Focused

This image, for me, highlights one of the beauties of the Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve - our ability to have unlimited high quality close encounters with the wild animals that call the reserve home. In this image, we see a magnificent extreme close up of a Spotted Eagle Owl which was so relaxed with our presence that it sat perched upon a branch less than three feet away from the vehicle, even with us moving around in the vehicle this beautiful Owl stayed put and was not fazed by our admiring presence in the slightest.

Equipment used

• Camera – Canon 7Dmkii
• Lens and Focal length – Sigma 150-600mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary at 600mm

Settings used to capture this image

• ISO 640 – This is a very low ISO compared to most night photography but this was due to our proximity to the owl as well as the excellent lighting provided by being so close.
• Aperture f/(6.3) – On the Sigma lens this is the lowest possible aperture achievable and I used this so as to gather as much light as possible. It would have also been possible to have put this up to f8 to have had an even sharper image while simultaneously raising the ISO.
• Shutter 1/400 - This being a night shot, the general rule of 1/focal length has been broken due to a lower light situation. 1/400 though is fast enough on most modern lenses aided with vibration control to avoid camera shake.

Editing used on this image

All I have done to this image is raised the highlights, whites and clarity a little bit as well as dropped shadows and blacks so as to introduce a little more contrast to the image, sharpening has also been added with the detail slider to 0 so as to preserve the fine detail of the feathers.