Barred Owl

I have been photographing a pair of owls for the  three previous years.  They return to the same spot each March and they are very cooperative.  The spot is in heavy evergreen forest area and it is quite dark in there but sun light streams through the trees.  It makes for complex lighting that is hard to photograph.  This year only one of the owls has returned thus far, but I am hoping the other arrives in near future.  I had previously deferred using a flash of any sort on the owls as I was afraid their eyes were sensitive and flash would scare them and maybe effect their eyesight.  Research on that over the past year showed that is a misguided conclusion.  A very good article written on it by Dr Dennis Olivero describes that is quite ok.  Click here for a link to the article. 

So-this time I tried some photographs with and without the better beamer for fill flash.  The better beamer images are evenly lit with no evidence of flash being used.  The shadows are gone and the fine detail of feathers is present. The exposure was set manually with flash turned off an then fill flash with values from -1/3 to +2 were used to get just right blend.

Until next time.

Jim Borden

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