Shot of a snow owl, taken at a shelter that takes care of wounded birds. This little male had his right wing so badly wounded that they had to amputate it. That's why he doesn't look too symetrical.
PP:
In Lightroom from RAW:
-adjust exposure and WB
-clone bits of food and poop lying around the bird
-adjust luminance of orange and yellow to make the eyes pop more
Then in CS3:
-Levels on a separate layer to lighten the shadows on the right side
-Layer in multiply mode to deepen the shadows on the left of the bird, near the tail
- adjust contrast on the eyes to further enhance them
-dodge & burn on a 50% overlay layer
-flatten
-USM
-border
-save for web
-USM again
-then adjustments with various layers to make him stand out against the white BG but not so much that I lost the high key effect I was going for.
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Post-challenge:
First I have to say thank you to all those who commented. I got 31 comments (and 3 faves!!)during the challenge, which is the highest I ever got. it shows my entry was not leaving anyone indifferent - thank you!Well, this was certainly a high scoring challenge. I have to admit I was expecting a higher result than this. BUT it's still a personnal best by 0.80 so there's improvement (and motivation to do better!).
I think some people were put off by the fact that the snow is nearly blown out. On calibrated screens (mine and that of 2 friends), the snow and feathers retain detail and the histogram shows only a very small area of clipped highlights, close to the rock on the left. I knew I was taking a risk about this. I don't regret it one bit!
Statistics
Place: 32 out of 251 Avg (all users): 6.6000 Avg (commenters): 7.7500 Avg (participants): 6.4242 Avg (non-participants): 6.7568 Views since voting: 2312 Views during voting: 419 Votes: 210 Comments: 34 Favorites: 5 (view)
Unbelievable. I am now looking through the entries trying to find the final placement for some of the shots that I was concerned were going to beat mine. This was one of those shots. I thought you might take the blue ribbon with this one and I am very surprised that it didn't finish higher. I really, really like this shot. Very nice and unique entry.
How can someone not love this shot? Great lighting not letting the white get blown out. I love the way the bird seems to disappear into the his surroundings. One of my favorite photos of the challenge. Great job!
wow, I wish I could get that close. But it's totally blown out with no detail at all. I did hold my hand over the rock and with that gone it looks kinda cool. But with the rock there it just looks over-exposed.
Tough conditions to not blow out sections and get detail in others. Snow owl I presume. I think I'd have shot really tight on the head with focus on the eye. May not have been possible in this situation though. Overall good shot.
Very, very nice natural capture (sure hope so anyway) - as difficult as I am sure this is/was, wish I could discern some detail in the owl. Frame works but dominates a bit too much in my opinion. Also would like to have seen this 720, if the quality was there. The feet are my favorite part of the image.
Great concept that could've been carried a bit better with added detail in the snow and feathers. Not sure I like the downward POV. A different one may have eliminated the gray shape coming out of the bird's head.
One of my faves of the challenge. Love how he dissappears into the background. Works well. Not too keen on the border, a bit too thick and much. Still bumping up to 9.
Wow, it really blends in. I have only ever seen Snowy Owls in the summer (at a nature preserve here) and they have spots then. This is a wonderful composition.
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