Owl Season 2015
- Thread starter Bill Anderson
- Start date
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This is Terry's first owl season with his new 5D Mark III, he had been using his 7D previously. I told him to crank the upper limit of the auto ISO selection to the max (25600), as the 5DIII can handle the "noise" of high ISO settings much better than what he is used to getting from his 7D.
Thanks, Chad and Bill. And thanks bill for the correction (fixed). I was pretty much blown away by how little noise there was at iso 25600.
Thanks, Janice.
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photographmemories
New Member
I like the light on this one. I took this shot Monday in SW Portland as the sun was going down. Seems there was a haze acting as a filter for the sunlight.
Terry O
Well-Known Member
Barred Owl - Pine Ridge Park, Edmonds
Thanks to a call from Janine, Bill and I headed for Pine Ridge Park.
I'm sure Bill will be posting a few shots....here are my contributions. These were all taken with the Canon 5Diii and 400mm f5.6L hand held.
ISO 25600
ISO 6400
Thanks to a call from Janine, Bill and I headed for Pine Ridge Park.
I'm sure Bill will be posting a few shots....here are my contributions. These were all taken with the Canon 5Diii and 400mm f5.6L hand held.
ISO 25600
ISO 6400
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photographmemories
New Member
Wow! Keep up on this!
Looks like a first year male by the looks of the size, shape, big eyes and bright colored beak.
Again, nice profile pics!
Chad
Looks like a first year male by the looks of the size, shape, big eyes and bright colored beak.
Again, nice profile pics!
Chad
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Terry: it's a barred owl, not a Bard owl. Leave Shakespeare out of it. 
Thanks to Janine for the call. It is my first local owl of the year. Here are some of my shots, which aren't much different from Terry's. Janine said the owl had been flying around hunting squirrels prior to our arrival. Terry found an owl pellet and several droppings nearby, so the hunting must be good. The park is near my house and some years I hear the owls hooting at night in the spring.
5DIIII + 100-400L telephoto zoom
Grooming.
Thanks to Janine for the call. It is my first local owl of the year. Here are some of my shots, which aren't much different from Terry's. Janine said the owl had been flying around hunting squirrels prior to our arrival. Terry found an owl pellet and several droppings nearby, so the hunting must be good. The park is near my house and some years I hear the owls hooting at night in the spring.
5DIIII + 100-400L telephoto zoom
Grooming.
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This is Terry's first owl season with his new 5D Mark III, he had been using his 7D previously. I told him to crank the upper limit of the auto ISO selection to the max (25600), as the 5DIII can handle the "noise" of high ISO settings much better than what he is used to getting from his 7D.
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Terry O
Well-Known Member
Thanks, Chad and Bill. And thanks bill for the correction (fixed). I was pretty much blown away by how little noise there was at iso 25600.
Terry O
Well-Known Member
Great shots guys. It's going to be another banner year for owls.
Thanks, Janice.
Thursday afternoon (3/19) my son Daren and I returned to Pine Ridge Park to look for the barred (non-Shakespearean) owl. Daren thought he saw it and sure enough, it flew out over the service road and back into the trees. We spotted it perched on a low branch of a tree just off the service road. It turned to face me when it heard the click of my camera, but remained perched. I put my camera on silent shutter mode so as not to disturb the owl.
I am still impressed at how well the 5DIII handles five digit ISO settings as long as close-crops are not necessary.
I have taken hundreds of close up shots of barred owls. I thought it would be interesting to back off on the zoom to show how well the owl blends in with its surroundings.
The owl was hunting a Douglas' squirrel that kept giving away its position by emitting a distress call. I saw the owl unsuccessfully chasing the squirrel, but could not get any shots of the action. The owl changed trees as it pursued the squirrel.
The squirrel disappeared under this stump.
I am still impressed at how well the 5DIII handles five digit ISO settings as long as close-crops are not necessary.
I have taken hundreds of close up shots of barred owls. I thought it would be interesting to back off on the zoom to show how well the owl blends in with its surroundings.
The owl was hunting a Douglas' squirrel that kept giving away its position by emitting a distress call. I saw the owl unsuccessfully chasing the squirrel, but could not get any shots of the action. The owl changed trees as it pursued the squirrel.
The squirrel disappeared under this stump.
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Another squirrel was calling a short distance away from across the service road and on the other side of the fence around the retention pond.
The owl flew over to investigate, which gave me my only reasonably good flight shots from the photo session. I am glad the 5DIII has a full frame sensor, as the only way to get flight shots is to back off on the telephoto zoom, then crop the photos during post processing.
The owl flew over to investigate, which gave me my only reasonably good flight shots from the photo session. I am glad the 5DIII has a full frame sensor, as the only way to get flight shots is to back off on the telephoto zoom, then crop the photos during post processing.
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Terry O
Well-Known Member
Thanks, Terry and Rocky. It is very dark in the park and the day was overcast to boot. It is always the same dilemma photographing barred owls under the canopy of Doug firs in our local parks: poor lighting = high ISO settings, slow shutter speeds, and wide aperture settings, none of which are conducive to flight shots.
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fiznatty
Member
Good stuff, Bill.
I'll add another non-local owl to this thread, as I picked up my very first Barn Owl on a recent California trip. Hard to believe that I'd seen 20+ species of owls around the world, and the most common species--Barn owls are found worldwide--had eluded me until now.
Max
I'll add another non-local owl to this thread, as I picked up my very first Barn Owl on a recent California trip. Hard to believe that I'd seen 20+ species of owls around the world, and the most common species--Barn owls are found worldwide--had eluded me until now.
Max
I have mentioned in prior posts that my son Daren has finally taken an interest in taking photos. I have set him up with my 7D + 4.0/70-200L zoom. Monday (3/30) afternoon we caught one of the Yost Park barred owls taking a nap, the first time this year I have seen one of them.
Here are Daren's photos.
Here are Daren's photos.
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