Wattlebird and bee

Wattlebird and bee

By Les Ryan

Third winner Image Review 17

Nikon Z6 III; Nikkor Z 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 VR S at 360mm; ISO 1600; 1/5000s; f/6.3; EV+2

The Norfolk Island hibiscus next to our driveway is currently flowering and attracting a wide range of honeyeaters and insects. The noisiest are the wattlebirds, one of which preferred to perch at the very top of the tree to dominate and direct traffic.

I took this photo from a balcony mid-morning, against a very bright cloudy sky. With such intense backlighting, it was necessary to overexpose the wattlebird by 2 stops and use a fast enough shutter speed to eliminate any movement caused by the breeze.

To my surprise, only when I opened the image in my computer did I see the incoming bee in all its fine detail. I am always happy to embrace a bit of luck when photographing nature.

I cropped the initial image and added just a little extra exposure to brighten the shadows and midtones.

Don’s response

Photographer Les Ryan would have been well within his rights to have entitled this picture ‘Serendipity’.  The composition is impeccable and the exposure management challenges have been handled with aplomb, but that little bee zipping purposefully in from the left is what transforms this into something truly special.

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