I had to go to the airport in Charlotte, NC this morning, so I decided to make a stop at the Carolina Raptor Center on my way home. I didn't think I would get much in the way of photographs because the sun was quite bright. I shot a few photos of "Dudley" though. Dudley is a great horned owl. He's a permanent resident of the Carolina Raptor Center. He can't be rehabilitated and released into the wild. He suffers from a condition called "imprinting." Dudley doesn't know that he's a great horned owl. This condition occurs when humans take very young wild animals into their homes as pets. Dudley did not get the opportunity to learn the basic survival requirements to be a great horned owl. He didn't learn how to hunt his own food. Because of this, he can't survive in the wild. Imprinting is an irreversible condition. To complicate Dudley's situation, his human owners fed him raw hamburger meat. They thought that since this raptor was a carnivore that hamburger would make a good diet for Dudley. The hamburger meat didn't provide the proper nutrients for Dudley, especially clacium, and his bone structure is very weak. Think twice before you take one of these raptors as a pet. In the United States, it is illegal to do so.
Post Processing:
Adjusted levels, burned white feathers slightly, adjusted curves for maximum tonality, converted to black and white via channel mixer, added slight warmth with another curve, and cropped to a square format...
Predictions:
Score: 5.85
This is one of those photos that will get a little bit lower score because the average viewer will want to see it in color rather than black and white. I also expect that a few folks will want to see both eyes in full rather than the slight profile view I captured here. Some black and white enthusiasts may like this photo...
EXIF:
File: IMG_5877.CR2
File size: 7,520KB
Image Serial Number: 558-5877
Camera Model: Canon EOS 20D
Camera serial number: 0420100366
Firmware: Firmware 2.0.0
Owner: John M. Setzler, Jr.
Date/Time: 2006:03:05 15:43:22
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
Aperture: 4
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: External E-TTL High speed sync
Flash exposure compensation: -1
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous: frame 1
ISO: 200
Lens: 98 to 280mm
Focal length: 280mm
AF mode: One-shot AF
Image size: 3504 x 2336
Image quality: Raw
White balance: Auto
Color space: sRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Sharpness level: 0
Tone: Normal
Custom Functions:
CFn 2: Long exposure noise reduction: On
CFn 8: ISO expansion: On
Statistics
Place: 23 out of 369 Avg (all users): 6.5511 Avg (commenters): 8.1875 Avg (participants): 6.3862 Avg (non-participants): 6.8500 Views since voting: 1496 Views during voting: 307 Votes: 225 Comments: 18 Favorites: 1 (view)
A fine speciman is Dudley and a fine piece of work this is. Impressive tonal range distribution, it adds a whole lot of kick to it. It almost looks as if he has tears welling up in the lower part of his eye :) I gotta ten you for this one!
Tack sharp focus. I like the 3/4 profile too but wish there were a touch more of the eye to our left. The detail of his feathers is nicely done. Upping the score on 2nd review.
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