{"id":80205,"date":"2020-01-02T06:10:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-02T13:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=80205"},"modified":"2020-01-02T06:32:34","modified_gmt":"2020-01-02T13:32:34","slug":"male-common-goldeneye-and-an-illusion-of-softness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/02\/male-common-goldeneye-and-an-illusion-of-softness\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Common Goldeneye And An Illusion Of Softness"},"content":{"rendered":"

In bird photography a variety of factors can cause our birds to appear soft when they’re actually sharp or at least sharper than they appear to be.<\/p>\n

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1\/6400, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

This photo of a male Common Goldeneye was taken two years ago at a local pond. In some ways I suppose it’s a rather pedestrian shot, a duck on the water, ho-hum, but he’s a colorful and handsome duck and I like how I caught him passing through the dark reflection on the water.<\/p>\n

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Each of us has our own methodology for judging sharpness in photos. Typically the first thing I check is the eye. Most photographers agree that the eye is the most important thing to get sharp – in fact most of us instinctively place our active focus point on the eye when we’re taking the photo. But what if the eye is actually sharper than it appears to be?<\/p>\n

In my experience the pupils of some duck species with colorful irises (both species of goldeneyes are prime examples) have less than crisp margins within the iris. The edges of the pupil are somewhat diffuse within the iris so there’s no way to get those margins crisp and sharp. When I look at this goldeneye’s eye it appears slightly (it’s subtle) soft, in part because the pupil isn’t sharply defined, but the rest of his head is actually reasonably sharp as is the rest of his body. The “problem” becomes even more acute in closeups.<\/p>\n

But in the case of this particular photo there’s something else going on that contributes to the apparent softness of the eye. It may be difficult to see at this resolution but there’s actually two tiny catch lights in his eye – one at the top edge of his pupil (originating directly from the sun) and a smaller one at the bottom edge of his pupil (a reflection off of the water).<\/p>\n

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When I crop more tightly on the bird both catch lights become much easier to see. Each of them contributes to the apparent softness of the eye because they interrupt the margins of the pupil making it even less distinct.<\/p>\n

Different species exhibit other traits that contribute to apparent (false) softness in their plumage rather than their eyes. For example, fine detail can be difficult to see in the feathers of many owls because their feather structure is unusually fine. If we can’t see fine detail our brain can interpret it as softness. Among photographers both species of waxwings (Cedar and Bohemian) are notorious for the same thing.<\/p>\n

All this is likely far more than many of my readers want to know about judging sharpness but it’s important to me so I decided to run with it.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n