Lens: Sigma 100-300 f4 EX + 2x Extender
Focal Length: 600mm
Manual focus.
Completely uncropped! ... Damn I love having so much zoom at my fingertips : )
Shot in very bad light on a typically wet British summer afternoon.
Statistics
Place: 23 out of 69 Avg (all users): 7.0655 Avg (commenters): 7.8167 Avg (participants): 6.3793 Avg (non-participants): 7.1829 Views since voting: 2729 Views during voting: 783 Votes: 397 Comments: 63 Favorites: 2 (view)
Gorgeous bird shot. By filling the frame with this remarkable creature, you've really pushed this shot over the top. Only thing missing is a catchlight in the eyes, but that doesn't keep this from being a professional-quality, beautiful image! 9
Boy, you certainly got in this little fellows face, or used a 600mm lens. Detail and sharpness are exceptional. Contrast is also very good, but I think the DOF is just a bit too narrow and would have liked to have seen it even all around. Did you have to clone out cage? Excellent work. 9
Great photo. The detail on this guy's face is sharp and well-defined. A slightly deeper DOF would have kept the side of his face in better focus. Tough shot to get!
Amazing! You almost want to jump back when you see this. It's so real it feels like it is going to jump out and touch you! I love owls too. They are kind of mysterious, and hard to ever see close up -- at least where I live they are. It's perfect. 10!
Very clear shot here, well done! The eyes are the most important part and you've done a great job in capturing them! I would have liked to have seen all of it's feathers in focus. 9
Awwwww, he's all wet! Did he just get a bath or was it raining? I love the expression in his eyes, looks just a touch sad. The crop seems just a touch tight but otherwise a wonderfully perfect shot. A 10
Oy vey, what wonderful details!! I love the colors and the texture! Great shot, though I wish the left was more in focus... either way, it's a great capture. Thanks!
This is charming with a deftly gaze and acutr detail to satisfy searching eyes. the post processing is true to the study and as such my congratulations on a very good execution. Bumping up.
IMO the DOF should have been deeper on this shot, with a bit more in focus. They are great eyes but the texture of the feathers are needed to set this shot off. 6
Whilst I think you have done a good job of snapping an interesting animal I don't think this has much going for it apart from that. As a record of an animal it works well, but for an artistic photograph it is lacking.
The bird isn't looking at the camera and the DOF is too shallow which throws his left eye out of focus. I am fine with the grain - i am sure a lot of people will not like that (preferring Neat image no doubt) but I presume you had to shoot some pretty high ISO in these conditions.
Overall a very good shot - just nothing fantastic.
Wonderful shot... I really wish both eyes were in focus though. My eye doesn't want to settle on one eye only. Great clarity and detail, the feathers add loads of character. Good crop. 7
Another marvelous bird photo! The detail on this is outstanding. I have trouble capturing birds eyes, but it is clear that you don't. I love the detail in the feathers and eyes, I wish I could see more of the right eye though. 7
Very nice, although I wonder if you had cropped out the left eye and that side of the face if having everything in focus might have worked even better. Color is excellent.
I like the decision to crop in close on three sides but include a small sliver of background on left. Nice detail in feathers. Would love to see a catchlight in eyes. 7 (//www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=129433)
Those eyes! I love this shot but wonder if it has been enlarged and cropped too much. I'm see a bit of soft focus but not enough to detract.
A lovely shot. - 8
This would have been a great wildlife challenge shot. This has the great quality of a seamless look of film, with lovely brown and white tones.The yellow eye is especially clear. I don't think this is a winner, especially in the master's challenge, although it is quite good an demonstrates your talent for freezing a natural predator, and displaying a nice animal portrait. If you care to hear it, what would put this over the top would be a slightly better crop adn the conveyance of some human quality through the portrait of this bird;. Right now it is cold and reptilian,and predictably predatorial.
Those are great eyes, but really could do with a catch light to give them some emotion. As you probably couldn't control natural ones, it is fine to add small ones in post processing. I think you should also burn around the edges to get some proper blacks into the feathers rather than greys. 6
the DOF is slightly too shallow to keep the other eye in focus, which makes this feel oddly weighted to me. A great capture on the texture of the wet feathers, and a good overall composition.
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