In this series, I am going to give some behind the scenes details for one image at a time. I’ll go over some of my settings, what I did in the field, why I composed it the way I did, or any other bit of information that I feel is relevant to the image. I will not be posting this series on Facebook; it is meant to be a bonus article for my subscribers.

Having a clean attractive background really helps when you want your photo to stand out. Busy backgrounds deter from the shot, and I avoid them unless they add to the scene. It is best to decide carefully in the field what you are looking for from your photos so that you can stay on task. I find going from one subject to another creates nothing but chaos. Focus on one nice bird and then stay with it. Make sure that you can isolate that bird against a good background then wait for your shot. I ‘d rather leave the field with one good image than a series of crappy images.

This photo was captured on Saunders Island at the “Neck” in the Falkland Islands. I walked up to the albatross colony in the early morning. I found so many chicks to photograph but also noticed this one that stood above the crowd with a beautiful sea green color for the backdrop. It was perfect! Well, not quite, I had to shimmy down a slippery slope to get low enough to be able to isolate the chick which sat upon its beautifully crafted nest. By getting low, I eliminated all the other nests, chicks and distractions so that I could zero in on this adorable ball of fluff. I waited for it to open its mouth or do something interesting before snapping the shot.

I used my Sony a1 and Sony 200-600mm lens at f/6.3, ISO 500, shutter speed 1/1250, manual mode, natural light, focused on the eye.