Getting the Shot

Shot at water level with an AquaTech housing, catching a puffin surfing the chop between dives. I was in the water early in the morning, moving with the current and swell, trying to hold the bird against the texture of the breaking waves.

At f/16 and ISO 100 in the bright morning light, everything from the puffin to the foreground water stayed sharp. The short focal length on the RF 70-200mm gave enough depth of field to make it work.

Puffins in flight are deceptively fast: short wings, rapid beats, constantly changing direction. I was in the water at the Farne Islands tracking them as they came in low over the surface.

At 128mm and f/6.3, the depth of field was tight enough to separate the birds from the background while still giving the autofocus something to hold onto at 1/1000s.

This was taken early in the morning at the Farne Islands, while I was in the water with my underwater housing. I was shooting straight into the sun, trying to hold the puffin as a clean silhouette against the glare on the sea.

It sounds simple, but from the water it is difficult. You are constantly moving with the current, tide and swell, and the bird is moving as well. Even small changes in height alter the line of the horizon, the shape of the reflection, and whether the autofocus can find the subject.

For this frame, everything briefly lined up. The puffin turned into a good side profile, the waterline sat across the middle of the frame, and the low sun broke into small sunstars across the surface.

Early on a Sunday morning at the Farne Islands, I was in the water with my underwater housing, filming guillemots and razorbills swimming under the surface, when gulls started lifting the birds off the cliff edges.

I had the 70 to 200 on, picked them up as they came over me, and grabbed a few frames I liked.

March, near Churchill in Canada, the time of year the polar bear mothers bring their cubs out of the den. The cloud was low with a little bit of sun behind; the sky was just breaking through as the bears came out of the den.

I stayed low to get this shot with a clear foreground and background, so you can only see the bear in the frame.

Near Churchill in Canada, in March, just after the bears came out of their dens.

The cub is tucked underneath its mother's legs, only showing its face, protecting itself from the wind, while she looks out across the snow, ready to walk to Churchill, some 35 miles away.