![\"swainson's](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-4105-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNormally when I’m photographing birds\u00a0I pack it in when the sun gets too high in the sky because light becomes harsh and contrasty, shadows extreme and catch lights more difficult to get.\u00a0\u00a0I sometimes photograph\u00a0later in the day\u00a0during winter when the sun stays so much lower in the sky\u00a0but in summer I tend to quit about 10\u00a0am.\u00a0 Since I’m typically out there at dawn, by then I’ve had quite a few hours of shooting.\u00a0 And with raptors in particular there’s an additional reason for photographing\u00a0when the sun\u00a0is low in the sky\u00a0– it’s called the brow ridge.<\/p>\n
Sometimes when I’m on camping trips I push the limits of light angle and time by shooting later in the day\u00a0and take my chances because bird photography is the main reason I’m there and it may be months before I’m in the area again.\u00a0 That’s exactly what happened with this\u00a0adult Swainson’s Hawk in Montana’s Centennial Valley nine days ago.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/1600, f\/6.3. ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This\u00a0hawk\u00a0was close, it had prey and I liked the background (though the image is a little tight at bottom).\u00a0 But it was 10:52 in the morning\u00a0so the light was harsh which is particularly noticeable in the deep\u00a0shadows of the wing primaries and the brights on\u00a0the front of the lower legs.\u00a0 In processing I brought those brights down as much as I reasonably could but they’re still not ideal.<\/p>\n But the biggest problem I had with this bird was trying to get a catch light.\u00a0 I took quite a few photos of the hawk but because the sun was so high in the sky the eye was shaded\u00a0and in\u00a0most of those shots there was\u00a0no light in the eye when the bird was looking my way\u00a0so I deleted them.\u00a0 The only thing that saved me with this image was the fact that the hawk momentarily looked up into the sky at another bird which provided a proper angle for\u00a0some light in the eye.<\/p>\n This is even a bigger problem with raptors than it is with other species because of their\u00a0brow ridge above the eye.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Raptors have a heavy, bony ridge above the eye called the brow ridge that helps to protect their\u00a0eye from injury,\u00a0especially when they go after prey in brush or other vegetation.\u00a0 It also acts as a built-in baseball cap since it\u00a0helps to shade their eyes from the sun and that’s exactly what often prevents catch lights in photographs taken during mid-day.\u00a0 The brow ridge is also what gives raptors that scowling expression that makes them look so fierce.<\/p>\n If you look closely at this highly cropped version of the previous image you’ll see that I came very close to not getting a catch light, even with the head tilted toward the sun.\u00a0 Because of the brow ridge the upper part of the\u00a0relatively flat\u00a0iris inside the eye is shaded but due to the convex\u00a0bulge on the shiny cornea on the outside of the eye where the catch light is produced the cornea still had light on it (barely) so I got the sun’s reflection.\u00a0 Without the head-tilt I likely wouldn’t have.<\/p>\n In previous posts I’ve covered the importance of catch lights in bird photography<\/a>.\u00a0 Without them, viewers perceive the eye to be flat and lifeless.\u00a0 Most serious bird photographers typically delete bird images without light\u00a0in the eye, as do I unless the image demonstrates some interesting behavior or there’s some other reason to keep the photo.<\/p>\n All this may be much ado about nothing for some but it’s of primary importance to bird photographers…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note: It was a question about catch lights\u00a0in the comments on this post\u00a0<\/a>from Jorge H. Oliveira that\u00a0prompted me to do a post on this subject.\u00a0 Thanks, Jorge!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With raptors in particular there’s an additional reason for photographing when the sun is low in the sky – it’s called the brow ridge.<\/p>\n![\"swainson's](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-large-crop-4105-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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