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Pic of the Week #8

on Jan 16, 2017

Owl

Certain nocturnal species are quite difficult to see during a night time safari, and therefore more difficult to capture an image. Here I have photographed a Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl (also referred to as a Giant Eagle-Owl) Africa’s largest Owl species within a night time safari.

Kevan Dobbie Owl 1 Final

Not only can it be difficult to see at night with a clear shot, but the likelihood of getting close can be difficult as this species of Owl is usually seen near riparian fringe vegetation in large trees for roosting spots. What stood out for me in this image were the characteristics one can see on this species, the pink eyelids, and the general size of this nocturnal bird as well as the conspicuous ear tufts. The description of the face stands out clearly with the white facial disk rimmed with black. A species that status is least concerned on the IUCN Red List, however not a common sighting, although it is a highly adaptable species being capable of inhabiting a variety of environment.

Equipment used:

Camera – Canon 600D

Lens and Focal length – Canon-EF100-400mm f-4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 135mm

Settings I used in order to capture such image:

ISO – 6400 as the light was limited due to the time period being after sunset and the darkness was increasing.

Aperture of 8.0 in order to create great detail on the subject (Giant Eagle-Owl) and try to minimise the detail of the background in the darkness.

1/500 shutter speed, which is low for an action moving shot, but allows the perfect capture of light for such image based on the artificial lighting from the spot light received during an evening safari.

Potential Editing used on such image:

In order to create the best night time photograph, I conducted the editing in the way of dropping the darker colours and raising the lighter colours. The shadows and the black colours were more intense and the highlights and whites were increased along with the exposure to create a full effect and clarity on the subject only. By conducting editing like this, it blurs and darkens the background and allows the subject in the artificial light to stand out.

  • Pic of the week by Kevan Dobbie (Bush Lodge Ranger)
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