Birds Burrowing Owl in-flight for Rush Fans

[Jake Shoots Birds]

Shot some Burrowing Owls over the weekend. This shot was from yesterday morning. I was aimed at another pair when this guy took off from a post at the rear of the burrow area and flew right at me. Apparently he didn't like me and aggressively passed me at head level, staring at me the entire time. I was shooting with the R7 and 100-400mm since my 100-500mm was on my R5 shooting video (more on that in a separate post) and had the camera at 1/640s not expecting flight. I'm thankful it grabbed it, and I'm thankful for Topaz Sharpen AI that saved it (more below). I've had more than a few Rush fans comment on its similarity to a certain album cover.

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[Jake Shoots Birds]

I mentioned Topaz Sharpen AI. When I pulled the image in I was thrilled with the capture, but then disappointed when the shutter speed didn't quite freeze the image. I'm sharing this if only to assuage a bit of the guilt I'm feeling for sharing something like this knowing it didn't come out of the camera that way. I don't use Sharpen that often, only to try and "save" near misses. I was more than a little impressed with how it handled this. Here's the in-program before and after:

 

[Tim Mayo]

Really awesome shot Jake! Sharpen AI has saved a few of my shots as well.