Photo Of The Day 8/8/2012

The current Assignment is a call for bird photographs. When it comes to wildlife the vast majority of the submissions I receive at OP HQ are photos and how-to ideas about birds. Steve Perry submitted this portrait of a pair of owls to the new Birds Assignment and it’s my pick for Photo Of The Day. The intensity in the eye, the framing, the background and the light all come together in the photo.

Steve Perry describes how he made this image, “Description: Burrowing Owls just might be my very favorite bird! The adults are small, coming in just a bit bigger than your hand. However, they are chock-full of attitude and always seem quite fearless. They actually nest by burrowing into the ground and are, if you can forgive the pun, a hoot to watch! Anyhow, we found these guys in Cape Coral FL and I was actually having a pretty great time photographing mom when I see this little head slowly rise up from the burrow! As the little owlet grew “taller” right before my eyes, I quickly made a minor change in camera position and captured the two of them together. The moment only last a few seconds, then mom hopped a few steps too far away, but luckily that was all that was needed to grab this shot.”

The Birds Assignment is open now. You can see all of the submissions and check out all of the other Assignment galleries here. I select a Photo Of The Day everyday. Images come from the OP Galleries like Your Favorite Places, Assignments and the contest galleries. You can see more of my Photo Of The Day selections on the OP Blog.