Brighten those dark eyes

Having spent many weeks selecting images for my second book on pandas - Giant Pandas - checking highlights in dark eyes, it seemed appropriate to make this the first Tip of the Month. Any mammal with black eyes set within black fur or birds with dark eyes set in dark  feathers, needs a catchlight in at least one eye to make it come alive. 

Out in the open, this occurs quite naturally either by the sun or the skylight reflection in the eye.  If, however, the animal is looking down or is inside a forest, the catchlight will need to be induced by using fill-flash, which is very easy. After taking the available light exposure, you underexpose the flash by one and two thirds of a stop. This ensures the flash will not affect the exposure, but simply provide that essential sparkle.

One word of warning.  Be aware that any animal photographed during, or after, rain has fallen will end up with a mass of sparkles all over the body where the flash has been reflected from the myraid of raindrops!