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Archive 2022 · Great Horned Owl

  
 
EverLearning
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Great Horned Owl


Comments and critiques please.

BTW, for those who are curious, my ISO was high so that I could get 2500 ss. I was hoping for a good takeoff shot but never got one worth anything. This was the nicest of the stills. Topaz DeNoise AI did a VERY nice job with this photo.

Don







Aug 21, 2022 at 03:48 PM
beavens
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Great Horned Owl


Beautiful creature! Are you able to recover any of those highlights?

Jeff



Aug 21, 2022 at 05:25 PM
EverLearning
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Great Horned Owl


Which highlights are you referring to Jeff? Other than a tiny, tiny spot on one ear, none are blown. I actually ever so slightly pulled the highlights up so now you have me intrigued.

Don

beavens wrote:
Beautiful creature! Are you able to recover any of those highlights?

Jeff




Aug 21, 2022 at 05:45 PM
grandmas
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Great Horned Owl


Did some nit-picky stuff to bring the owl out of the background some more. Pulled the highlights back. Highlights in the white areas loose detail when they are higher than 240 or so.

I would like to see a bit more negative space on the bottom, but is nice as is.

Edited on Dec 06, 2022 at 01:44 AM · View previous versions



Aug 21, 2022 at 07:30 PM
crow high
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Great Horned Owl


You have no idea how much I love great horned owls! I can't believe you captured this beauty during the day light hours, and on a post too. Wow. These owls are so rare. I think you got a great photograph here.



Aug 21, 2022 at 07:54 PM
beavens
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Great Horned Owl


EverLearning wrote:
Which highlights are you referring to Jeff? Other than a tiny, tiny spot on one ear, none are blown. I actually ever so slightly pulled the highlights up so now you have me intrigued.

Don


Ears, parts of the face, some parts of the breast and the tops of the feet.




Aug 21, 2022 at 08:43 PM
Shasoc
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Great Horned Owl


Beautiful shot of a beautiful bird, Don. I really like the pose and the feathers pattern. Detail look good and clean, considering the high ISO.

I do find the bright areas a bit too bright even though they don't look blown out. For some reason the bird looks a bit too bright overall for that lighting situation, but could be just me.

Never the less this is a very fine capture of a beautiful and cooperative bird.

Socrate



Aug 22, 2022 at 10:05 AM
EverLearning
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Great Horned Owl


Jeff and Socrate, thank you for your keen observations. It appears you are right. The whites overall didn't feel "clean"/bright enough so I had actually bumped them up slightly and I was pleased with the overall result and other than a tiny part of its right ear, nothing was actually blown out. But looking at the areas you mentioned Jeff, I can see that although not technically blown out, feather detail is lost. Just another reminder that both the macro and micro (detailed/local area) level checks are important and that white feathers in particular can be tricky.

I made a bit of a global adjustment and then a few local adjustments and it does look better.

Thanks again.

Don



Aug 22, 2022 at 10:54 AM
beavens
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Great Horned Owl


EverLearning wrote:
Jeff and Socrate, thank you for your keen observations. It appears you are right. The whites overall didn't feel "clean"/bright enough so I had actually bumped them up slightly and I was pleased with the overall result and other than a tiny part of its right ear, nothing was actually blown out. But looking at the areas you mentioned Jeff, I can see that although not technically blown out, feather detail is lost. Just another reminder that both the macro and micro (detailed/local area) level checks are important and that white feathers in particular can be tricky.

I made a bit
...Show more

What's your definition of technically blown out? I see blown out and detail loss as synonymous.



Aug 22, 2022 at 11:51 AM
EverLearning
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Great Horned Owl


Jeff, I guess I differentiate between that which irrecoverably lost and that which is not. Looking at these areas in the photo, I could still see some detail in those areas but lower the highlights did bring out more detail. Sometimes one can't recover anything in PP.

Don



Aug 22, 2022 at 12:19 PM
beavens
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Great Horned Owl


EverLearning wrote:
Jeff, I guess I differentiate between that which irrecoverably lost and that which is not. Looking at these areas in the photo, I could still see some detail in those areas but lower the highlights did bring out more detail. Sometimes one can't recover anything in PP.

Don


Roger that - I'm basing what I call blown purely upon what I see as a viewer.

I can definitely understand how things shift a bit depending on if you're the creator vs. viewer.

Glad you could recover! Always a gut punch when they are TRULY blown.

Jeff



Aug 22, 2022 at 12:51 PM
sbeme
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Great Horned Owl


Jeff was spot on! Same impression; some loss of detail and I struggle with that all the time, despite the histogram and eye dropper seemingly reassuring me.

Beautiful image! I understand they are the most common owl here in the northeast and hear in the northeast at night. I hear two; never can locate them in the trees in the dark.

Scott



Aug 22, 2022 at 03:49 PM
EverLearning
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Great Horned Owl


Yeah Scott, histogram is helpful, eye dropper is helpful, personal eyeballing is helpful, but friends' eyeballs? Priceless!

Different weather, different location, even different subspecies by region, but here on the Canadian prairies they can be spotted in March during the day (maybe even in early April). The female is on the nest and the male is somewhere close by; usually 15 to 20 feet up.

Don



Aug 22, 2022 at 03:56 PM
IndyFab
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Great Horned Owl


Beautiful capture !!

I used luminosity masks on the lights and darks of the owl, Darkened back round & log a bit so the owl has more presence. A tiny bit of boost to the eye. I dont know how you use Denoise, but I always run the raw file through Denoise before I do any editing. Since I was just using your Jpeg image here I did not use Denoise




Sep 14, 2022 at 09:36 PM





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