To me this is one of those "so near so far" images, where the image hasn't quite worked. The DOF is extremely narrow, and the point of focus appears to be just above the beak area, leaving the left eye just a little soft and the right eye very soft indeed. The eyes themselves are very dark and half hooded, hiding them even more, which is a shame as on these birds the eyes can be reall attention grabbers. I also feel a little burst of soft fill in flash would help bring some of the detail out, and add a nice catchlight in the eye.
I think had I been taking this I would have done what ever it took to get the owl to turn round and look at me, used a softened burst of fill in flash and either gone in closer to just get the eyes filling the frame, or further out to pick up a little more of the bird.
Hi Bjorn, superb array of details, and a great close up photo. I was about to suggest to get in even closer, when I noticed the other upload, which is basically the embodiment of what I was about to say.
Eventhough it's brillantly captured, the eye looks as if it'ss either about to close or to open, and the composition is a bit static, IMO. By zooming in, you prevented that nicely, and managed to preserve the details, which I find even more impressive. Very good photo.
I might have pulled back some, for a wider shot which also had more of the owl in focus. If one had the detail, they could also crop in, later. There's some loss of range, and a diffused fill flash might have gotten more. The quarter angle pose is fine. The exposure seems slightly dark, but that can change with the monitor one uses, so that's more a matter of taste.
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{K:8529} 5/22/2006