My last post of the Barred Owl from the Carolina Raptor Center Shoot was an exercise in getting a decent image from an exposure taken in seriously difficult conditions. The resulting raw file took a significant amount of fine tuning and careful balancing of contrast and color to produce an image that looked like the bird that was on display.
Today's image was shot on the same day, at the same location, but an hour and forty five minutes earlier. This shot required the absolute bare minimum of processing. Just a slight crop of the right side of the image, and a little fine tune of the contrast curves which was probably not even needed. So what's the difference? This shot was in open shade, the soft light is from the morning sky at 8:05 am. Taken at f/2.8 it metered 1/50th for shutter speed, but the Owl was relaxed and still. I used the Sigma 70-200 which is a nice crisp lens if you take the time to manual focus and nail the rather shallow depth of feel just right. Since the bird was relaxed, the time to be precise with focus was not a problem. This lens produces excellent bokeh in this type of situation. I did take the time to maneuver around to a spot where there were no bright pools of light in the background. The morning light filtered though the forest a big help here.
So there you have it, once in awhile the planets align just the right way and all you have to do is click the shutter. It really helps to have a fast lens to take maximum advantage when that happens. So would I trade my big and heavy f/2.8 for a light weight, easy to carry f/4? Not going to happen.
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