Screech Owl Update-July 7

[Irene]

it is almost one month I have been watching the owls grow

I went out last night to see them and only two of them showed up for me, they were cute, still having trouble landing in trees and noisy as all heck when they do, I guess finding their balance is going to take some time
here's some shots from last night, I seem to have hit the "blue hour" so the sky turned out a strange blue color, I also tried video but it was too dark and grainy so I deleted the video (need a tripod for that next time!)

enjoy

Irene

Hard Landing:


Guess who!


This shot clearly shows the mouth of the owl-still looking like a "feed me!!" beak

[mr.sharp-photo]

awesome pics.
yeah, you'll need a tripod or to jack the ISO up to high hell

[Irene]

Thanks Richard, thing is if i jack the iso up there is so much noise in the photos...hard to fix later

[Greg Schneider]

You could also use your flash as the main source of illumination. For me (Canon) I shoot in manual mode, with shutter speed somewhere below sync (1/200 or 1/250 depending on model), and medium-high ISO. Ensure the flash is NOT in high-speed sync, and adjust from there. This will certainly take quite a bit more battery life, and you probably don't want to overdo it with a nocturnal creature.

[Irene]

Thanks Greg, I have been playing around with the flash settings, using puffers/diffusers etc....but don't want to take too many shots in fear of blinding the poor owls, one time one of them landed on the grass next to us and I was freaked out, but he wasn't blinded just going for a nice big fat juicy june bug!!

[polycracker]

Isn't the use of flash on Owls frowned upon in the world of good birders and photographers?  Just asking.   :?