Tourmaline Sunangel
Nikkor 200-500 VR @500mm, f5.6, ISO 2200, Nikon Z 6
Morning; high-altitude cloud forest interior.
These birds know at what angle to position themselves to send out dazzling colour towards the audience. It takes a barely detectable change for the tourmaline colour patch to switch off to the viewer, another green patch to light up or the tiny bird to blend with the surroundings as if it wasn’t there. Some hummingbirds can see colours mixed with ultraviolet light, meaning that the pallet of colours they can see is wider than the spectrum of colours that we see. It often catches us by surprise with a surprise shift when a not-particularly-coloured hummingbird incidentally flashes into our eyes a patch of iridescent colour. For the little bird attracting attention isn’t a good way of moving around the forest. The control over signalling/displaying like this allows them to use both the highly advanced tool and staying inconspicuous for the most time. This is shown in one of the latest Attenborough’s films, Life in Colour.
Veteran photographers/filmmakers know captures in the dark of the forest were barely possible in colour what seems a short while ago, at least from their perspective. The special captures are possible quite well today, though photographing insect-style moving tiny birds, that seldom reveal themselves perching, remains difficult in good quality without using a speedlight. Hopefully, the creatures inhabiting these places will still be photographed when the quality of this capture moves next step.
Eastern slopes of the Andes
