A Noisy Picture or No Picture… Making a Choice

We have reached that time of year when short-eared owls may or may not be seen. If we are lucky enough to see them, the owls are most likely going to be observed just before dark. And when the day is like today, with very little sunlight, the difference between day and dusk is hardly perceptible.

Before the owls even took flight tonight I was fumbling with my camera to adjust my ISO (sensitivity) higher. High ISO settings result in increased noise in the images. But without a higher ISO setting, you would be very lucky to record any photos that are slightly sharp enough to share. So, high ISO it was for me today.

None of the pictures shared today are exceptional. The noise levels are so high that I nearly deleted the images. But, each picture does show a short-eared owl and for some folks a noisy picture of a short-eared owl is close as they might get to seeing one.

I will continue to watch for the owls, but under better light conditions. To be continued… (I hope)