[obol] photos of new feathers - fuzzy! Diffraction or what?
- From: Priscilla Nam Hari Kaur <priscillanhk@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Priscilla Nam Hari Kaur <priscillanhk@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 11:36:34 -0700
Green Herons seem to be easy to approach this time of year.
The cropped photo in the link below was taken of a bird
only about 20-25 feet away.
The focus seems sharp across the entire patch of bird shown,
but what intriques me is the "fuzzy" appearance
of some of the very short - and I presume - "fresh" or new feathers.
A friend suggested these feathers are still encased in some kind of
sheathing or not fully opened yet, which sounds good. That makes me think
that the fuzziness is due to diffraction of light through these
hypothesized sheaths.
I should add that a bunch of photos of different Green Herons in recent
weeks show this same phenomenon in the same area of the birds,
so it's not an artifact of the camera.
Does anyone know more about any of this? I tried googling around
but couldn't find anything. I'd really appreciate knowing
a little more about what is going on here, both in terms of bird feather
physiology, as well as the photographic/diffraction aspect
(if that's what it is).
http://priscillanhk.com/images/cropped_2_IMG_5229.JPG
http://priscillanhk.com/images/cropped_IMG_5229.JPG
Thanks!
Priscilla Sokolowski
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