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Whooo woke me up?
A photographer gets the shot after getting a little help from man’s best friend
Published: December 22, 2011  SNOWY ROOST: Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio), Brecksville Reservation, Brecksville, Ohio, March 6, 2011, at 2:10 p.m., by Daniel Behm
They had found a red-morph Eastern Screech-Owl
dozing in a tree cavity and wanted a photo of the bird with its eyes
open. After setting up their equipment far enough away to keep from
disturbing the nocturnal bird’s afternoon slumber, and also to keep the
owl at eye level in their lenses, they waited. But the owl only teased
by peeking at them. Temps around 30°F soon made Behm’s knees shake, but
he and the others did not give in to the temptation to wake the bird.
Little
did it or the photographers know that a group of dogs was approaching.
Suddenly, their barks shattered the woods’ quiet. The screech-owl
stirred, and Behm snapped the image at right. |
Equipment used
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM, Canon 1.4x teleconverter
Tripod: Gitzo GT3541LS with Wimberley II gimbal head
Settings: ISO 640, 1/160, f/9, self timer, manual exposure, evaluative metering, auto white balance, AI Servo AF, AF micro adjustment 20, focal distance 840mm
Light: Overcast skies, no flash
Format: RAW converted to TIF
Adjustments: RAW converted to TIF in Adobe Photoshop CS4. Mild levels, curves, image quality, and contrast adjustments.
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Meet the photographer
FRIEND OF BIRDS: Daniel Behm, seen here with his equipment, is a magazine subscriber and a contributor to our online photo galleries and forums. He first gained an appreciation for wildlife as a bow hunter but soon began photographing animals instead of hunting them. He lives in Richfield, Ohio, where he works as a HVAC contractor.
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