[HN Gopher] Bird photographer of the year gives a lesson in plan...
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Bird photographer of the year gives a lesson in planning and
patience
Author : surprisetalk
Score : 180 points
Date : 2025-10-06 02:53 UTC (7 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.thisiscolossal.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.thisiscolossal.com)
| jhawk28 wrote:
| "Keeper of the Ashes" is my favorite of the pictures. Found the
| photographer is selling prints here:
| https://www.maximelegarevezina.com/en/tirage-gardien-des-cen...
|
| It's amazing that you can just see something that you like and
| then order it.
| globular-toast wrote:
| Funny that the print version has been photoshopped to move the
| vapour closer to the beak.
| close04 wrote:
| The print is a different picture from the one in the
| submitted article. That looks like it could be a different
| angle (90deg) of the bird on the same burnt stump.
| closetohome wrote:
| Interesting. Apparently the photo from the article is
| "Voice of the ash forest"
| (https://www.maximelegarevezina.com/en/tirage-voix-de-la-
| for%...) and the one linked above is "Keeper of the Ashes."
| dfxm12 wrote:
| These are professional artists. Selling prints is a major
| income stream. It seems pretty normal to me.
| freetime2 wrote:
| That winning photograph with the bird in front of the solar
| eclipse is really incredible. I wasn't sure if it was real or not
| (some photography competitions will allow composites stitched
| together in photoshop).
|
| But the photographer uploaded a video on YouTube of him taking
| the photo, and just looking at the environment (he's in a small
| boat off the coast of Mexico) you can see it really did require a
| remarkable amount of planning. And I think it is indeed a real
| photograph.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voTNPeHR7Jc
| regera wrote:
| Thanks for sharing, can't imagine how bird photographers devote
| weeks to plan for a single shot - may seem extreme. Being in
| the right location at the right time is the key. Wow!
|
| This skill is often underrated. World is moving faster than
| ever. Another underrated skill is quick-decision making.
| gyomu wrote:
| For anyone curious, the competition rules are here:
|
| https://www.birdpoty.com/rules
|
| "With the exception of HDR, stitched panoramas, focus stacking,
| and in-camera multiple exposures, composited images or AI-
| generated images are not permitted in any category. Sky
| swapping or removal of objects through cloning, for example, is
| not permitted."
| SwtCyber wrote:
| Cool to see that kind of effort rewarded in a space often
| dominated by post-processing tricks
| ghaff wrote:
| It's not even a new thing. I remember an article, in Outside
| maybe, about the controversy around how many photos in the
| wildlife/landscape space were heavily post-processed in
| various way.
|
| I had a friend who prided himself in his (very good) nature
| photography and he got quite discouraged with respect to
| nature photography contests when so many people weren't
| stopped taking photos "out of the camera."
| baxtr wrote:
| Stunning image.
|
| Although, having experienced a solar eclipse and the associated
| hysteria around protective glasses, I wonder how risky it was
| for his eyesight to look through a magnifying lens.
| pgalvin wrote:
| It looks like he is using an EOS R5, in the video he uploaded
| of him taking the photo. This is a mirrorless camera (very
| common nowadays) so the viewfinder is merely an LED screen
| with a live video.
| tecleandor wrote:
| Wow, the photo burst was insane...
| Zak wrote:
| This link seems worse than the original at
| https://www.birdpoty.com/2025-winners
| geeunits wrote:
| I find photographers have a particular knack of seeing 'just
| slightly into the future'. Almost like the eyes are constantly
| analysing environmental studies and able to form a sixth sense
| for patterns and predictability. Most notable would be Henri
| Cartier-Bresson who coined much of the concepts of 'the decisive
| moment'
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| I'm sure there's a talent to it, but practice helps a ton. I'm
| certainly not comparing myself to Cartier-Bresson, but in the
| very specific type of photography I regularly shoot (youth
| sports) you learn the rhythm and patterns and what to look out
| for. I'd imagine street or wildlife photography is much the
| same. Patience, practice, and accepting that 99% of the picture
| you make will be crap.
| technothrasher wrote:
| I'm not anything but an enthusiastic hack, but the 99% rings
| true. I've made a goal for myself to get just one photo I'm
| happy with of as many cat species in the wild as I can. It's
| taken me about ten thousand shots to cross off lion, cheetah,
| and leopard. Going to shoot bobcats in California for four
| days in a couple months, and I suspect I'll get lots of
| interesting photos, but I'll be very lucky to get "the shot".
| maverick2007 wrote:
| Have you ever shared "the shot"s you got of those 3 cats?
| Would love to see them if you have :) Best of luck with the
| bobcat!
