Reflections are unpredictable and often a great deal of fun if, like this photographer, you’re easily entertained.
Yesterday morning was cold, bright and beautiful – an ideal opportunity for photographing birds. But I was restricted to locations fairly close to home so I could accommodate a service technician who was scheduled to repair my brand new, but defective, gas kitchen range (yes, lately I’ve been keeping the local repair industry employed all by myself).
I chose a location that would require me to hoof it to a spot where I’d have a good morning light angle and shoot from my tripod. It was damn cold (21° F.) for this wuss to be out in the elements with a bare shooting hand and big ears that act like heat radiators but I bundled up and toughed it out and I’m glad I did. Thankfully there was no breeze to make me even colder and ripple the water so its surface was perfectly undisturbed and mirror-like.
So I had 75 minutes of shooting birds and their gorgeous and often bizarre reflections, which entertained me to no end. The photo below is just one example.
1/6400, 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
I arrived at my frigid location soon after sunrise and I was standing at a spot that gave me a low shooting angle which only enhanced the reflections. So when this immature male (not an adult male like I said in my title) Common Goldeneye unexpectedly swam by very close to me I really gave my camera a workout so I could capture as many varying and interesting reflections as possible. I got a lot of strange ones but this initially ‘normal-looking’ reflection gave me pause.
Just look at the size of his reflected head. The shape of his head is relatively undisturbed but its size has been magnified to the point that it looks huge, at least to my eye. I don’t quite understand the physics or optics of it but I suspect the effect is a result of the unusually large bow wave directly in front of him, combined of course with the mirror-like surface of the water.
I got lots of bizarre reflections yesterday and you’re likely to see some of them in the near future. But I wouldn’t classify this one as bizarre because its shape is pretty normal.
This one is just strange because of size distortion which I thought was unusual and interesting enough to share.
Ron
Note for photographers:
One of my reasons for shooting outside in the cold yesterday was to test one of the possible causes of the very high number of soft shots I’ve been getting lately when it’s cold. I strongly suspected the soft shots were caused by some kind of heat wave distortion but that could come from atmospheric heat waves further away from my lens or the temperature disparity between my warm lens inside my pickup interacting with the cold air when I stuck my lens out my window. So yesterday I wanted to shoot with a cold lens in the cold air to see if I could narrow it down.
The result: Nearly all of my shots yesterday morning were tack sharp which tells me that my problem is caused by my warm lens interacting with the cold air and not by heat waves further away. Now I’ve gotta figure out how to keep my lens colder inside my pickup. Either that or decide if I’m willing to freeze my patootie off with the heater turned off for 3-4 hours.
I happen to be fond of my patootie so I much prefer the former.
Heat waves between my camera and my subject are why I prefer to shoot in the winter. By the way, my patootie also doesn’t like the cold. I generally bundle up and drive around looking for potential subjects with my vehicle’s heater turned off. If it ends up getting too cold for me, I’ll turn on my heater for a while, at least to warm up my fingers and toes. But when I do this, I know if I come across something to photograph, I’ll have to get out to take photos–usually scaring away my subject. Although I know my car makes for a great bird blind, I also regularly get out or my “blind” because, I prefer action shots. The car’s window opening, and me being in a seated position, do not help when swinging my lens around to capture a bird flying past.
Cool your lens to frigid temperatures !?!? Ha, reminds me of the days when amateur astronomers (and pros alike) used thermoelectric coolers to cool their sensors even for use in the visible light range. That use case has largely been reduced by the steady improvement in temperature-induced noise in the sensor. These high end/high tech sensors have now trickled down into the cameras we now shoot with. Not so much for imaging in the infrared however. Note that the sensors in the new James Webb space telescope are now cooling to enable them to be energized to capture first light in the coming days. This means they will operate just a few degrees above absolute zero. (-273 DegC, -460 DegF)
You thought YOU were cold at the pond :). Maybe store your lens overnight outdoors or in the freezer in a suitable container? One things for sure, when you take it out of that container and mount it to your camera body in the warm truck it will immediately condense to the point of being drenched and unusable. I shoot myself in the foot with my field glasses this way looking at the dark skies at night. Just a breath on them will fog them up on the outside glass. Good luck.
Look at that reflection! It reminds me of those funhouse mirrors!
Thank you for enduring freezing temperatures and sharing this amusing shot!
Beautiful and weird at the same time. Good luck figuring out the solution to your patootie/lens dilemma, a conundrum for sure!
Thanks, Chris. Hopefully I have it figured out. Now I have to find a practical way to fix it.
I think the golden eye should be called Mr. Big Head. I love the reflection. Sorry about the new range! Like I was saying when we last visited, I don’t think the new stuff is made as well. I am hoping my vinyl flooring will arrive as planned next week, still been waiting on that!
I considered both names, April. Settled on Fathead, for whatever reason.
Actually the problem with my new stove had nothing to do with how it was made. It was the ignoramus installer who put the flame elements together incorrectly. It took the repairman all of about 30 seconds to fix it.
GEEZ! A good news/bad news thing – infuriating at minimum……
Judy, It literally took him 30 seconds to fix it, under warranty of course so no charge. Then he mentioned that he works on pretty much any appliance, including TV’s. Well, my big TV/entertainment system hasn’t been working since I had to move it to another room during my new floor install. So I asked him to put it all together and get it working again, which he did.
