October 2020 • Nebraskaland 27
feathered skin on a low stump and shoot from a tripod using
a 105 mm macro lens. Since the feathers are stationary, I
usually use a smaller aperture for greater depth of fi eld and a
low ISO. The latter provides more detail and color saturation
and less noise, which makes for a better print, especially at
large scale.
With intricate designs and iridescent colors, feather
photographs can approach the abstract. Hanging on your
wall, your photos might leave your sophisticated friends
asking, "That's cool. Is it a Richter? A Pollock?"
N
Gerry Steinauer is a botanist for the Nebraska Game and
Parks Commission. He is a regular contributor to Nebraskaland
Magazine.
Earth's 10,000-plus bird species are
decorated in an assortment of colors that
are formed in two primary ways: various
pigments in a feather reflect specific colors of
light, or a feather's structure refracts specific
colors. Reflection is when light bounces
off an object, such as a mirror or pigment,
whereas refraction is when light is bent when
passing through an object, such as a prism
or a feather's barbules, producing shifting
iridescent colors. Feather color sometimes
results from a combination of reflection and
refraction.
Pigments are colored substances found in
both plants and animals. In feathers, they
consist mainly of carotenoids, melanin and
porphyrins. Carotenoids reflect red and bright
yellow-colored light, melanin reflects pale
yellows, browns and black, while porphyrins
reflect a wide range of colors including pinks,
reds, browns and greens.
The iridescent colors of many birds, such as
hummingbirds, are a result of the refraction
of incoming sunlight by the microscopic
structure of the barbules. Refraction works
like a prism, splitting the incoming light into
its component colors, such as reds, yellows
and greens. As the viewing angle of the eye
or camera lens to a prism or feather changes,
it sees different components of this color
spectrum — a shifting array of iridescent
colors.
In the below photo, the normally black
turkey breast feathers appear red and silver
not because of camera trickery or Photoshop,
but due to refraction of the sunlight by the
barbules into its component colors. A simple
shift of the lens angle captured these colors.
Feather Colors
The iridescent, normally black, color of turkey breast feathers appear red and silver with a change of viewing angle.
