Better Bird Photography With a Catchlight

^{Note: This tip comes from the photography case study #2 ‘Catchlight in the Eyes’ inside Photzy’s - 5 Extended Case-Studies on Bird Photography}

What is the first thing you notice about the above bird photograph? The eyes look lifeless. Don’t they?

Tip #1 - Most birds, though not all, have very dark, black eyes. In most cases, if there is color in the eyes, it encompasses a much smaller portion of the eye than that of other types of wildlife.

The bright spot that you see within the eye in this photograph is called a “catchlight.”

Tip #2 - Capturing a catchlight in the eye is very important in bird photography, as it opens up the face and gives the bird some personality.

The lack of a catchlight drops the visual weight off the bird’s face despite the compelling expression.

Tip #3 - A catchlight can act as a focal point to bring the viewer of the photograph right to the face.

A catchlight has been artificially added to the left eye (camera right) using Photoshop. Why was the catchlight only added to the left eye? That is the direction the light was coming from. Due to the position of the head and the eyelids, a catchlight could only appear naturally in that eye. When you artificially add eye catchlights, study the lighting and keep it real!

How to add a catchlight artificially:

• Open the image in your editing software.

• Select the paintbrush and set an appropriate size.

• Select the color white.

• Set the opacity to 85%.

• Set an appropriate feather based on size (usually only a few pixels).

• Based on the position of the lighting, touch in the appropriate spot to place the catchlight in the eye. If you place a catchlight in both eyes, make sure the positioning matches within both eyes.

If a bird were facing the camera directly, and the lighting came from behind the bird, where would you place the catchlight?

You wouldn’t!

There would be no catchlight if the lighting came from behind the bird unless you used an electronic flash.

Remember to keep it real.

Tip #4 - A catchlight doesn’t have to be a pinpoint of light. This owl has nice catchlights in the eyes from a bright open sky.

Want more? If you want to learn more about bird photography, and capture beautiful shots of your own, we recommend downloading and printing out Photzy’s 10 Bird Photography Cheat Sheets (Special bonus available now!)