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February 22, 2013
February 22, 2013
Barn Owl, United Kingdom
Photograph by Mark Bridger, My Shot
This Month in Photo of the Day: Your Photos
A wild barn owl flying over Norfolk reeds at dusk
(This photo and caption were submitted to My Shot.)
What Makes This a Photo of the Day? I have an affinity for owls. Knowing that not everyone may feel as I do, I try to limit myself to one owl photograph per month, and I’m happy for the chance to run this one in February. The light is beautiful and the composition nicely balanced, with the owl punctuating the empty space above the reeds. —Alexa Keefe, Photo of the Day editor
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34 comments
This is either photoshopped or taken with a tilt/shift lens. The latter would be very difficult if this truly is a wild owl given that the photographer would have to (correctly) predict where the owl will be, where to manually focus before the owl enters the frame, get the tilt just right so that both the foreground and owl are in perfect focus while the background weeds are blurred, and snap the shot before the owl leaves the narrow plane of focus. A lot has to line up for this photo to happen. I'm not saying it can't be done, but this would be very difficult for a good photographer to pull off on a stationary subject, much less a wild bird.
2 Like
@Nathan Gardner Hi there, I would just like to point out that I took this photo and I have not used either Photoshop or a tilt/shift lens, and the owl is a truly wild animal, the shot was taken with a Canon 1Dmk4, 500mm f4 lens and a x1.4 TC giving me a focal length of 700mm, then I have cropped the image to suit, this effect is due to compression and that is all, no magic, no tricks and no Photoshop. I have already submitted the RAW file of this shot to other comps that I have entered, im sorry you feel that i have 'cheated' or whatever you think but I havent, its almost straight out of the camera.
@Nathan Gardner My guess is a telephoto lens, causing the compression of space, and a motor drive taking several shots.
@Scott Hutchins With a telephoto, the weeds on the same plane as the owl would be in focus.
This picture is faked, right? I think it would be difficult to have the foreground weeds in focus and the owl in focus, but not the background weeds (at roughly the same distance as the ow) or background trees.
@Larry BeatyHi there, I would just like to point out that I took this photo and I have not used either Photoshop or a tilt/shift lens, and the owl is a truly wild animal, the shot was taken with a Canon 1Dmk4, 500mm f4 lens and a x1.4 TC giving me a focal length of 700mm, then I have cropped the image to suit, this effect is due to compression and that is all, no magic, no tricks and no Photoshop. I have already submitted the RAW file of this shot to other comps that I have entered, im sorry you feel that i have 'cheated' or whatever you think but I havent, its almost straight out of the camera.
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@David Gaston Let the expert zoologist make the right comment....... or it can be confusing!....MATTS
@David Gaston David I think you mean barred owl, not bard owl. And while the barred and barn owls both have brown eyes (almost all owls have yellow eyes) this is surely a barn owl. Barn owls are the only owl to have the distinct heart shaped face. Plus barns frequent open country, including grasslands, farmland and marshes, where as the barred prefers dense coniferous or mixed woods of river bottoms and swamps. Being so pale in color, also indicates it's probably a male barn owl, females are a darker cinnamon color.
Wow, very breath taking for me!! One of the best pictures I have seen!!! Beautiful, thank you for sharing this picture!!
Yep, another big owl fan here and this picture is one of the reasons why I am. They are magnificent! Great shot and thanks so much for sharing it with all of us.
So very wonderful! Gosh the light is great on the owl and on the reeds. Simply awesome!!!!!
Great picture!
I would love to get technical details, such as camera, lens, aperture, shutter speed. I reckon this was taken with a tele and quite a bit of luck (if the lens was either heavy or the camera on a tripod)!
@Urs HessHi there, the shot was taken with a Canon 1Dmk4, 500mm f4 lens and a x1.4 TC giving me a focal length of 700mm, then I have cropped the image to suit, thank you
This is just wonderful, what an angle with the late sunlight accenting the shaft of the primary feathers. I too, have an affinity for owls and the barn owls are one of my favorites. Even if they weren't special to me, I would like this photo, so soft, with the warm golden color,
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