![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/gray-catbird-8945-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"gray-catbird-8945-ron-dudley.\\"")
<\/p>\nMany photographers look down their noses at pixel peeping but I find it useful in at least two situations.<\/p>\n
Four days ago in the mountains I missed photographing some very interesting interactions between a couple of Gray Catbirds and an American Robin because I couldn’t quite shoot at that angle behind me from my pickup window. It was close so I tried but severe muscle cramps in my legs were the result (long story) so I had to abandon the attempt and just watch the exciting action I was unable to photograph.<\/p>\n
It was highly frustrating.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n One of the catbirds landing close to me on this barbed wire was my far from adequate consolation prize. ‘He’ was so close I couldn’t fit him comfortably in the frame so I switched to my smaller zoom lens for this and other similar shots.<\/p>\n But as I often do when a bird is close and I don’t like the perch or setting I decided to switch back to my big lens and take head shots. I’m a sucker for excellent detail in my photos, if for no other reason than to find out how sharp my photos really are and how well my lens is performing..<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, 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 is one of the results, cropped to less than 50% of the original image. As a bird nut and a biologist I’m always interested in feather structure and function so as soon as I saw this version of the photo I wondered how much feather detail I’d be able to see if I cropped in even tighter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n So I did, first on his head. I’m impressed by the feather detail and I enjoy actually seeing the rictal bristles at the base of his bill. And it isn’t often that we can see this much detail of the wear and tear on a wild bird’s utilitarian bill, despite the fact that the tip of his bill isn’t as sharp as the rest of his head.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even though his head is sharp it isn’t quite as sharp as some of his contour body feathers directly in front of the attachment of his left wing so I cropped in even tighter on that area in this version of the photo. This is actually what is defined as a ‘100% crop<\/a><\/span><\/span>‘.<\/p>\n Here we can see why feathers are such good insulators. They trap air in countless small spaces to stop convection currents so the 106\u00b0 F. body heat of birds is lost very slowly. There are many layers of these feathers, and air spaces, between the bird’s skin and the outside air so heat loss is kept to a minimum.<\/p>\n And when this photo was taken his feathers were held relatively flat against his body. When he fluffs his feathers in cold weather his insulating ‘R-value<\/a><\/span><\/span>‘ is increased dramatically.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In digital photography pixel peeping is defined as “the process of viewing an image at 100% (or greater) in order to examine pixels in minute detail, ostensibly with the intent of looking for pixel level defects.” Often pixel peeping is thought of in a derogatory manner because images are normally never seen at such great magnification but as a bird lover and biologist I often find pixel peeping useful because it allows me to see interesting detail that I’d otherwise miss.<\/p>\n And I’ll admit it – I also like to pixel peep occasionally just to see if my lens is performing as well as it’s capable of. That brute was expensive and if it isn’t performing as it should I could do just as well with a much cheaper piece of glass.<\/p>\n I don’t think I’ll be downgrading anytime soon.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – At the last minute I decided to include a full frame (uncropped) version of the photo so readers could get a better perspective on how much I cropped the three previous versions of the image.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many photographers look down their noses at pixel peeping but I find it useful in at least two situations.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/gray-catbird-6460-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"gray-catbird-6460-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/gray-catbird-6460-big-crop-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"gray-catbird-6460-big-crop-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/gray-catbird-6460-bigger-crop-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"gray-catbird-6460-bigger-crop-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/gray-catbird-6460-full-frame-ron-dudley-1.jpg\" "\\"gray-catbird-6460-full-frame-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n