there is post processing done. Since the lighting was so soft it gives me the awesome opportunity to make the owl pop and I start right away by bumping my contrast up and bump up the exposure a tad (depending on how much contrast I want to add). Then I slightly adjust highlights, shadows, clarity, etc but NOT a lot. I always like to try and not edit wildlife photos as much as possible and keep them natural as possible.In my camera bag
Nikon D7100 (main camera)...Nikon D5500 (Backup camera). I ALWAYS bring my 35mm F/1.8G and kit lens 18-140mm F/3.5~5.6. That basically covers everything you would need honestly. People really underestimate the kit lens. You can get beautiful bokeh with it and I made sure to get the 18-140 kit lens instead of the 18-55. I find the 18-55 is really pointless and the 18-140 is an amazing range and not that much more than the 18-55. The reason for the 35mm is you always got to carry around a prime, if its the 35/50/85. They're super fast focusing, very sharp and light. I just prefer the 35mm more because I find it does well for portraits, landscapes and sports (Probably more too). When you get a longer prime they tend to just be for portraits and a lot harder to use them for more than one thing.Feedback
My biggest advice is just to travel. Don't be afraid to travel far or close, and you don't have to travel far usually to find wildlife! I know of 3 osprey nests that are within the 20 minute radius of me. Take all day to just search for wildlife down the river or beside a farmers field. You never know what's around you until you look. Ask around of course too. Word of mouth is still powerful these days and usually the most honest instead of some random article you find online. That's how I figured out about this conservancy. I was buying a lens off a fellow photographer and he went here before and made me super interested in going and I did a month after. He also told me about some local parks to go to. Be a fellow photographer and connect with each other. Don't hate one another and think they're an enemy. We all have the same passion so share with each other.
