Kevin Lohman (@kevinlohmanphotography) is a nature and wildlife photographer living in Santa Cruz, California. He spent years studying marine science and exploring beautiful coastal areas of Central and Northern California, which deeply inspires his photography. Kevin is a member of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) and has had images recognized in a number of photo contests, including the NANPA Showcase, the International Share the View Nature Photography contest, and the international Comedy Wildlife competition. Locally, Kevin has been featured on multiple covers of the annual Elkhorn Slough Foundation calendar. Recently, Kevin was honored in The Audubon Society’s Top 100 Highly Honored Images from their 2023 Audubon Photography Awards. Using his Sony Alpha 1 and Sony 600mm f/4 G Master lens, Kevin’s image was ranked number 43 on the list. We love this intimate moment and asked Kevin to share the story behind the shot. Perhaps the most incredible thing we found out, is that Kevin handheld the Sony Alpha 1 and Sony 600mm f/4 G Master to get the shot. Keep reading to learn how, why and his tips to position yourself for successful images.

Product Preview – In This Article You’ll Find:

–Sony Alpha 1
–Sony 600mm f/4 G Master

Photo by Kevin Lohman. Sony Alpha 1. Sony 600mm f/4 G Master. 1/1250-sec., f/4, ISO 1600

Window Bird Watching


I was looking through my kitchen window when I saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings invade a cotoneaster plant across the street. I grabbed my camera and walked over, positioning myself behind a large tree so that I would not disturb the birds as they quickly picked berries, swallowing them whole. As I watched, I noticed one waxwing on the end of a branch, isolated from the others. It was picking lots of berries and would occasionally toss one into the air to reposition it. Pretty quickly I honed in on this bird, visualizing the image I wanted to make of the berry in the air, about to be eaten by the bird. 

A Fast & Light Gear Combination


For this image I worked with my Sony Alpha 1 camera and Sony 600mm f/4 G Master lens. I selected this equipment for several reasons. First, I needed a camera that could help me track this fast-moving bird, and the Sony Alpha 1 with bird eye focus helped me lock onto the eye of the bird to ensure a focused image. The Cedar Waxwings move very quickly, so I couldn’t be wasting time worrying about my focus. The camera also allows me to shoot at 20 frames per second, and with berries being tossed in the air, the fast frame rate allowed me to make an image with a berry placed perfectly between the Cedar Waxwing’s beak. 

The Sony 600mm f/4 G Master lens is a fast (f/4) prime lens that is lighter than other long prime lenses I have used. Having this lens as part of my camera system means it is easier for me to carry on hikes, and handhold when I do not have a tripod. The weight difference is especially noticeable when switching from a DSLR system to a mirrorless system. There are lighter alternatives, such as zoom lenses, but I find the sharpness of the 600mm prime lens is amazing. And if I need to “zoom,” I do that with my feet by walking further away from the subject.

I wanted a long lens because of the size of the bird, and my distance from the subject (about 30 feet). The 600mm lens served that purpose. Since I knew I was going to be hand holding in this scenario, I rely on the Sony Alpha 1 and Sony 600mm f/4 G Master, a combination light enough for me to hand-hold.

Positioning, Stability & Flexibility To Get The Shot

Firstly, I needed to put myself in the right position. I have seen Cedar Waxwings many times in my neighborhood, and they would often visit for a short period of time before the flock would suddenly fly off to visit another neighborhood. Because I did not expect them to be around very long I had to be fast. I grabbed my camera and lens and moved quickly across the street and positioned myself beside a large tree which helped conceal me from the birds. I didn’t want to disturb them in any way. Since I was hand holding the camera, the tree served another purpose... I could lean against it for more stability of the long lens.

With wildlife still photography, I prefer to handhold my camera system whenever possible. That gives me the most flexibility when tracking a subject that may suddenly move in an unpredictable direction. It also allows me to position myself in locations that might be challenging, if not impossible, to set up a tripod. To maximize my success rate without a tripod, I will try to stabilize my camera on a nearby object, which might be a tree, a fence, the ground, or my own body. When I do not have something physical to lean on, I have three different ways of stabilizing the camera. 

First, if I am standing and holding my camera with my left hand, I turn my body sideways so my shoulder is facing the subject, then I bring my elbow in towards my body so that my body helps support the weight of the camera, and I hold the camera firmly up against my face (making my body into something like a mini tripod). Second, if I am kneeling down (usually on my right knee), I rest my left arm and elbow on my left knee for additional support. Third, when I am on the ground (for example, to get at eye level with shorebirds), I support most of the weight of the camera by resting my arm (with camera) on the ground. That really helps with stability.

In addition to stabilizing the camera, I select a shutter speed that is fast enough to minimize the effect of camera motion on the sharpness of the image. I also shoot in bursts, which can help if there is movement on my end (trying to keep a subject in the viewfinder), or on the other end (if the subject is moving).

Once I was in the right spot, I quickly needed to get my camera settings correctly set up. Because the birds were quickly grabbing berries, and would occasionally hop to another branch, I needed camera settings that would account for movement of the birds, so I set my camera frame rate to 20 frames per second, and the shutter speed to 1/1250 second. I also wanted to separate the subject from the background so I opened up the aperture to the widest setting at f/4.0. And because my camera was set to manual mode, and the light was changing as I repositioned myself to get a nice background, I set the camera to Auto ISO which gave me an ISO setting of 1600. 

Once I was in position and my camera was dialed in, it was a matter of firing away at the right moment. I got a number of frames but I think this was the most successful image, and I attribute that to the background, it’s not distracting but it’s also not too plain or boring.

Minimal Editing


I shoot in RAW, and I use Lightroom on a MacBook Pro to edit all my images. After making an image of the Cedar Waxwing with my camera, I imported the images into Lightroom and adjusted settings to get the right balance of light and color that represented what I had just seen. One of my favorite parts of the image were the bright red berries framing the bird, they added to the story in a nice way and the vibrant colors were appealing. I didn’t want to over edit them, I just wanted the image to look like what I had seen. 

I also used Topaz DeNoise for noise reduction. And, because I was using a 50MP camera, I was able to crop a little bit to position the Cedar Waxwing and red berries exactly how I wanted them in the final image. I am proud of how the final shot turned out! 

Keep up with Kevin’s work by following him on Instagram @kevinlohmanphotography. Don’t forget to join our community of creators talking all things photography and filmmaking on the Sony Alpha Universe Community Forums.