It took him about a half hour and he didn’t charge me for that either. I like that guy!
I realize you don’t have much control over the wind, but my experience with a warm camera in colder air is that I get sharper pictures when there’s a good breeze blowing toward me (i.e. when there’s a cold wind in my face). My guess is that the wind blows most of the warm air off the lens, so the air between the subject and lens is more nearly uniform in temperature. When an image is particularly bad, the catch light sometimes looks like a splatter of light. In that case it’s clear that the problem is not focus, because poor focus would result in the catch light being a disk.
Phil, when I’m shooting in cold weather I always hope for a breeze. Sometimes it seems to help, a little or a lot. Other times, not at all.
Smiling. Loving the shot (and envying your temperatures). My sweet spot is about 14C (58F) and I am happy well below that too. We have been enriching the coffers of repairmen here too. Generously and the work continues…
I’ve been on a roll with repairmen lately, EC. Playing catchup for all the years I rarely needed one.
Crossing my fingers on my 40+ year old range with upper and lower oven (they don’t make ’em anymore) and my 25+ year old fridge. My 10 year old dishwasher is making groaning and moaning noises (and not the good kind). I’m definitely “team repair” over “team replace” whenever possible.
Marty, the “control module” on my old stove went out and it would have cost me $550 to have it replaced (if they could get the parts) so I decided I’d be better off in the long run to buy a new stove.
Ouch! That’s a big one. Hence, the “whenever possible.” 🙂 Bummer that you ended up with a troublesome replacement — wish they would just send you a new one. Crossing fingers that this is the last of the repairs for the time being.
But is it a “cutie patootie?” 😉 We need to get you some better thermals and a bun warmer for those extra cold days. Thanks for sharing this one — birds and optics — what a pair! 🙂 Glad you solved your softness mystery too.
Smiling here. Cute or not it is an ESSENTIAL patootie (and what a weird word that is). I refer to my own as my fundament.
Weird word indeed. Sadly, I don’t hear it very often these days.
Nope, 74 year old patooties are rarely cute. But I like mine anyway.
This is a fun photo to ponder. All features are larger in the reflection but the bill appears a bit shorter. Yep, the optics are complex. The overall smoothness and crispness of the photo is beautiful.
Question: wouldn’t you have to shoot in the same conditions that caused the heat wave distortion when shooting inside the truck, then either cool down the cab/camera or take the camera outside long enough to equilibrate to know whether it was atmospheric or warm lens distortion?
Lyle, what you suggest would eliminate some potential variables but what I did is pretty strong evidence.
The bow wave is likely acting like a concave mirror, which magnifies the reflection. Here’s an example: https://cdn2.webdamdb.com/1280_ElWZLml9RKr3.png?1579793109
Yup, I’m sure that’s what it was, Joel. A friend of mine put it this way – ” The water pressure wave is serving as a fun house mirror. Birds and physics in one shot.”
You said ‘patootie!’ That was one of my mom’s favorite words. She also loved ‘horse collar’ as an exasperation descriptor. Love the giant head reflection. Nature is indeed entertaining!
We’re in the AZ mtns this week. 18* this am! Nice and chilly. 😊
Kathleen, my dad always used to say “horse feathers” in the same context.
I’ve heard that taking off the lens hood might help, because it traps/holds the warm air in around the lens. I’ve not tried it yet, just a thought.
from (Note for photographers:)
Bryan, I’ve tried that on several different cold mornings. For me it didn’t make any noticeable difference.
I immediately noticed the size of the head in the reflection! WOW! Reflections do strange things. 🙂 Glad the “soft” photos aren’t the camera or lens BUT! How to keep the equipment cold and you warm IS a challenge. 😉 Ice packs perhaps?
Haven’t heard the term “patootie” in a LONG time. 😉
“Haven’t heard the term “patootie” in a LONG time”
I’m an old-timey word kinda guy, Judy… 🙂
Not sure if I have ever seen a reflection that crystal clear and perfect. Obviously it requires perfectly clear and still water. And it is interesting that the reflection is so much larger than the actual Goldeneye. Very beautiful and interesting photo.
Your explanation regarding the lens and the cold sounds logical. Good luck with that and maybe some warming weather coming along for you.
Everett, conditions for getting clear reflections were just about perfect yesterday. That doesn’t happen all that often so I’m glad I had the presence of mind to take advantage of them.
Yes, the head does appear much larger. Stunning photo!
I’m glad you like it, Cindy. Thanks.
Hmmm – “easily entertained” – is that perhaps what the French mean by “joie de vivre” ? Close enough for me. In any case that is one fabulous shot made so much better by drawing attention to the size of the reflection and that delight magnified again by the speculation of the bow wave role. I can hardly wait now for the rest of the reflection series. Fun indeed! ( Oh, but cold? Minus 6C (your 21F) is indeed nasty cold but this tropical girl is now facing -22C with windchill down to -33C. No human or bird or critter should have to be out in that. I sure as shooting won’t be and wish I could bring all the vulnerable ones in with me. )
“is that perhaps what the French mean by “joie de vivre”?”
Close enough, Granny Pat.
I really have become a wuss when it comes to cold, probably due in part to my age. When I lived in northern Montana, 21° in January would almost be considered a heat wave (chinook).