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Great Gray Owl


Great Gray Owl
Photo Information
Copyright: Gert Ellstrom (ellis49) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3645 W: 350 N: 8890] (28681)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-07-02
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 20D, Sigma 100-300 /4 HSM, Digital RAW 400
Exposure: f/8, 1/400 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Zoo animals, Owls all over the world [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-07-07 6:25
Viewed: 1778
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 52
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Today’s post is a Strix nebulosa, Great Gray Owl, Swe Lappuggla.
I found this beautiful owl in Skansen Open-Air Museum during our visit in Stockholm.
It’s a big owl, our second largest owl.

One of the World's largest Owls, the Great Gray Owl is dark grey overall interspersed with bars and flecks of light grey and white. When perched, they appear very bulky because of their dense, fluffy plumage, long wings extending past the body, a relatively long tail, and a large head. The size of the head, and the prominent facial disk make the yellow eyes appear small. A noticeable white "moustache" strip is under the facial disk, broken by a black "bow-tie". The feet are heavily feathered and remain hidden from view. The Great Gray Owl is a ponderous flier, does not often move more than short distances between perches and seldom glides. They fly close to the ground, usually less than 6 metres (20 feet) up, except when flying to a nest.
The Great Gray Owl thermo regulates by roosting in dense cover. When hot, a Great Gray Owl will pant and droop its wings to expose an unfeathered area (apterid) under the wing.
Size: Length 61-84cm (24-33") average 72cm (28") for females, 69cm (27") for males
Wingspan up to 152cm (60") average 142cm (56") for female, 140cm (55") for males
Weight 790-1454g (28-51oz) average 1,390g (49oz) for females, 1,290g (45½oz) for males.
Info from, www.owlpages.com. More info about the Great Gray Owl

Technique:
Sigma 100-300/4.0 EX HSM
ISO 400, Raw-format. One-shot autofocus.
Converted, Levels/Curves, Contrast, Crop, resized to 800 pixels, Neat Image, USM , save JPG for the WEB.
I used Adobe Photoshop CS2 for PP
Demetrio, sam224, cafecrem, dew77, omnia, sAner, PDP, coasties, Fisher, red45, ddg, marhowie, Kaszek, liquidsunshine, wallhalla15, bedford67, TAZ has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Great shot Gert. Sharp details and high definition. One of my favourite birds. Very good light and excellent focus. Very well done!

Magnifique portrait et une très bonne note.
Nico.

Wonderful eyes Gert! Just like honey :-)
I love owls - they are so beautiful and so... cute for me ;-)

  • Good 
  • omnia Silver Star Critiquer [C: 34 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2005-07-07 6:48]

clear shot of the head, very interesting info. I wonder why the left eye has half a covering over it, and the background may look better a little blurrier

  • Great 
  • PDP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2964 W: 366 N: 3848] (11755)
  • [2005-07-07 6:50]

Hello Gert, good portrait, lovely details and a ncie composition. Very well done.

  • Great 
  • sAner Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1654 W: 79 N: 1456] (4742)
  • [2005-07-07 6:53]

Hey Gert,

Fantastic portrait! Exposure is great, details are razorsharp and the look in the eyes of the owl is fantastic. A marvelous photo. Well done & TFS!

Regards,
Pieter

He is a grand looking Owl. He sure does look wise. There are small amount that are over exposed, but that's really minor. He is a spectacular subject and you have captured him extremely well. Tack sharp and good details. Nice shot Gert. Thanks.

Hi Gert,
You even captured the eye covering. Excellent capture and well done on the composition and details.
These occur in Sweeden? Interesting, they are quite the site to see, especially in the winter.

Mike

  • Great 
  • Graal Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 788 W: 31 N: 20] (5002)
  • [2005-07-07 8:01]

Very good portrait,Gert. Excellent sharpness and colours. I like it very much. Good job.
Rgs, Aleksander

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2829 W: 75 N: 8024] (26857)
  • [2005-07-07 8:14]

Really great owl Gert! Opened beak looks just great but of course eyes are the best. Big and in great colour. Very good capture!

  •      
  • ddg Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 880 W: 23 N: 927] (4993)
  • [2005-07-07 8:29]

Hello Gert, vous avez même reussi le clin d'oeil de chouette!! Super shot, du grand art!! Félicitations Didier.

Excellent shot Gert, Very good details, colors and light..I like the slightly parted beak and half-closed secondary eyelid, it adds some character, Well done my friend!

  • Great 
  • livios Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2306 W: 324 N: 4306] (16856)
  • [2005-07-07 11:20]

Gert, owls usually have funny faces; this one is not an exception.

Great and vivid colors, gret eyes, very nice pov. Sharpness is perfect too.

Little bit burned out in the highlights, knocking the exposure compensation down a little would have solved that. Also looks just a little too over sharpened for the amount it's been cropped in by..

  • Great 
  • Kaszek Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 262 W: 58 N: 390] (1447)
  • [2005-07-07 12:42]

Superb portrait-picture! Very interesting and full of details (eyes!) I like it!

  • Great 
  • Ina Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 118 W: 6 N: 102] (759)
  • [2005-07-07 13:33]

What a great and funny pose of this dear old owl... I love the look in it's eyes Colors and ligtht looks great too...TFS...Ina...

hello:) what a beauty photo :) really amaizing is this photo:) great compo:) exellent DOF and POV:) also I like colours here:)

rgs

Malgosia

Great shot Gert,
Well composed, good detail, colours and sharpness.
Nicely captured, thanks for posting.
Have a good weekend

  • Great 
  • manyee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3070 W: 231 N: 5861] (19714)
  • [2005-07-08 3:29]

What a face that owl has. Great shot, Gert, with sharp details and great pose. Well done and TFS. : )

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5171 W: 297 N: 4050] (13069)
  • [2005-07-08 3:30]

Hello Gert!
Superb capture.Expression on face,eye contact,details,DOF and composition are perfect.Excellent work!TFS...:-)

Excellent details & sharpness, perfect composition and great colours. Fantastic work! Well done, Gert.

Hello Gert,

The sharp look of this owl seems to mean: "Attention, I watch you closely!". I find this shot really superb, contrast, colors, all is good.
Composition: ****
Contraste(Sharpness): ****
Couleurs(Color): ****
PDC(DOF): ****
PDV(POV): ***
Note: ***
TFS, cordially,
J-Patrick

Very good capture of this owl. Great details and nice colors. I can almost hear it singing... ;-)
This is my favorite bird! Thank you so much for sharing.

Helene

  • Great 
  • sela Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 42 W: 0 N: 21] (646)
  • [2005-07-10 15:20]

WOW!!! Breathtaking capture. Bravo!

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2385 W: 50 N: 3184] (10918)
  • [2005-07-11 3:30]

Beautiful and interesting portrait for this superb Owl ! They have strange looking ;-) Composition, colors, details and sharpness are very good ! Thanks for sharing Gert.

WOW what a portrait.Awesome shot, Well done.

  • Great 
  • optic Gold Star Critiquer [C: 322 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2005-08-02 20:47]

Hello Gert,
My prefered owl, very well composed i like the colours & light Dof & pov are great.

Regards,
Christian

  • Great 
  • lukdm Gold Star Critiquer [C: 51 W: 0 N: 7] (165)
  • [2005-09-22 5:33]

great shot , this "portrait"

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