dave sproul Loc: Tucson AZ

I appreciate critique and comments. I use them to further my photography learning journey.
To reduce transmission clutter, I wish to thank all who provide a critique and comments in advance.
Thank you.

Stare Down

(Download)

Racin17 Loc: Western Pa

Good shot.... to me its an enjoyable shot to view. Simple good colors. Could use a little background contrast imho.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

Wonderfully sharp image of this captive owl. My only criticism is the lost detail in some of the white feathers. Perhaps its just a tad underexposed.

conkerwood

Facial features, eyes and beak are sharp. The stare is captivating and compelling. Its a very powerful pic but a couple of thoughts. The crop doesn't seem quite right. By cutting off the bottom half at a point where the bird is very wide you tend to lose any sense of the implied true shape of the bird. If you were going to crop to focus on the stare then it might be worth cropping even tighter and just including the head and neck. Or don't crop at all and include the whole bird. But the halfway decision doesn't feel quite right to my eye. My only other thought concerns the two feather tufts on the head. They seem strangely blurred at the top which I find a little distracting when the rest of the bird is so sharp. But these are just my thoughts, others may disagree.

I hope this helps.

Peter

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Nice capture.
What a face!

Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

I thought the background green had an incorrect color not sure. Only you know. In Lightroom I took the saturation down, I also closed up some of the shadows. To me color now looks more natural overall and the background is not interfering with the owl. I also thought the owl had too much yellow and these changes helped. I didn't send the picture with this response, didn't want to send it if I was off on my color assumptions.

Nightski

Yes .. great crop Douglass ... but did you forget the rules in this section again? :roll:

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

This is a beautiful image Dave.
Technically close to perfect, great subject, and admirable composition.
Get rid of the sharpening or noise control flecks in the background to let the bokeh shine through properly and you have it nailed.
The feather detail is wonderful and the piercing cold glare grabs the attention perfectly.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Hi, Dave,
A really good GHO portrait.
The straight-on gaze practically demands a crop from the right to center the head.
In the download there is a bit of C.A. at the free margins of the bright white (possibly clipped?) frontal edge feathers...possibly reparable in pp. The CA is prob. not discernible at NVD, but might be after the crop to center the face.

Best regards,
Dave Graham

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

I realized after hurredly finishing that response that some of those acronyms may not be familiar to everyone!
My apologies.

GHO great horned owk (birder jargon)
CA= chromatic abberation ( that red or blue fringe at the edge of bright or dark objects)
pp = post-exposure processing
NVD= normal viewing distance

Dave in SD