Ryser915 on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/ryser915/art/Great-Horned-Owl-150041361Ryser915

Deviation Actions

Ryser915's avatar

Great Horned Owl

By
Published:
2.9K Views

Description

A few days ago, I located the daytime roost of a pair of Great Horned Owls. I have been watching and photographing them for the past four days. This is the female (the larger) of the pair. She is about eight to ten inches taller than her mate. I was fortunate enough to hear them both vocalize, and watch them take flight. Unobstructed opportunities to photograph wild Great Horned Owls are few and far between, so I'm very happy with my photographs. Great Horned Owls are powerful predators that hunt almost exclusively by night. These birds can take incredibly large prey, sometimes as big as great blue herons, red-tailed hawks, fox, skunk, porcupines, marmots, and even smaller species of owl. As absolutely nothing hunts healthy adult Great Horned Owls, they are indeed - - apex predators.

Monmouth County
Middletown, New Jersey

January 10, 2010
Image size
512x677px 400.75 KB
Make
Canon
Model
Canon EOS 7D
Shutter Speed
1/332 second
Aperture
F/6.3
Focal Length
400 mm
ISO Speed
400
Date Taken
Jan 10, 2010, 9:42:10 AM
© 2010 - 2024 Ryser915
Comments57
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Swordtemper's avatar
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Overall
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Vision
:star::star::star::star-empty::star-empty: Originality
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Technique
:star::star::star::star::star-empty: Impact

What can I say ? To photograph an owl like this one at bright daylight is probably the dream of every wildlife photographer. I have myself never seen a wild owl, let alone photographed one.
Focus seems to be just right, the depth of field is at F/6.3 sufficient to cover the whole bird but still shallow enough to isolate it from the branches in the background. The detail on the feathers is perfectly visible. The sidelighting illuminates the right side of the owl while the left side is in the shadow. This looks good, only thing I don't like is that the upper half of the right eye is also in the shade. Composition is also fine and the high size gives this majestic bird the space it needs. The bokeh in the background looks a bit unsettled and is slightly distracting in my opinion but that's not your fault. To sum up I can only say you did a really good job here and I hope I'll ever have the opportunity to take a shot like this one !