Pep Gassó (@pepgassoleiva) is a professional nature, landscape and wildlife photographer and workshop leader who is deeply passionate about photographing wildlife in action. The Common Kingfisher (Alcedo Atthis) is one of his preferred birds to photograph because of its singularity and speed. Gassó is excited by the fact that the bird is difficult to see with the naked eye, but can be admired with the help of photographic techniques. We recently came across these breathtaking images of his on Instagram and connected with Gassó to learn about the story behind them. Keep reading to see how he captured them using the Sony Alpha 1 and Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master.

Photo by Pep Gassó. Sony Alpha 1. Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/160-sec., f//5.6, ISO 400

Photographer Pep Gassó explains how he photographed the speedy Common Kingfisher with his Sony Alpha 1 and Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master.

The Scene

The pictures were caught from inside a hide that Gassó has in collaboration with Fundació Plegadis in Ebro Delta, in Catalonia, Spain. These are one of the three different kinds of photographs you can take there, the others are from inside the hide and from the surface of the water. You can find more pictures from the hide in his gallery.

The location where the bird fishes is approximately a 4 meter area. For the image  Gassó was hoping to make, he placed his camera outside the hide, underwater and fixed in place with tripods.

The Gear & Getting The Shot

For these images, Gassó used his Sony Alpha 1 with a Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master lens. Sometimes, he also uses the Sony 90mm f/2.8 G Macro. He loves that the Sony Alpha 1 lets you shoot in synchro with flashes at approximately 10 shots per second, enough to catch four or five good images of the bird fishing underwater.
 
These photos were shot at 97mm, f//5.6 and ISO 400, to have a good light balance. As it was necessary to use flashes, the synchro speed was 1/160-sec. to get the maximum number of shots in the burst mode.

Photo by Pep Gassó. Sony Alpha 1. Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/160-sec., f//5.6, ISO 400

Photo by Pep Gassó. Sony Alpha 1. Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master. 1/160-sec., f//5.6, ISO 400

The Edit

Gassó uses Adobe Lightroom CC Classic for the RAW post-processing and, when necessary, Topaz Labs plugins to improve sharpness and reduce noise. The images were cropped to adjust to the correct size and composition.

See more of Gassó’s work on his Instagram at @pepgassoleiva.