Why does the bird in this photograph look like a paper cut out? (1 Viewer)

Why does the bird in this photograph ...

http://o2cpcs.blogspot.com/2010/01/white-throated-sparrow.html

.. look flat like it was pasted in via photoshop or is really a paper cut out?

This photograph was cropped and resolution reduced to decrease the file size but it was not "enhanced" with image editing software. The original image had the same effect.

I don't think it's just a depth of field issue, the twig the bird is perched on looks round but the bird looks flat.

The problem seems to be mostly on the head and breast, a bit less on the back, the tail and wings aren't too bad, there is more depth in them.

Is it because the highlights on the front of the bird are over exposed? The loss of detail prevents any sense of depth? But, it's not just the front of the bird, the lower portion of the breast and the back have the effect also.

Is there anything I can do (in addition to preventing overexposed highlights) when taking photographs to avoid this effect?

The camera used isn't an slr but the zoom factor was "equivalent" to 200 mm on a 35mm camera. (The camera shows the focal length in 35mm equivalents on the lens). I was standing close to the bird, it's hard to remember exactly how close, maybe somewhere in the range of 6 feet, maybe less. Is the problem too much zoom at too close a range? (I have other photographs from this camera at higher zoom on birds further away that look fine.) Is there a way to determine what focal length to use at a given distance from the subject?



Thanks,

I don't get such a strong impression of a 1D bird as you evidently do. However I think the problem such as it is, lies with the foreground and background clutter. The variety of twigs in the foreground and background are giving the eye a lot of contradictory depth cues. The whole of the bird by contrast is in a quite shallow depth plane between the complex foreground and background cues and therefore appears very flat. So what I am saying basically is that this is an optical illusion.

IMO the main cause of the cutout effect is the blown high lights. If it weren’t for them I think the effect would mostly disappear, though for the reasons given by Cactusdave the bird would continue to standout well from the background (which, of course, is actually a good thing).