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Digital Imaging has fast become an everyday part of the Birding scene, yet there appears to be a widespread reluctance to explore its full potential. There may well be a need for a cheats charter, to tackle forgery and other related challenges, but I feel it would be a shame if the more progressive aspects of digital imaging were to be suppressed as a result. I am most especially interested in the illustrative use of digital images or Digiart.
Here is a fairly simple example to illustrate how the sophisticated processing of a digital shot by imaging software can help to depict a well known phenomenon - in this case The Influence of Variable Light in Forming an Identification.
I photographed this juvenile American Golden Plover at the Blackrock in Co. Kerry in Septemer 2003. The bird was feeding in a field with a large flock of European Golden Plovers. Remarkably, an adult American Golden Plover was also present, affording a rare opportunity to study simultaneously the various plumages of both species. As I watched this flock over the course of an afternoon and into the late evening, I was able to form an impression of how these birds subtly changed under varying light conditions. That experience prompted me to try and illustrate my observations.
  The bird was most readily located amongst the flock during the early afternoon under neutral or slightly blue, contrasted light (Fig. D). The light was most constant during overcast spells, although consequently it was more diffuse so the birds white supercillium and other highlights were less obvious (Fig. A). As the day wore on, the neutral ambient light was replaced by a softer, yellow-toned evening light and the bird became more and more difficult to pick out in the flock (Fig. E-F). The angle of the sun also effected viewing conditions from time to time (Fig. B-C).
The scenario depicted here is encountered by birders on a daily basis and can be a pitfall for the inexperienced birder getting started. I hope this simple example shows just one of the many positive uses for this powerful technology in birding. I would invite those who remain skeptical about the manipulation of digital images to try and keep an open mind.
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