The importance of light direction

[kenpossum]

While at the Blue Heron Reserve last week, I took a series of photos of a Common Yellowthroat. (east of the main building, half way to the blind). I liked this image but saw the eye was lost in the surrounding black. This is a common problem with black feathered birds. I had been careful to place myself between the bird and the sun, but I still had no success.



I waited until the bird changed its' position and took more shots.



Hmmm. The eye stood out more, but still was not what I wanted. I rechecked the first series of images I took, and was thankful for not being content with not just shooting one or two pics. I had taken a lot of images and had a good selection to scan through. (Don't you just love digital?) Found it!



It was the bird that slightly changed it's head position. While shooting, I didn't pick up on this little shift in position to the sun, but I was thankful I continued to shoot what appeared at the time to be similar images.

The direction that the sun hits the bird is important. If the sun is behind the bird, you will be post-processing a silhouette and while that may work for the bird, the background will end up being too light, and the eye will have no 'zip'. If the sun is on your back, you have a chance of capturing a catch light in the bird's eye.

Be patient, and take lots of images. The extras cost you nothing,
and you may need them to find the 'keeper'.

[Randy]

Great post Ken! I would be ecstatic with any one of those!!!

[lensviews]

Thanks for sharing these excelent pictures Ken. Your tips about the light direction are very helpful. (BTW I would like to know how to post more than one picture together. I always post one at a time!)

[kenpossum]

Thanks Lensviews. Comments always appreciated. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions about photography.

To add additional pictures or correct typos etc to a previous post, click on "Modify" at the upper right. Scroll down to where you wish to make changes or add pics. When finished scroll down and click on "Modify Post". Hope this helps.