As a bird photographer I try to take advantage of the special light we see during early mornings and late afternoons, where there is more of a texture to everything, including colours. This sounds straight forward enough, not least because birds tend to be more active around dawn and dusk, but there is a problem; light.

With the great lenses we have access to nowadays, and our cameras’ ability to handle high ISO settings, we can get away with a lot in terms of low-light shooting, but there are limits. I believe I touched upon the limits with the shots here below, but the graininess and the dark atmosphere adds something of an “artsy” dimension as well. All images were shot at ISO 1600, with the 500mm and the 1.4TC mounted and the aperture set at its maximum of f5.6. With one third of an f-stop underexposure to avoid burning out the highlights I ended up with a shutter speed of 1/80s; good thing I had the rig on a bean bag.

I hope you like the shots,

The geese tend to take flight when I show up with my karrimat and my camo net – but they come back real soon.

The wingbeating is their way of saying they aren’t completely sure about the whole thing just yet,

And one inquisitive bird even comes over for a closer look. Eventually, the eagles scared them all away.

• Aperture: ƒ/5.6
• Camera: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
• Taken: 2 August, 2014
• Focal length: 700mm
• ISO: 1600
• Shutter speed: 1/80s