Backlit Crested Auklet: Harnessing Harsh Light for Dramatic Flight Shots

After a spectacular morning photographing Crested Auklets from the Saint Paul Island cliffs, the sun turned intense – the kind of summer light that makes you understand why they cancel school! But instead of packing up, we saw an opportunity to continue to create.

Saint Paul Island is renowned for its often-overcast skies and persistent fog, a common characteristic of North Pacific maritime climates. While the sun can certainly break through, prolonged periods of dense cloud cover are the norm, which makes those rare moments of intense, clear sunlight even more appreciated by the residents.

The harsh light, often a photographer's bane, became our ally. I positioned everyone to use it to our advantage, aiming to capture striking backlit flight photographs as the auklets soared past the dramatic shadows beneath their nesting cliffs.

The Crested Auklet (Aethia cristatella) is a truly distinctive seabird of the North Pacific. Easily identified by its prominent, forward-curling crest of black feathers and a bright orange-red bill, these social birds also possess a unique citrus-like scent, particularly noticeable during the breeding season. They are highly gregarious, forming massive nesting colonies on rocky cliffs and lava flows, and are expert underwater 'fliers,' using their wings and webbed feet for propulsion to dive deep and forage on krill and other small marine invertebrates. Their energetic flights, often in tightly packed flocks, offer incredible photographic opportunities, especially against the rugged backdrop of their island homes.

This image was created using the portable and impressive Sony 200-600mm zoom lens paired with a Sony a1 body. The combination proved still excellent for seizing these dynamic moments, transforming a challenging lighting situation into a chance for dramatic, silhouetted action shots.

Crested Auklet in flight Vertical (Aethia cristatella, stariques cristatelles, Mérgulo empenachado, CRAU) from my Saint Paul Island, AK workshop in the middle of the Bering Sea in Alaska. ©Christopher Dodds Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless camera & Sony 200-600mm Lens (@600mm) ISO 2,400, f/6.3 @ 1/5,000s. Full Frame image. Manual Exposure mode. Join me for my Saint Paul Island, AK workshop next July to learn more CLICK HERE.

Crested Auklet Portrait

Crested auklets are known for their forehead crests, which are made of black forward-curving feathers. These forehead crests are highly variable and can have between two and twenty-three narrow forward curving feathers. The average auklet has 12 crest feathers, which are of variable length, between 8.1 and 58.5 millimetres. Auklets have auricular plumes and a bright orange bill with curved accessory plates. Like forehead crests, these features vary widely within auklet populations.

Join me on Saint Paul Island in the Bering Sea, Alaska for an adventure of your lifetime: Saint Paul Island Workshop adventure details CLICK HERE.

Least Auklet Portrait and Visitags

Least Auklet Portrait (Aethia pusilla, Starique minuscule, LEAU) Saint Paul Island, The Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Canon EOS Canon EOS 1DX, 600mm F4 L IS II, 2X Extender III, Canon 25mm Extension Tube II. Jobu Designs Algonquin Tripod & Jobu Jr. 3 ISO 3,200s, f/13 @ 1/160s Manual exposure. PURCHASE A PRINT or LICENSE IMAGE FOR PUBLICATION HERE.

Here's another image from my hugely successful Saint Paul Island Photo Expedition. Just love getting to within minimum focusing distance of the seabirds that call Saint Paul Island home.

Simply amazing just how quickly the July 2015 trip is booking; do have a look at the workshop details HERE

Canadian Wildlife and Nature Photographer and Canon Northern Explorer of Light Christopher Dodds photographing owls in the Canadian winter (Feb,. 2014). Photographed with a prototype of the new Jobu Designs Algonquin Tripod & Jobu Jr. 3, Canon 200-400mm f/4-5.6 with built-in tele-extender, 600mm f/4 IS L II, Tamrac Expedition 9X camera bag and two Canon EOS 1DX camera bodies. Photo copyright and courtesy of Michael J. Lang (thanks, Michael)

I shared this image of me from my Winter Snowy Owl Photo Expeditions some time last winter. It has become the subject of many emails asking where I got the yellow name tag. I love my bright yellow luggage tags and have at least enough so every bag gets one. These really do ensure there is no confusion if another similar bag shows-up on the luggage carousel at the airport. There is a clear pocket on the inside for your contact details (where you should indicate your email address and mobile number). These tags are simply bombproof! Get yours at www.visitag.com

Design Images with Visual Impact

Thick-billed Murre or  Brünnich's Guillemot VERTICAL PORTRAIT (Uria lomvia, Guillemot de Brünnich, TBMU) Saint Paul Island, The Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Canon 1D MK IV, 500mm F4 L IS , 2X Teleconverter III & , Tripod & Jobu Jr. 3 ISO 800 f/16 @ 1/320s Manual Mode. Fill flash Canon Speedlite 580EX II with Better Beamer @ -1/3. PURCHASE A PRINT or LICENSE IMAGE FOR PUBLICATION HERE.

Here's a couple of images from my recent Saint Paul Island Photo Safari / Workshop. We arrived there as spring was late emerging from the worst winter anyone can remember and there were shaded areas at the bottom of cliffs where the snow had not melted yet. Although I generally don't like bright white backgrounds in images, I decided to make an exercise of designing some images with white backgrounds; there is a certain quality to the white out-of-focus snow that's much more appealing to me than that of a bright & backlit white sky.

I really like getting close and designing intimate portraits with big glass, so I installed my 500mm f/4 and a 2X extender and moved so close that I had to back away to the lens' minimum focusing distance. Once set-up on my tripod and Jobu Jr. 3 gimbal tripod head, I installed my Jobu off-camera flash bracket and my Canon 580 EXII flash.

Designing these tight, almost high-key portraits can be challenging, but careful attention to balancing all of the images' elements can be quite rewarding. Be sure to spend time studying the colours, tones and textures, (or, perhaps, the lack of colours tones and textures), the positive and negative space and the lines, shapes and where they lead the eye. Look for angles and perspective, and try to visualize how changing them by moving your angle of view will impact, help or hinder your image's design.

Black-legged Kittiwake PORTRAIT CALLING (Rissa tridactyla, Mouette tridactyle, BLKI) Saint Paul Island, The Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Canon 1D MK IV, 500mm F4 L IS , 2X Teleconverter III & , Tripod & Jobu Jr. 3 ISO 800 f/16 @ 1/500s Manual Mode. Fill flash Canon Speedlite 580EX II with Better Beamer @ 0. PURCHASE A PRINT or LICENSE IMAGE FOR PUBLICATION HERE.

Be sure not to overlook the creative element of your exposure values; should you use an equivalent exposure with slower shutter speed and larger depth-of-field?, or will a shallow depth-of-field with higher shutter speed blurr the background (or foreground) and draw the viewer in for a closer look at the subject?

No matter where you are, what your subject; stop and think a little about designing the image and not taking the picture.