![\"barn-owl-9957-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/barn-owl-9957-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nAs I was leaving the area the bird was waiting for me on a sign post right next to the water. This meant that the\u00a0owl was side-lit and I was frustrated by that to the point that I almost drove right into the damned\u00a0water in an effort to improve my light angle! At this angle it\u00a0was\u00a0nearly impossible to get light in the right eye and this is one of the few times I did. After this shot I\u00a0adjusted my ISO to lower my shutter speed but I never got light in that eye again while my extender was attached.<\/p>\n
The owl was extremely relaxed in my presence and I spent quite a while photographing it while it was perched but what I wanted most was flight shots. The best chance\u00a0for that was if\/when another vehicle approached from the north and flushed the bird so I removed my extender and waited to see what might happen.\u00a0I knew my\u00a0chances of getting any light in the\u00a0eye\u00a0after the bird took off were virtually nil but miracles do\u00a0happen so I waited patiently.<\/p>\n
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Sadly, there were no miracles. When another vehicle eventually\u00a0came along and flushed the owl I was able to get multiple takeoff and flight shots but none of them had significant light in the visible right\u00a0eye. However I do like the arch of the wings, the complementary colors of owl and grasses and the bicolored background (the upper background is the nearby Wasatch Mountains). I think the softness of the wingtips is due more to depth of field than it is to shutter speed.<\/p>\n It’s been a long time since I’ve photographed a Barn Owl (perched or in flight) so it was still a great morning at Farmington,\u00a0catch light or not.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three days ago I stopped and talked to friend Jerry Ellison along the refuge road at Farmington and he informed me he’d photographed a cooperative Barn Owl at dawn.<\/p>\n![\"barn-owl-0140-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/barn-owl-0140-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 320, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n