Barn Owl - Opinions wanted

[John_Nevill]

I'm going through a sepia phase at the moment, whether its a retro thing or more about understanding tonality, i'll reserve judgement.

Anyway, I was fortunate to spend a day with a Falconer and his private collection last month and caught this Barn Owl in transitional flight.

The question is does it work? or am I overdoing it?


Almost forgot to mention, many thanks to Nicolas for that PS sharpening action, I love it! I can see you spent sometime developing it.

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

...The question is does it work? or am I overdoing it?...

Hi John,

Honestly, it does not work for me unfortunately. It is a very nice picture but I'd rather see this beautiful bird in full color with a nice bokehed colored background.

Just my personal opinion, since you've asked .

Cheers,

 

[John_Nevill]

Thanks Cem, I respect your honesty.

Its funny, sometimes one gets attached to a process and cant see the wood from the trees!

I'll wait for some more comments and post the colour version, ironically the sepia looks better in print than on the screen.

 

[Don Cohen]

My initial reaction is neutral - not great, not awful. I'd have to see the original for comparison. It is an interesting image in its own right, though, and experimenting is always a good thing.

It's a great capture, though, regardless of the post-processing.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi, John,

I like the barn owl. Does it have bands on it legs?

Anyway, and monochome requires celebration of tonal range. Here we lack a olt of in between colors and 3D dimensionality that is the forte of this way of looking at things.

I wonder how you went from the color to this?

One of the tings I like to do is reassign colors to tones so that the strcuture gets more presence. I'm sure you do it, but in the case, it is not reaching where it might.

asher

 

[John_Nevill]

Well here's the original in colour. So you can see where I started from!

Asher, the straps on the owls legs, I believe are called jessies. Falconers use then keep a grip on the bird.

 

[Edward Bussa]

I like the photo, you have a great subject.

I think in the right collection, or even the right room, this would be a striking piece.

The delicacies in the white feathers stand out better for me in the color version. Perhaps the green could be toned down a bit?

 

[Asher Kelman]

Well John,

I hope you don't mind my sacrilage, as the easiest way is to show.

My versioning;

Not the tone you have but can I say it has more dimension?

Cheers,

Asher

 

[nicolas claris]

Nice bird !

Here's my take

color is the key...

If you wish I can email the PSD...

 

[Asher Kelman]

My bird version is natural in B&W, eyes alive looking for prey.

Funny thing, Nicolas,

Something is definately wrong with my 17" MacBook Pro. Your rendering of the owl comes up in color! I tried rebooting the thing, but it looks like there must be something about your own French part of the internet that might be corrupting the monochome files which the author intended!

Still, the bird does have presence in color. Yes, I must admit it's magnificent, even though the eyes are dead. But maybe it beings death!

It seems ready to strike and Grace a Dieu je ne suis pas un mulot ne'n plus un souris! Quand meme, ma souris d'ordinateur a peur et tremble!

Asher

 

[Ray West]

I think I would leave the bird coloured, but on a very dark, maybe black background, and I'd remove the jesses. afaik, the eyes are pretty dead looking, something like an f0.01, I guess.

Best wishes,

Ray

 

[nicolas claris]

Asher!
use your trackpad!

LOL

 

[John_Nevill]

Thanks for the feedback / opinions.

So what was I thinking, possibly something that seemed a older, maybe sinister and 3 dimensional.

Both Asher's and Nicolas' versions yeild more dimensionality, Interesting choice of colour on Nicolas' version (i'll try it), but I have to agree the Owl 's plumage renders better in colour. So the backgorund does need more consideration and work.

I have since printed out a b/w no split toning, but it didn't jump out at me!

The final split tone print came out a little darker on the HPB9180 using Lyson satin. Which I now prefer!

Thanks again.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Remember the eyes, John. I do think it they need to be isolated and curved separately and then sharpened.

Asher

 

[Chuck Bragg]

Since Barn Owls are *not* white, I would like to see this photo either manipulated to the nth degree as an extreme action shot *or* try to recover the highights in those 'white' wings. It seems to me if you don't emphasize the action and graphic component enough people will wonder why you can't make out the fine details of the plumage - and a Barn Owl does look as if it is covered with the finest brown lace underneath when the exposure is spot-on. Since the owl is the only point of interest (no mouse, for instance) I would hope you shot it RAW and can get some of the plumage back. The jesses? I am torn between removing them for a better photo and leaving them in to prevent 'fooling' people into thinking it's a wild bird. Some bird photographers won't even use captive birds - not me, but I am always careful to say if it is not wild.

That said, it's a great action shot - sharp and caught at the widest wingspread, gear down. Don't get many of those.