A bird's eye view.

A male hooded merganser at rest but aware of my presence.

Our brains are wired to look at eyes.  We tend to look at mouths when someone is speaking, but our first glance at someone always goes to the eyes.  That is not accidental.  If a dog doesn't know you, looking into its eyes may make it feel threatened.  Eyes give away intent.  They say, "If you are looking at me, I might be in danger."

In photography, the eyes help define a person's face, show emotion and intent, and help to center our gaze.  In the above photo, it's the eye that you first notice, even though there are bold white lines present to direct your vision elsewhere.  Below, I have other similar images I have taken, each using the eye of a bird to draw your attention.

Wood duck, Eclectus parrot, Blue-and-gold macaw

I am always paying attention to eyes when shooting.  I often place them in a thirds position, use them to gauge if my presence is disturbing my subjects, and often taking more than a single shot in case the eyes are closed, distracted, or somehow hidden.  You may capture a great shot of a bird, and everything is great, except the nictitating membrane has covered the eye.  I can tell you this has happened to me on many occasions  See below.


.

Crow with nictitating membrane covering eye (inset).

One of the weird things about many birds is that their eyes are planted on the sides of their heads.  This gives them very poor binocular vision but great vision for avoiding predators.  Birds of prey often have their eyes front and center to allow three-dimensional viewing of prey.  Photographing birds of prey from the front works much better than shooting non-predatory birds because of how the eyes look.  See what I mean in the image below.

Great blue heron from the side and front.  Which is the better photo?

One thing is for sure: taking lots of photos will increase your chances of capturing one or two images where everything comes together.  Sometimes it's just a small change in position that makes the difference.  Especially when it comes to the eyes.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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