snowy owl

[john39]

I took this picture of a Snowy Owl.



Exif.
Camera Nikon D80
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 360
Exposure Bias 0 EV

Do you think I should crop this to focus more on the eyes? Any comments appreciated.

There are more on my Flickr account.

[Carolyn Lee]

Hi John

I love this! Great shot - where are you finding these birds?

[timz !!]

wow great shot .. the picture produces a very good color and also the bird looks very beautifull ..

[john39]

Originally Posted by Carolyn Lee

Hi John

I love this! Great shot - where are you finding these birds?

The bird was in a shopping centre, a local animal rescue service was fundraising. Thanks for the feedback.

John.

[windrider86]

Hi there,

Please take a moment to read the rules/guidelines. There are certain information you should be including with your posts that you missed. Thanks for reading them and thanks ahead of time for returning and editing your post!

[mrteacherdude]

Great shot and great colors! I think this photo can work either way. I find myself drawn to the eyes anyway, and I like seeing some of the bird underneath to give me that perspective of height of the animal which might be lost in a tighter crop of just the head. However, a tighter crop that emphasizes the eyes I think would increase the intensity, and for lack of a better term, the "owlness" of the animal. I like it

[john39]

Thanks for all the feedback, its been really usefull.

I've cropped the image to emphasize the eyes more...



Same exif data as before.

Moderators, I wasnt sure if I needed to start a new thread on this?

Thanks again.

John.

[Exiztence]

The cropped version looks very nice man. He's very confronting
Even though I like the image as it is, you could perhaps make it pop a bit more.
The colors are a little dark/dull to my taste. I hope you don't mind, but I edited the image a little in Lightroom:



Maybe it's a bit too much, but what I did is. Adjusted the white-balance and tint a little, added some brightness and increased contrast a little.
Next I sharpened the eyes and made them a bit more colorful. I also brightened up the background a little.

I hope you don't mind your picture being edited a little here. I'm sorry if I was being too bold

(edit: On second thought, the eyes are a bit overdone, but I hope I got the idea across)

[mrteacherdude]

I do like the tighter head crop, it came out very nice. I also like the original coloration as it looks more natural to me. IMO, some subtle changes could improve the appearance, such as sharpening and a little more contrast, but I think I would be cautious of overdoing it.

[timmyboy]

Hi first of all what a great photo. On wether you should crop it or not depends on where and how you choose to use the picture. I personly think its a great picture well done