Catch light or catchlight is a photography term used to describe either the specular highlight in a subject’s eye from a light source, or the light source itself. A catch light may be an artifact of the lighting method, or have been purposely engineered to add a glint or “spark” to a subject’s eye during photography. It is one of the first things I look for in photo, whether it’s a portrait or a small inquisitive squirrel. It adds life to the image and helps us to focus on the eyes. It can be subtle as in the image above or it can be brilliant where there’s even an image inside of the catch light itself. I will admit there are times when I’m disappointed in my shoot for the day because I do not have those catch light and, to me, something is missing.
3 Comments
Earl
Monte, nice shot here and you certainly did capture the “Catch Light” in this case. Beautiful detail in the fur and all.
Was this photo taken out west somewhere? I ask because it looks like a striped ground squirrel which I believe is normally found in the western part of the U.S.
Monte Stevens
It was taken in Arizona at the Sonoran Desert Museum.
Paul
Monte, I too find myself looking at catch lights. I learned to do this a long time ago when I was interested in portraiture and lighting in general. I still like to look at photographs to see how many lights were used. What size and shape, too. If you look, the eyes will tell you a lot.
That was a great observation by Earl. I noticed that the squirrel was different than the ones here in the south, but I sure couldn’t tell you where it came from! Nevertheless, it’s a really nice shot!