north american birds Northern Saw Whet Owl Carmel

This is a straight shot with some fill-in. I'd appreciate comments on

the best ways to improve the image, maybe lighten a touch?

Cheers,

Doug

Nice wildlife image.  I played with it just for a second.  I threw it into P/S bridge and clicked on automatic, adjusted the highlights and increased the fill.  Did it get any more to your liking?

Jerry

Thinking perhaps you wanted the stems of the tree to be dark, I took the above and put it in Nik Filters and darkened the outer rim.

Jerry

I get an impression of the shot being taken late evening (or perhaps early morning) and I quite like the idea that the owl being a nocturnal creature might stand out better with his surroundings darkened rather than lightened, so maybe some subtle selective lighting of the owl in conjunction with a dark vignette?

The larger view is very impressive!

Best Regards

Alf

Thank you folks. You've all given me some good places to start to work with the image.  Actually it was early afternoon (like 3:00 pm), but I do like your takes on this image.