Category

Birdlife

Location

Lydbury North Shropshire

Gear

Om1mk2 and 150-400 handheld

Description

The effect of diffraction on birds wings is rarely captured. This was part of a portfolio that came about by accident - i have been photographing birds in my garden for 10 years and on a cold and clear January dawn just as the low sun went above the horizion, I was in my kitchen photographing garden birds coming into hidden seeds drilled into a branch above a hedge on the edge of my garden. The sun was directly behind the birds as they flared up and suddenl I was looking at rainbow wings on the back of my camera as it showed the raw file. A scientist friend came over to work out what was happening -The bird's wing acts as a diffraction grating – a surface structure with a repeating pattern of ridges or slits. The structure of the fine hairs, the barbules between the wings, causes the incoming light rays to spread out, bend and split into spectral colours, producing this shimmering rainbow effect. Sunlight has to come in at exactly the right angle or the effect does not work. I under exposed to not lose all that vibrant detail in the highlights and catch this moment the humble blue-tit took off in a totally new light.

Photographer

Andrew Fusek-Peters

Social Media

Instagram: @andrewfusekpeters

Twitter: @2peters

Facebook: Andrew Fusek Peters Photography

Website: www.andrewfusekpeters.com

Voting is now closed.

To limit fraudulent voting, you may only vote once per category per IP address.