Great Grey Owl Posing
Captured this shot in the Grand Valley Road area of Alberta, a stretch known for raptors and owls. Myself and a few other photographers were watching the owls f...
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Captured this shot in the Grand Valley Road area of Alberta, a stretch known for raptors and owls. Myself and a few other photographers were watching the owls from a distance when it came down and landed right in front of us. I managed to get this great pose with him staring back before he took off again.
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Mar, 2016Views
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Awards
Action Award
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Curator's Selection
Top Shot Award 21
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Contest Finalist in Birds Of A Feather Photo Contest
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Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
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ZingersMom
January 01, 2017
This is a great capture, but I'd like to see less background on the right hand side of the photo.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in the Grand Valley Road area, near Cochrane, Alberta. This area is known as a prime spotting area for Great Grey owls.Time
This picture was taken at about 9:40 AM, on March 12, 2016. I arrived at the area very early morning and this shot came a few hours later. The owls were active and hunting in this area. There were a few other photographers in the area as well. This was one of those special moments in photography where the owl just took a small break from hunting voles and landed right in front of us on this broken stump and turned around and posed. A moment I will never forget and was blessed to have captured it. Even though I took quite a few shots of the owls on that day that I was very pleased with, this was definitely not only the best shot of the day, but I would dare say the best shot of the year for me.Lighting
Like most wildlife/nature photographers, I love the light in the morning and around sunset. I was very lucky with this shot, as it was mid-morning so there was enough light to use a fairly high shutter speed along with a low enough ISO for a great photo, but still have lighting that was not too bright and harsh. Lighting is everything in photography. I would rather have a picture of a common subject in beautiful lighting than a rare one in harsh lighting.Equipment
This photo was shot with a Canon 5D Mark III and the lens used was the Tamron 150-600mm. Shot was hand held with image stabilization turned on.Inspiration
I am inspired by all things nature, especially wildlife. I do take some landscapes as well, but my passion is wildlife. There is something pure and majestic in wildlife that begs to be captured in photos.Editing
I don't do a lot of post processing. My total editing usually only takes a few minutes. I always shoot in RAW and I use both Lightroom and Photoshop. I will adjust the exposure and white balance, if needed, in Lightroom and finish editing in Photoshop. In Photoshop, I will lighten/darken shadows, adjust brightness, and boost colour/saturation as needed and add a little sharpening.In my camera bag
I always have at least three lenses with me, telephoto, macro, and a good landscape lens. My telephoto gets the most use and is on my camera probably 95% of the time. I also carry tons of spare cards and batteries with me. With wildlife, you never know what you are going to see and what rare opportunities will come your way, so you want to be ready to takes tons of shots when these moments occur.Feedback
My one piece of advice for capturing any great photo is to be passionate about your work and know what type of photographer you want to be. I do wildlife/nature photography almost exclusively. It is a niche that I am very passionate about and put a lot of time and effort into. I recommend every photographer find their niche and passion for the photography they want to pursue.
