{"id":106188,"date":"2022-01-15T06:02:09","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T13:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=106188"},"modified":"2022-01-15T06:31:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-15T13:31:32","slug":"mr-fathead-meets-mr-pinhead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/15\/mr-fathead-meets-mr-pinhead\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Fathead Meets Mr. Pinhead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nothing serious today. Just a little fun, except for another observation about heat waves\/temperature disparity affecting image quality and sharpness. That part is serious, at least for me.<\/p>\n<p>I’m still on a reflections roll.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"106006\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/11\/adult-male-common-goldeneye-aka-mr-fathead\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D Mark II","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1641808692","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"800","shutter_speed":"0.00015625","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"common goldeneye 7891b ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-106006 size-full\" title=\"common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/common-goldeneye-7891b-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Readers will likely remember this photo of a male Common Goldeneye I posted four days ago. I had some fun at his expense by referring to him as “Mr. Fathead” because of his enlarged head in the reflection. I suspect a few folks may have been a little uncomfortable with that name, perhaps because they thought I was being cruel and insensitive. One comment suggested that I should have called him “Mr. Big Head” instead. Personally I think it was just harmless fun and I’m about to do something like it again.<\/p>\n<p>The size of the goldeneye’s head was distorted in the reflection by the curved surface of the water in the bow wave in front of him. The effect is similar to what happens with a funhouse mirror. In this case the head was enlarged but it can go either way.<\/p>\n<p>And it did, earlier that same morning.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"106190\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/15\/mr-fathead-meets-mr-pinhead\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D Mark II","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1641808498","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"800","shutter_speed":"0.0002","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"pied-billed grebe 7796 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-106190 size-full\" title=\"pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7796-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Meet “Mr. Pinhead”.<\/p>\n<p>When I first saw this photo I literally laughed out loud. In this pose the Pied-billed Grebe looked to me like ‘he’ was trying to appear dignified but the reflection of his head completely destroyed any such illusion, at least for me. Reflections can be flattering or mercilessly unflattering and this grebe came out on the short end of the stick.<\/p>\n<p>The irony is, milliseconds before and after I took this photo, his reflections only enhanced his rather statuesque pose and in those photos I thought he was one handsome dude. Reflections matter.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"106189\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/15\/mr-fathead-meets-mr-pinhead\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"RON DUDLEY","camera":"Canon EOS 7D Mark II","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1641807089","copyright":"","focal_length":"700","iso":"800","shutter_speed":"0.00025","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"pied-billed grebe 7550 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-106189 size-full\" title=\"pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A few minutes earlier this grebe, probably the same bird as in the previous photo, caught and ate a fish. He was so far away I very nearly didn’t take any photos of him. Until that morning most of my photos had been soft, apparently due to differential contraction and expansion of the components of my lens when I poked it out my warm pickup window into the very cold air. The image quality of my photos taken from my pickup, especially when the subject was far away, had consistently been atrocious.<\/p>\n<p>But on this day I was shooting from my tripod, so my lens and the ambient air were the same temperature and I was getting tack sharp shots. This photo has been cropped to only 30% of the original image (6 MP out of 20 MP) and I think, given how much I’ve cropped the photo, the image quality and sharpness are very good to excellent.<\/p>\n<p>I can’t tell you how relieved I was to get it pretty much confirmed that there’s nothing wrong with my lens. The last thing I need is to have to send it back to Canon for repair. Again.<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nothing serious today. Just a little fun, except for another observation about heat waves\/temperature disparity affecting image quality and sharpness. That part is serious, at least for me. (3 photos)<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/15\/mr-fathead-meets-mr-pinhead\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,6,334,376,392,359],"tags":[91,6125,251,6124,6126,311],"class_list":["post-106188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-oddities","category-bird-photography-methods","category-birds","category-common-goldeneyes","category-feeding-bird-behaviors","category-pied-billed-grebes","tag-common-goldeneye","tag-fish-prey","tag-pied-billed-grebe","tag-reflection-distortion","tag-soft-photos-caused-by-cold-temperatures","tag-utah-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pied-billed-grebe-7550-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-rCI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106188"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106215,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106188\/revisions\/106215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}