1 in a Million Shot

I have been doing nature related photography since 2005 and have never had a Snowy Owl or any raptor catch a wild rodent and decide to land directly in front of me let alone during golden hour sunlight. It was an amazing experience we had this evening. Have been shoooting this several times a week in the evenings mainly since Dec and it has paid off nicely. This night the wait was about 2 hours or so before we got any real movement. Better still its only a 15 min drive from my house.

Ontario, Canada

JTF wrote in post #18602741
I have been doing nature related photography since 2005 and have never had a Snowy Owl or any raptor catch a wild rodent and decide to land directly in front of me let alone during golden hour sunlight. It was an amazing experience we had this evening.

Ontario, Canada

Wow

Excellent!

That's such beautiful light, and it certainly helped you to get those eyes so beautifully captured, with that rich, bright yellow color being showcased so nicely.

Would you mind sharing what lens you used, and, if a zoom, what focal length you were zoomed in to? . Also, your settings? . I am particularly interested in knowing the focal length and the aperture, as these are the factors that most affect the depth of field and the way that the background was rendered.


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That's a major capture, JTF.

You should be very proud of that one!
Beautiful Photo!!!

Congrats!

Ace.

This shot gets an A+

Amazing luck and well done for getting the shots when it happened.

JTF wrote in post #18602741
I have been doing nature related photography since 2005 and have never had a Snowy Owl or any raptor catch a wild rodent and decide to land directly in front of me let alone during golden hour sunlight. It was an amazing experience we had this evening.

Ontario, Canada

Great capture.

You have to be out there to get the shot.

Wow, you were lucky!

Luck Defined in Context: "Have been shooting this several times a week in the evenings mainly since Dec and it has paid off nicely. This night the wait was about 2 hours or so before we got any real movement."

JTF wrote in post #18602741
I have been doing nature related photography since 2005 and have never had a Snowy Owl or any raptor catch a wild rodent and decide to land directly in front of me let alone during golden hour sunlight. It was an amazing experience we had this evening. Have been shoooting this several times a week in the evenings mainly since Dec and it has paid off nicely. This night the wait was about 2 hours or so before we got any real movement. Better still its only a 15 min drive from my house.

Ontario, Canada

Nikon D7200
Nikon AF-S 80-400MM F/4.5-5.6G ED VR

Shot handheld as per normal for me

ƒ/5.6
400.0 mm
1/640
360
Center-weighted average

Shot in P mode as with the owls moving around and doing upexpected things it gives me a better chance of success.

What can I add.... such beautiful light.... and an amazing subject. I really enjoyed the photograph. The story behind it always interests me, so thank you for including it.

Beauty of a shot, so worth the wait.

Awesome!

Well done.