tracymunson
FollowA screech owl perches inside a dead tree as the snow begins to fall.
Tracy Munson
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13572
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Awards
Chatter Award
Top Shot Award 21
Contest Finalist in Beautiful Owls Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Anything Birds Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Only Owls Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Show Snowflakes Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Clash Of The Pros Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Eagles Or Owls Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Birds Of A Feather Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Animals Of The Winter Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Snowflakes Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Solo Animals Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Foto Digital Volume 2 Photo Contest
Featured
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Magnificent Capture
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AlanJakarta
October 09, 2014
Great close-up of this stern-looking owl. Congratulations on being Featured.
RoadKing1985
October 09, 2014
What a shot what a capture...man he looks like he is about to take out a mouse!? Nice thanks for sharing and congrats!:)
JenStLouis
November 07, 2014
Hey, I know that bird! Echo from Mountsberg, right? She's one of my favourite models. :)
KatieMcKinneyPhotography
February 16, 2015
This is amazing! The snow fall really takes this already great shot, to another level of awesome! :)
LCdutch
March 05, 2015
Fantastic shot. Great detail and lighting on the owl. These are very hard to catch. It really took a good understanding of the subject and great equipment. Larry
texaaronpueschel
January 04, 2016
This one gets it. A winner. So many good elements of photography are illustrated here.
karencrty
January 19, 2018
I love this shot! The textures and colors are amazing! I look forward to more from you. Thanks for sharing.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo during a photography workshop at the Mountsburg Raptor Centre in Ontario. The centre is a sanctuary for sick and injured wild raptors, many of which are rehabilitated and released back in to the wild. A few, like this Screech Owl have injuries which prevent them from being able to survive in the wild and have become permanent residents at the Centre and are on display for educational purposes.Time
This photo was taken outdoors, in natural light, early in the morning on a dreary, overcast day.Lighting
Natural light.Equipment
This photo was taken with a Nikon D3200 and the 55-300 kit lens at 170 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO 400. No tripod, flash or filters used.Inspiration
The direct eye contact with the owl makes this one of my favourite photos from the session. - she was an excellent model, very calm and willing to pose and look beautiful.Editing
I performed some basic RAW processing (contrast, vibrance, a bit of sharpening) first. Then, I darkened the background behind the tree stump, to make it look more like night time. The morning I took this photo, there was a bit of light, wet snow. Zoomed in close, you can see a few crystals on the owl's feathers. There were only a few falling snowflakes visible in the original and I decided to enhance that using a snow action that I got from "From the Treetop Photography".In my camera bag
These days, I shoot mostly with a Nikon D7100. If I am doing a portrait shoot, I will probably take my 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens, a couple of speedlights and a reflector. For landscape and nature photography, I will usually bring my 70-200mm f/2.8 and my 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5. Sometimes I will bring along the old D3200 so that I can just switch cameras instead of having to swap lenses quickly in the field. I also have a canon macro filter that screws on to the front of my lens. I love it for when I want to be able to zoom in and focus close on small flowers or insects.Feedback
Many wildlife rehabilitation centres will have photography workshops or photographer days when you can have the opportunity to photograph animals you might not be able to get so close to in nature. These can help raise money and provide good exposure and promotion for the centre, as well as giving you the opportunity to get some awesome shots and practice your wildlife photography.