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Category: New Answers

Photography Question 

Connie J. Bagot 		 

What is the proper way to deal with eye highlight


 
 
This is a very small problem but one that I face in several of my close up bird photos. There is a highlight in the eye that is small all very well-defined. It looks awkward to me. Is it okay and I should just leave it alone or should I blur and soften it or clone it away......Does anybody know?


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June 18, 2005

 

Connie J. Bagot 		 
 
 
(Small AND very well-defined, can't type sometimes). Am trying to upload an example but the site keeps wanting me to enter it in the contest....


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June 18, 2005

 

Connie J. Bagot 		 
 
 
One more try....if it doesn't work, it's the first image in my gallery---I did get it to load there.


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June 18, 2005

 

Connie J. Bagot 		 
 
 
One more try....if it doesn't work, it's the first image in my gallery---I did get it to load there. The highlight is small so you have to look at the full sized picture to see it.


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June 18, 2005

 

Brendan Knell 		  I think it looks fine with it. But try and clone it out and then upload it.


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June 18, 2005

 

Connie J. Bagot 		 
 
 
Thank you Brendan. I know this is a petty problem. It looked odd with it and flat without it to me. But here it is without it.


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June 19, 2005

 

Brendan Knell 		  Connie,
I think it looks fine with it and without it. It's a REALLY great photo either way. So it all comes down to what one do you like the best. But it really is just a small detail, so I don't think it's going to hurt the photo either way.


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June 19, 2005

 
- Bob Cournoyer

BetterPhoto Member
Contact Bob Cournoyer
Bob Cournoyer's Gallery
  I, personally, like the one without the speck of light. Just the reflection of the background house or whatever in the eye. The light speck seems to be at an odd angle compared to the rest of the image....
Just my thot.
Bob


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June 19, 2005

 

Connie J. Bagot 		  Thanks Brendan and Robert. I get obsessive about the small things sometimes. I don't know if its this way for others of you or if its just me but sometimes just uploading a photo causes me to look at it differently---trying to see it as others will maybe. I think I will clone it out. Thank you Brendan for your really nice comment on the photo---made my weekend.


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June 19, 2005

 

John P. Sandstedt 		  I saw only one bird pic in your gallery; it had a white dot on the bird's head. Presuming it's at the eye, it's called a catchlight and is very important in any picture.

It's so important, in fact, that a friend [who is recognized as one of best printers in the state] will add them if they're not present.

In slides, for example, he'll prick the transparency with a pin - then, the projection bulb will shine through the slide as the catchlight. On a B&W print, he'll add them with white ink.

I've attended several competitions in which the judge, in critiquing a shot, gave images a lower score when there were no catchlights.

I've always understood catchlights in human portraits but, for animals, it has be a stetch for me. Nonetheless,I really recommend that you leave the catchlights in your pictures.


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June 29, 2005

 

Kay Beausoleil 		  What John said. The catchlight makes an animal or a human look alive. When photographing captive animals, I use a fill flash to be sure there's one there. Of course, you can always add one with PS later.


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June 29, 2005

 

Brendan Knell 		  John,
The photo you saw in Connie's gallery, was it "Just like Dad"? Because that isn't the one she asked the question about. It was a photo of a bird with some nuts in its' mouth.


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June 29, 2005

 

John Rhodes 		  Connie, try as I might, I cannot find the photo you refer to. Could it have been removed from your gallery?

VR

John


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June 29, 2005

 

Connie J. Bagot 		 
 
 
Sorry----I really thought the discussion was dead in the water and was feeling a bit foolish about the question once I had asked it....so I had deleted the photos. Here they are again. And many thanks for the input.


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June 29, 2005

 

Brendan Knell 		  Can someone tell me how to add the catchlight in photoshop? I have Elements 3. I was thinking that it was lens flare, but thats not it. Thanks.


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June 29, 2005

 

Brendan Knell 		  P.S. Connie don't delete them, they are like I said before really good photos. And you don't have to feel foolish about asking the question.


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June 29, 2005

 

John P. Sandstedt 		  Use the clone tool.

I usually find a very bright or white patch in the photo and clone a small spot on the eye[s.] If there's no white [bright spot] in the particular picture, I'll copy a spot from another shot.

You'll need to experiment to be sure that the brush and its size are appropropriate to the subject.


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June 30, 2005

 

Kay Beausoleil 		  Sizing and shaping the catchlight was tricky for me. So I took pictures with the spot already there, zoomed them to 300%, and studied how the spot was composed. Then I noticed that positioning the spot has to make sense in relation to the light in the picture.

All this is second nature now -- it became much easier with practice.


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June 30, 2005

 

Connie J. Bagot 		  Does the reflection at the top of the jay's eye qualify as a catch light or does there need to be a white "spot?" Since my white spot here is tiny and in an odd position, would it maybe be best if I cloned it out and then added a bigger catchlight?


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June 30, 2005

 

Brendan Knell 		  Thanks John and Kay, I'll try that.


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June 30, 2005

 

John P. Sandstedt 		  The white spot is, obviously, small but - if that's what is was, then that's what is was - so far as location in the eye and size. It's reality; it's correct. It can be enlarged if you so choose. Try it [enlarging it] and see which seems better to you. I like it just as it is.

The image without the catchlight will be a loser in competition. This version confirms what I tried to convey in the thread.

The point is that catchlights are real in nature - in portraits created in the studio, in the great outdoors, etc. So, don't try to remove them; rather, if you're so inclined, improve them.


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June 30, 2005

 
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