Songbird taking flight

Caught mid-launch off a stand of dry autumn grasses, wings fully fanned and backlit enough to turn the flight feathers nearly translucent — the kind of frame that comes from tracking a bird’s perch rather than trying to react once it’s already airborne.

Getting the shot

A fast shutter froze the wingbeat clean. Backlighting is a gamble with small, fast birds — it either rim-lights the feathers beautifully or loses the subject in silhouette, and this one landed on the right side of that line.