Yeah, this great horned owl reflects my mood on the start of the workweek. 😉
Absolutely insane detail on this image with lots to take in but, I admit, I cheated. Unlike 99% of other creatures I share here, this one is a captive bird. Every few years I will participate in a raptor photo shoot as I did this past weekend.
These are good opportunities to work on technique and test out some gear that I don’t always use. As the animal is not going anywhere, I have time to experiment with exposures, compositions and lenses to see what works and then can apply that in the field on wild creatures.
The raptors at these events cannot be released into the wild, oftentimes due to injury or because they were ‘imprinted’ on humans early on. In this case, this owl has a damaged wing which prevents it from flying and thus would not survive without care.
Thank you to HawkQuest and Mike’s Camera for putting on the event.