| technothrasher wrote:
| Here's the leopard one:
|
| https://imgur.com/9YkWlRf
| pamelafox wrote:
| Ooo bobcats! I live in the bay area near Tilden Park, and I
| spent a while on iNaturalist trying to figure out where the
| bobcats hang out, as my 6 year old is very interested in
| wild cats. I realized sadly that bobcats are usually out at
| morning/evening, when we are not in the parks. Still used
| the bobcat stalking as an excuse to take a walk in Tilden
| today though.
|
| What's your approach to finding the bobcat locations for
| your shot?
| technothrasher wrote:
| I'm going up to Point Reyes with a guide and a tracker,
| so that I'll at least have a pretty good chance of seeing
| the cats. Getting good shots is on me though!
| herval wrote:
| Bresson is from a time where you had 38 shots maximum, before
| you need to reload your camera. It takes an immense amount of
| attention, but also you're statistically unlikely to take the
| kind of photo that you can get today (eg most of these bird
| images).
|
| My current camera takes 20 photos per second sustained AND
| comes with a pre-buffer that captures 2s of images before you
| press the trigger. It's wild!
|
| (I don't take photos anywhere near Bresson's but still, it
| helps)
| ghaff wrote:
| I don't do much sports or concert photography these days--or
| indeed a lot of photography outside of my iPhone--but I
| observe that while I still have some photos from film days
| that I think are pretty decent, being able to just shoot
| thousands of photos of some event helps to get the few
| keepers.
|
| Getting expressions/the way people are aligned/etc. is just
| so unpredictable that, even if you're in the a reasonable
| location to shoot and the light is generally good, high-speed
| shooting and maybe thousands of frames helps to beat a few
| rolls of film. Even pros with motor drives were relatively
| constrained.
|
| As others have observed though, there's also planning and
| just spending the time. The favorite photo I've taken in
| Death Valley over many visits is a fairly standard
| location/view but the sky is just _really_ unusual for the
| area. I suppose these days (or really at the time given
| enough skill and imagination), I could just have done a
| photo-composite.
| keiferski wrote:
| I've done a lot of street photography, and yeah I think the
| fundamental skill is scanning the environment, then predicting
| what will happen in order to snap the perfect shot. For
| example, you might see a fence making an interesting shadow,
| then figure out how to position yourself such that passers-by
| fit into the scene.
|
| In practice, you end up standing around and waiting a lot.
| Moving quickly through a city is almost guaranteed to result in
| missing some great shots. (Saying this from experience.)
| sohkamyung wrote:
| I take wildlife shots but mainly for the record, which I post
| on iNaturalist. On occasion, I do need to see 'slightly into
| the future' for some shots, like predicting where birds and
| flying insects might be when I'm tracking them for shots. (This
| can be hard for pollinating insects flying from flower to
| flower.)
| rukuu001 wrote:
| Wildlife photogs feel a bit like magicians, in that no one would
| believe the level of effort required to get the result.
| SwtCyber wrote:
| Yep, wildlife photographers are just outdoorsy wizards with
| cameras instead of wands
| jacquesgt wrote:
| Liron is an incredible photographer. Well worth checking out his
| instagram at https://www.instagram.com/liron_gertsman_photography
|
| He and another photographer recently did a project to photograph
| a bird in front of erupting volcano. I'm really looking forward
| to seeing that one.
| jacquesm wrote:
| My BIL is a wildlife photographer. One day he went into his
| favorite area to photograph the local Bison. He was as quiet as
| he could be moved into the terrain slowly and stopped every few
| minutes so as not to spook the animals. Only to be suddenly
| berated angrily that he was spoiling the shot... another, _far_
| more experienced wildlife photographer had been lying in wait
| there for days knowing the bison would have to head his way. In
| spite of that bad introduction they became fast friends. Wolkow
| has since died, he was one of a kind. I spent a night with him
| just looking at some of his slides, he found so much beauty.
| chromehearts wrote:
| This reads like a poem
| jacquesm wrote:
| I can assure you that the words that Wolkow spoke were, while
| colorful, definitely not poetry ;)
|
| He'd been covered by a pile of leaves, had had bugs crawling
| all over him and then saw his perfect shot ruined. His talent
| for photography was apparently absolutely matched by his
| talent for the use of the Polish language.
| SwtCyber wrote:
| That frigatebird eclipse shot? That's not just a lucky moment,
| it's a literal alignment of science, nature, and patience. You
| don't get that without obsession-level planning and deep respect
| for the subject
| weird-eye-issue wrote:
| ChatGPT
| vivalahn wrote:
| You're almost there! But let's unpack that further.
| YeGoblynQueenne wrote:
| Title is wrong. They're all human photographers.
|
| (pun only possible in English)
| hshdhdhehd wrote:
| Title is correct for about half the entries. Half are men.
|
| (joke only works in UK slang)
| Razengan wrote:
| I love birds, birds are awesome, intelligent, and prime
| candidates for taking over the planet after primates and
| cephalopods, but they can be cruel motherfuckers (don't watch
| birds eating other birds on YouTube), just like humans I guess.
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