Desaturated Snowy Owl/Eye Color Intact

[Gary Fairhead]

Another of many images taken of this great bird last Saturday. I chose to convert this one to black and white except I would not do that to the eyes;)

Canon 30D and 400 F5.6 at 200 ISO 1/1000 sec at F10 -1/3 exposure comp and spot metered with the 30D.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a300/g2a/Owls/BWsnowy.jpg

[canonshooter4life]

Nice shot Gary! How do you like the spotmeter on the 30D in terms of usefulness in bird photography??

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[canonloader]

Nice shot, but Gary, what's the point of the desaturation on this bird?

Looks just like the others. :D

[Gary Fairhead]

Nice shot Gary! How do you like the spotmeter on the 30D in terms of usefulness in bird photography??

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Thanks and Spot metering is all I use with the 30D....noting else.


canonloaderNice shot, but Gary, what's the point of the desaturation on this bird?

Looks just like the others. :grin:

Thanks Mitch and ...that is my point................and its safe:D

[Stephen Stephen]

Interesting PP Gary. I wish I know what I was doing in Photoshop.

[Reyno]

Lovely image. The conversion works very well on this one Gary.

[tomhide]

Wow, excellent shot and treatment! Great stuff!

[hauff]

Wonderful shot and PP. Nice job Gary...

[downywp]

Stunning PS work... personally I think you could photoshop this beautiful guy pink with purple polka dots and I would never get tired of seeing the pictures :)

[MDJAK]

Well done.

Answer a question for me if you don't mind.

Is this an owl in the wild? If so, aren't owls nocturnal? How do you just find them in the daytime and out in the open like that?

I've never seen an owl in the wild.

mark

[canonshooter4life]

Mark,

Snowy owls are diurnal... and im not sure but i dont think you have them where you are...

[ZipDude66]

Works very well for me Gary, adds some depth to the shot plus owl has a spooky appearence.

Zip

[busbyea]

Nice conversion Gary..
A little wider eye would have put this one over the top.

[Wayne Wood]

What a cool looking shot Gary , I really like it , who would have thought B & W would work so well here

[morehtml]

Not sure I'm a fan of B&W bird photos in general but this is a good one.

[mw_aurora]

Nice conversion, love the treatment!

[Alex Paul]

Fantastic Gary.......Take care....Alex

[dancinec]

Great shot, that is in black and white except for the eyes! Your comment about spot metering, you only expose for the subject; what do you do for (exposure wise) the background?

[Gary Fairhead]

Well done.

Answer a question for me if you don't mind.

Is this an owl in the wild? If so, aren't owls nocturnal? How do you just find them in the daytime and out in the open like that?

I've never seen an owl in the wild.

mark


This owl is very much a wild bird. They come into our area from the far north during the Winter months and there are 3 or 4 in the area although I have not seen the other ones for a few weeks now. Finding them when there is no snow is certainly easier as they show up quite well on posts even from far off....binocualurs help big time especially when there is snow.


dancinecGreat shot, that is in black and white except for the eyes! Your comment about spot metering, you only expose for the subject; what do you do for (exposure wise) the background?

Thanks Dennis and for birds I look for a clean BG but don't worry too much about the exposure. There are times when the BG gets blown but that can also happen with partial metering and exposure comp when the bird is silhouetted against a backlit sky. I do use flash for fill quite often if there are obvious shadows and when the BG is dark but I did not do that for this image as I liked the light as is.

And thanks to everyone who took the time to comment...much appreciated.:D

[pttenn]

Interesting PP Gary. I wish I know what I was doing in Photoshop.


I second that comment. I love those desaturated pictures of the birds that leave the eyes with color, have seen some cat pictures very effective with this technique also. Terrific picture, Gary.
Karen

[Sindri Skulason]

Great shot as always Gary. Usually not a great fan of B&W but this one is perfect. Both thumbs up. :-)

[Mr. E]

I love that pic Gary! It gives the owl a more sinister feel and makes the eyes pop. It gives the perch a real nice look as well! Great capture!