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Re-visit To An Old Friend To Test DxO PureRAW 1.5

Back in 2016 I spent quite a few cold early mornings and evenings with a pair of wintering Short Eared Owls in Derbyshire in the UK. Some of the time I spent was far too dark to get some good shots due to having to shoot at too high an ISO.

Back then I was shooting with the Nikon D810 which was and still is a great camera today (it’s currently my backup camera), but high ISO wasn’t fantastic. Today I invested in the DxO PureRAW standalone software which “cleans” RAW files up before processing. I have been using DxO PhotoLab for sometime, however, I was only using it for it’s denoise capabilities and therefore PureRAW is a better fit.

So, I chose the following photograph to test the capabilities. My biggest issue with a lot of denoise software is that it makes the background unpleasing and detracts the viewer’s eye from where you are trying to force them to look, however, DxO PureRAW really makes a good job of the background.

I’m no mouthpiece for DxO, in fact, I had some words of dissapointment with them recently over the upgrade path of their PhotoLab software, but there is no doubt their PureRAW is something special.

(Click to view in Lightbox)


An Old Owl Friend Or a New One?

The local Little Owl I photographed earlier this year has been missing from it’s favourite perch on a dead tree stump for months. I have heard Little Owls in that area and simply put it down to the breeding season.

Last night we passed the tree stump on our way into the village and there was a Little Owl back on top.

This evening I decided to go and have a session with it, I arrived at the stump and the Owl was already sitting there, so turned to plan b. I drove away and prepared the car as a hide and then parked up close to the tree. I find that Little Owls can be approached in this way as long as they don’t see you. I had a camouflage net over the passenger window, a Photography Bean Bag over the top of the open window aperture with the camera resting on top. I managed to get some shots before it flew to various other trees as it was clearly hunting for it’s dinner. (the story continues below the photos)

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Little Owl - Mocho-galego - Athene noctua
📷 Nikon D850, AF-S 500mm f/4 @ 1/160sec, f/8, ISO100
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