It had been a week since I had gone out looking for Great Gray Owls. While most people might think the conditions at sunup were poor (heavy overcast skies, light winds, and intermittent snow squalls), I thought they were idea. Given Great Grays hunt using their hearing, and are a nocturnal bird I was happy with the low light.

I found the same bird I visited last Sunday, and worked at getting photographs that reflected the lighting. Flight shots were a dream, but capturing the snow was very desirable. Thankfully, owls are one of the few bird species that will stand completely motionless which allows for long exposures.

1/6 the of a second shutter speed … Snow Squall Owl (using a monopod … hand held would have been almost impossible in this low light … camera shake)

The camera settings which yielded the image show above also netted lots of blurry pics. Thus, I shortened up the shutter speed to 1/50th of a second (6+ times faster than the photo immediately above … no more long snow streaks / paths)

Finally, here are a few images of the same bird from last Sunday … also ideal conditions with a bit more light.

Remember, consider what you want to accomplish with your photographs before choosing camera settings. I wanted snow tracks, but knew any movement on the part of me or the owl would ruin the image. I then tweaked the camera settings, but always knew flight shots were totally impossible.