There is an owl that visits us every once in a while. This is the first time I’ve tried to photograph it though. Unfortunately, I was not ready for it. Fortunately, I learned a lot about the shot I want and will be better prepared next time.
The first hurdle was lighting, I ran into the problem of not wanting to use my flash. I figured I would scare it off if I did. So, I was left to handholding long exposures at first. Too blurry! Solution A, I got out my tripod. But I soon found that the owl didn’t want to hold still for long exposures even if my camera was still. Solution B, a flashlight didn’t scare it off, but lighting up the power lines along with the owl didn’t make for a great shot. Alternatives: Using a flashlight might produce a good looking shot if I’m prepared with my longer lens and can get close-up enough to cut the power lines out of the picture. I could also crop it, but the low light brings out the noise more on a crop.
The second hurdle was focusing in such low light. It was easier when the owl was lit up with a flashlight, but without it, I was guessing and trying to manual focus. Next time I’ll try my 50mm f/1.4 lens and see if it able to focus better.
The best picture I ended up is one that I want to improve on next time.
ISO 250, 145mm, f/2.8, 1.0 sec
I still like the shot, but the 1.0 second exposure left the owl’s edges a little blurry. I think it would have been a great shot if the moon was sharp as well as the owl. The only way that would ever happen though is to have a very small aperture and a very still owl for an even longer exposure. Or maybe I’ll take an additional photo with the moon in in focus and blend the two shots together to make one photo with both the owl and the moon in focus. That sounds like an easier plan to me versus relying on the owl to sit still for 20 or 30 seconds.
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