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Camouflaged
Camouflaged
carofo


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Birds II (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Sony DSLR-A700
Lens: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DL Macro Super for Minolta
Location: Ecomuseum in Ste.Anne.de.Bellevue, QC Canada
Date: Jan 26, 2008
Aperture: f5.6
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/125
Galleries: Animals
Date Uploaded: Jan 27, 2008

 Shot of a snow owl, taken at a shelter that takes care of wounded birds. This little male had his right wing so badly wounded that they had to amputate it. That's why he doesn't look too symetrical.

PP:
In Lightroom from RAW:
-adjust exposure and WB
-clone bits of food and poop lying around the bird
-adjust luminance of orange and yellow to make the eyes pop more
Then in CS3:
-Levels on a separate layer to lighten the shadows on the right side
-Layer in multiply mode to deepen the shadows on the left of the bird, near the tail
- adjust contrast on the eyes to further enhance them
-dodge & burn on a 50% overlay layer
-flatten
-USM
-border
-save for web
-USM again
-then adjustments with various layers to make him stand out against the white BG but not so much that I lost the high key effect I was going for.

****************
Post-challenge:
First I have to say thank you to all those who commented. I got 31 comments (and 3 faves!!)during the challenge, which is the highest I ever got. it shows my entry was not leaving anyone indifferent - thank you!Well, this was certainly a high scoring challenge. I have to admit I was expecting a higher result than this. BUT it's still a personnal best by 0.80 so there's improvement (and motivation to do better!).

I think some people were put off by the fact that the snow is nearly blown out. On calibrated screens (mine and that of 2 friends), the snow and feathers retain detail and the histogram shows only a very small area of clipped highlights, close to the rock on the left. I knew I was taking a risk about this. I don't regret it one bit!

Statistics
Place: 32 out of 251
Avg (all users): 6.6000
Avg (commenters): 7.7500
Avg (participants): 6.4242
Avg (non-participants): 6.7568
Views since voting: 2171
Views during voting: 419
Votes: 210
Comments: 34
Favorites: 5 (view)

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AuthorThread
 02/04/2008 12:18:29 AM
Unbelievable. I am now looking through the entries trying to find the final placement for some of the shots that I was concerned were going to beat mine. This was one of those shots. I thought you might take the blue ribbon with this one and I am very surprised that it didn't finish higher. I really, really like this shot. Very nice and unique entry.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/04/2008 12:17:20 AM
Great picture, congrats
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/04/2008 12:06:35 AM
Darn. I thought this would do better.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
02/03/2008 02:26:03 PM
Awesome job on a really tough exposure.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/03/2008 12:04:32 PM
How can someone not love this shot? Great lighting not letting the white get blown out. I love the way the bird seems to disappear into the his surroundings. One of my favorite photos of the challenge. Great job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/03/2008 04:37:31 AM
bit daring 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/03/2008 02:49:55 AM
dang there it is
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/02/2008 05:02:38 PM
Awesome! I love the eyes. Is this a zoo shot?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/02/2008 12:20:07 PM
wow, I wish I could get that close. But it's totally blown out with no detail at all. I did hold my hand over the rock and with that gone it looks kinda cool. But with the rock there it just looks over-exposed.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2008 08:35:19 PM
Tough conditions to not blow out sections and get detail in others. Snow owl I presume. I think I'd have shot really tight on the head with focus on the eye. May not have been possible in this situation though. Overall good shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2008 04:57:32 PM
Very, very nice natural capture (sure hope so anyway) - as difficult as I am sure this is/was, wish I could discern some detail in the owl. Frame works but dominates a bit too much in my opinion. Also would like to have seen this 720, if the quality was there. The feet are my favorite part of the image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2008 03:34:36 PM
OMG! I am in love!! Simply perfect! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2008 01:13:07 PM
Not very often is something really spectacular. WOW
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2008 01:06:38 PM
Perfect exposure! The owl(?) seems ready to attack with those claws.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2008 09:28:24 AM
Great. Maybe crop the rock?7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/31/2008 12:04:43 PM
Wow!! What an interesting shot!!! You can barely see this little guy!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2008 06:25:46 PM
Excellent high-key image. Nice job!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2008 02:04:18 PM
And camouflaged he is! It does not stand out well fro the background, but then, that's the point.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2008 10:23:55 AM
Clever iddea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2008 10:14:24 AM
Outstanding (in a camouflaged sort of way). 9.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2008 12:09:08 AM
Great concept that could've been carried a bit better with added detail in the snow and feathers. Not sure I like the downward POV. A different one may have eliminated the gray shape coming out of the bird's head.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2008 09:57:07 PM
nice shot but it is very hard to see the Bird against the snow
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2008 08:44:57 PM
Beautiful!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2008 02:02:36 PM
Beautiful!!! Perfect 10 - Blue ribbon
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2008 12:58:02 PM
How awesome! definate poster quality. Please let us know where and how you got this shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2008 12:34:04 PM
My goodness, what an awesome shot! I hope you ribbon with this!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2008 07:16:56 AM
You may get hammered for blowing the whites, but this wouldn't be NEARLY as cool if you hadn't! And this is way cool.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 04:10:33 PM
One of my faves of the challenge. Love how he dissappears into the background. Works well. Not too keen on the border, a bit too thick and much. Still bumping up to 9.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 04:07:48 PM
where do you people find these guys??? awesome !
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 03:28:54 PM
Wow, it really blends in. I have only ever seen Snowy Owls in the summer (at a nature preserve here) and they have spots then. This is a wonderful composition.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 02:01:27 PM
good shot 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 08:27:12 AM
Very nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 05:49:45 AM
Beutiful
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 05:44:10 AM
very well composed and shot. frame doesn#t really match the image - why not go for thin black and bold white?
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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