My Avatar: the Northern Saw-whet Owl

In case anyone is interested, here's a little background to my avatar. This little fellow was captured in a mistnet at night a couple of months ago by birdbanders on Pelee Island in Lake Erie, Canada. The banders were trapping owls in migration and putting numbered aluminum bands on their legs so that when they get recaptured someday, scientists will know where they came from. 

I got permission to take a couple of quick shots before the banders released the bird. I had prepared beforehand by assembling a lightweight and simple lighting kit with only one flash mounted in a small softbox to soften the light. I held the flash above the bird and to the left in the same way that Rembrandt would have lit one of his portraits. The wireless flash is triggered by a transmitter mounted on my camera (Sony a6000 camera, 50mm lens, Yongnuo YN-560-TX II Manual flash controller, and Yongnuo flash YN-560 IV).