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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eighty-three: Impressions of the Galapagos – an extended photo-essay > Barn Owl, El Chato. Santa Cruz Island. The Galapagos. Ecuador, 2012
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25-JUN-2012

Barn Owl, El Chato. Santa Cruz Island. The Galapagos. Ecuador, 2012

The Barn Owl is a nocturnal bird, and is seen primarily only at night. But our naturalist/guide found this one hiding in a storage shed next door to the restaurant on El Chato Plantation where we had just had lunch. She illuminated the owl with her flashlight for me and I was able to make this photograph by using a very high sensor sensitivity rating (ISO 1600), which allowed me to use a relatively fast shutter speed of 160th of a second to avoid blur due to camera shake. I focused on its distinctive face, noted for the heart shaped facial disk. It was hiding behind a pile of old lighting fixtures, which I place out of focus here.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2
1/160s f/5.0 at 128.0mm iso1600 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis18-Sep-2012 21:25
The eyes are made so expressive by the mask that nature has given these owls. The lighting helps emphasize them as well, particularly the small catchlights in both pupils. Thanks for observing this, Iris.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)18-Sep-2012 19:46
Wonderful portrait....such expressive eyes.
Phil Douglis03-Aug-2012 20:06
That patch of light is the concentrated beam of our naturalist's flashlight. The owl's eyes were already wide open when we entered the storage shed. There were actually two owls in the shed -- I have a hunch that they usually hang out here during the day, because our naturalist knew just where to find them.
Carol E Sandgren03-Aug-2012 04:56
I love how the patch of light falls on the owl's face, as if awakening him from a drowsy sleep. Your high ISO certainly paid off with this fine image!
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