Incredible photo of silhouetted kingfisher was my ‘catch of the day’

This incredible photograph of a kingfisher was captured in Rutland, England, by wildlife photographer Pete Stewart. He purposefully set out to capture the bird's silhouette, knowing that the sun would rise behind his subject.

He used one of the best Nikon cameras to capture the shot, the mighty Nikon Z9, along with one of the best lenses for bird photography, the incredible Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S.

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Unsurprisingly, this wasn't an impromptu moment captured on a whim. Careful planning was required to capture such an elusive creature. Pete explained: "I was watching an Osprey fishing one evening on the reservoir, when I heard the Kingfisher and spotted it flying low across the water. It landed on the barbed wire, situated at the edge of the water. I watched from a distance each morning for four days as the bird returned to the same location, approximately between 05:45 and 06:00."

Timing, weather conditions and the presence of other people made the image all the more challenging to pull off: “The time frame I had to capture the sun rising while there was minimal cloud was quite tight," said Pete. "And the possibility of people walking close to the area meant I had to work fast and my timing had to be quite precise."

Observing the bird enabled the photographer to work out exactly what kind of shot he was going to capture, and a silhouette made perfect sense. "The positioning of the barbed wire and the bird was perfect for sunrise, which gave me suitable conditions for a silhouetted image."

Focusing on such a fleeting subject – and in low-light conditions too – is a challenge for even the best AF systems. Pete's solution was to prefocus on the barbed wire, before the kingfisher arrived. "I set up in the hide from 05:20," he explained. "I manually focused on the barbed wire with focus peaking engaged. The bird arrived at 05:45 and left at 05:51 allowing me a small amount of time to adjust my focus and capture the image."

Pete edited the image in Adobe Lightroom. He applied a "background mask and slightly raised the temperature and saturation." A little noise reduction and a gentle vignette finished the edit.

Pete's top tips for bird photography...

"Be patient. Gain an understanding of the bird you're photographing and its environment and spend time visualizing the sort of image you want to capture."

To see more of Pete's incredible work, follow him on Instagram.

Check out previous Photo of the Day images, and the stories behind them. If you have an image you'd like us to consider for Photo of the Day, email it to us at digitalcameraworld@futurenet.com

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