Need help/advice...

[chauncey]

It kinda depends on how much separation is desired...used a few of my suggestions.

[Bobobird]

Haha. Thanks Nandakumar. Play as much as you wish. Bit more drama than the pic deserves but will certainly stand out anywhere.

[Bobobird]

Thanks every for your wonderful advice.

I see 3 areas that need attention and frankly my masking skills can handle only 1 which is the white snow-covered branch at the top. The hidden branch behind the head and the one jutting out from the left wing are more problematic for me. In any case both Allan and William have done wonderful things with it so I will use both their suggestions as starting points. Lets see what comes up.

Will post the result when done. Jeez, the thing I most fear (selections) and just have to up the skillset another notch. Grrrr.

[csa mt]

Bobo went and played a little with the image, now that light spot between the owl's shoulders was driving me nuts. This is what I did in Photoshop CC, open image into raw, then opened into PS as a smart object (all my raw files open into CC as smart objects), made did a copy by way of a smart object. To the copy reopened in raw really worked the slider to create a really contrast image<OK back into CC, then using select tool selected the owl, went back into raw to return sliders to normal <OK back into CC. Then defined edge to help smooth edges then output to new layer with mask. Went back to copy layer added a little negative clarity <OK back into CC and converted smart object layer into a regular layer. Had to do that as you can not clone on a smart layer. Cloned a small area of the back ground into that light area between the owls' shoulders. Added a curves layer clipped to just the layer with the owl, resetting the black and white points, then added another curves to the back ground layer resetting the black and white points for that layer.
Now that may seem a lot, doing the selection was the longest about 6 minutes total time about ten minutes. I hope it meets with your approval. O by the way I hate you I love that shot and can only dream of getting something close.

Cheers: Allan

Allan has hit it perfectly, just my humble opinion. The owl really pops now, and is not competing against the background!

[Bobobird]

Yes, thanks Carol. I think that a marriage of what Allan and William have done is what I should be looking to. Still working on the suggestions - only issue is that I have no idea what they are saying. haha

[AB26]

Hi Bobo,

I was not going to comment as I think it is a great capture. A very well executed shot with a BG complimenting the subject.

I know what you are missing, the “soul” of the shot. That something you want but cannot find.
That something is in the position of the bird’s head and eyes. You got the shot but missed the moment.

The lack of detail around the beak area……………………………., were you shooting at maximum burst rate? Did you use the correct focusing mode?

The 1Dx compensates for both focus and exposure for each frame while shooting a burst.

[Brownbear]

Just to say that I think you've captured the moment of a Gray Owl in flight, absolutely beautifully... Head on, tack sharp focus where it matters most - those golden eyes... All with absolutely gorgeous light!

[Bobobird]

Thanks Christina.

Thanks Andre. I hear you. Problem is the "soul" shows itself only when the crop is really tight ie 150% or higher. Then you get a "I dare you" kind of feel.

Regarding the Dx, I don't use its 12fps, only 10 after reading somewhere that its best performance and focus accuracy is at the lower rate.

Yes in burst mode it does maintain focus (or lose it) but I was not aware about exposure. I use only manual so there should be no changes while a burst is being taken. Could I be mistaken as Canon cameras do other strange stuff behind the scenes?

[Bobobird]

Had trouble understanding the processing concepts/terminology so took a while with the re-edit.

Here it is. C&C please.

Thanks.

[Polar01]

So do tell us what you did so we will not be guessing. (with the spot between the wings gone great improvement.

Cheers: Allan

[NorthernFocus]

Much improved IMO. This really is an awesome shot, Bobo.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Dan. Appreciate your kind words.

Thanks Allan. Glad it got fixed --- eventually.

I am not one who likes to tamper much with an image and item removal never enters my head. If there are edge distractions after a compositional crop, I will remove or blend them away. Also my skills are quite basic and limited.

After nearly a year of playing around with it on and off and never being happy with it, I decided that here was the place to ask. The answers were all the same (almost) - those 2 snow covered branches had to go. But I did not know how. Some of the suggestions were way beyond my comprehension or skill. So I just sat on it awhile.

Couple of days ago, took it back into ACR and started using the adjustment brush on the 2 areas and got rid of them. Only problem then was the back and feathers around the area were impacted as well. Liked the result though so backed off the edits and opened the image in PS. Went back into ACR to do just the 2 spots and opened that too in PS. Copied one over the other and painted back the lost feathers and ....

The other "problems" with white spots etc were easy fixes with the blur or clone stamp tools.

Just glad that I did not have to go through a huge learning curve.

I sometimes like to enter photo contests and this one will not be eligible in most due to their "no removal" rules.

What I do not understand about the capture is that swirling pattern above the left and to the side of the right wings (not so apparent on the right). Surely I did not catch the downward movement of the wings at that point or did I?

[Mike Buckley]

Much improved IMO. This really is an awesome shot, Bobo.

Ditto

[Mike Buckley]

that swirling pattern above the left and to the side of the right wings

Considering your shutter speed of 1/2500, I'm confident that those areas are patterns in the background that are reminiscent of wing blur only by coincidence.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Mike. Yes probably but exactly where the blur should be is a bit unnerving.

[Texas Dave]

Top shelf as usual Bobo. It's great as is, but you could try selecting the background and reducing it's brightness and saturation.

Dave

x2 here.

I would very delicately mask the bird so that you could do what Dave said and not touch the bird at all. He's looking PERFECT on my screen.

[Cantab]

Ditto

This really is a spectacular image. When looking at it full screen, I had the sense that an owl was looking straight at me.

[Bobobird]

Like so?

For easier comparison the original redo is duplicated below.

[Texas Dave]

I think that is much better. You still have all your frame and the owl has room to fly. I'm not sure where I would have ended up on the tonality of the background, maybe just a bit less dark but overall I think this is much better than pumping the saturation up.

Love it!

[Bobobird]

Thanks for the DJE reminder. Yes looks much better now imho. Tonality/saturation - have to be kept within certain limits or else the pics start to lose their true scene feel.