First, I want to thank every one for their comments re; my posting of the Saw-whet Owl yesterday. Your feedback and comments are much appreciated.

Secondly, an explanation as to how the images of yesterday and the above image were composed might be useful.

When my file designation contains two numbers as in the above image (058, 227) then it means that I've used at least some part of each image to arrive at the final image. This is most useful when lighting conditions on a subject vary considerably or when parts of the subject are obscured by branches etc..

As in yesterday's posting, the top of the Owl was in the shadows and the bottom, or tail area, was bathed in a ray of bright sunshine filtering through the branches. In these situations I often take several shots, some focusing and metering on the face and eyes (shadow areas) and some focusing and metering on the tail (bright areas)using "Spot" metering. I then combine the images in Photoshop. In the case of these images, I cloned the area of the second image below the diagonal branch on which the Owl is perched, onto and over the overexposed area of the first image. I then do my cropping and adjustments for shadows, hi-lites and sharpening.

Presently, the top image is the result of combining the two images below. The images below are as shot with no treatment except for reduction in size.


As shot primary image. Note the blown-out, hi-lited, area in the lower part of the image.


As shot secondary image. Note that by borrowing the lower area from this, not so nice, image and imposing it on the second image, an improved image results.