Anything worth doing is worth doing well, and that usually takes time and preparation. Photography is no exception to this rule, and most amazing photographs don’t just happen by luck; they take careful planning.
Wildlife and astrophotographer Liron Gertsman knew he didn’t want to take any old photos during the full solar eclipse in April. He wanted to make the effort to create something truly unique, so he combined his passion for bird photography with his love for astrophotography to create one epic image.
April’s solar eclipse hype may have died down slightly by now, but an incredible photograph is timeless. Liron’s meticulous planning and energy are evident in these images.
practice run bts – photo credit: Jack Bailey
The idea
“I’ve been into bird photography since the age of five when my parents gave me my first camera,” says Liron. His fascination with astrophotography came a little later when a teacher at school introduced it, but Liron was hooked. “It’s very rare to have an opportunity to combine birds with the night sky,” says Liron, “but it’s always been something that I’m seeking out opportunities to try to do.”
Liron knew that the April solar eclipse was an ideal opportunity to combine the two niches and create something completely unique.
“I was brainstorming crazy photo ideas, and I came up with this concept, which made me think maybe it would be possible to photograph a bird in front of a total solar eclipse. I’d never seen a photo like this done before,” he says.
Of course, once Liron had the idea, he couldn’t ignore it. He knew he had to try to see if he could pull it off.
practice run bts – photo credit Jack Bailey
Planning the shoot
Total solar eclipses don’t happen every day, and when they do, they are in different parts of the world. On average, there’s a total eclipse only every 18 months. On top of that, once you’ve found the ideal date and location, the actual time of totality is mere minutes, meaning that all that time spent planning could easily be wasted. Luckily Liron started planning a year in advance.
Liron knew he needed a location that would have plenty of bird activity that was also on the path of totality. He also needed a location that would be almost guaranteed to have good weather, cloud cover could completely destroy all his hard planning. The two choices were Newfoundland and coastal Mexico. In the end, Liron chose Mexico (nothing to do with tacos apparently!) and studied the local bird behaviour.
Liron identified the coastal Magnificent Frigate bird as being a particularly good species to capture. These birds are coastal and roost on the cliff face, however spend time at sea searching for food, and gliding on the air currents. They are large birds with a 6 foot wing span and have a particular silhouette that Liron knew would look striking against the eclipse.
“[Frigate birds are] so cool looking, they’re almost pterodactyl-esque in their silhouette,” Liron explains. “They move reasonably slowly compared to some other birds which helps a lot. The reason I was drawn to Piedras Blancas, Mexico is because of the abundance of seabirds which are more predictable than inland birds.”
The Piedras Blancas islands, Mexico
Liron knew that during the 4.5 minutes of total eclipse, the birds would likely display roosting behaviour similar to dusk and would return to the cliffs. In order to get in the correct position he knew he couldn’t be standing on the cliff, but needed to be on the water in a boat, ideally. This would create yet another layer of complication to the shoot.
After months of research and knowing that the location would be popular, Liron booked the flights, transport and accommodation long in advance. He also coordinated a boat to take him close to the islands where he wanted to shoot.
Practice runs
The Gulls and the Eclipse – from the October 14, 2023 partial annular eclipse practice run in British Columbia
In order to be ahead of the game Liron practiced on an annular eclipse closer to his home in Canada. This was great practice to make sure the camera and equipment side of things was sorted out.
Now for Mexico. To be on the safe side, Liron created back up plans in case of cloud cover. He had locations up the coast that he could switch to by car, and he also prepared other islands that were within a 30 minute boat ride away, just in case.
Piedras Blancas during practice run
He arrived in Mexico a week before and did extensive scouting from the land. Two days before the eclipse he went out in the boat to do a practice run. He made sure to explain clearly to the boat operators what he needed from them. During this time he fine tuned the boat position and organised all his equipment and settings ahead of time.
Seabirds and the sun at one of the backup sites during scouting
Equipment and settings
Because of the complicated nature of capturing the birds in the shot, Liron knew he couldn’t rely on using regular eclipse settings, or using multi-shot capturing techniques. This was going to all have to be shot in one go.
He used two Canon EOS R5 bodies. One with an RF 24-105 f/4 lens for capturing wider shots, and one with an RF 100-500mm lens which he would use for the telephoto shots. There was no way he could use a tripod on the boat. Everything was going to have to be shot handheld.
Freezing the motion of the birds was also going to mean a higher shutter speed than you would normally choose to shoot an eclipse. Liron essentially started with traditional eclipse exposure settings, and adjusted them to the equivalent that he’d need to use the fast shutter speed.
Capturing the shot
On the eclipse day the weather gods were behaving. Liron was able to go with his original planned location as there was very little cloud cover. Light wind meant that the birds had good up drafts to glide around on, and incredibly everything was just falling into place.
Seabirds and the eclipse shot at 47mm with RF 24-105mm
During totality Liron had the full four and a half minutes to shoot. However, the shot that he really wanted to capture was the so-called diamond ring moment, when the moon reveals just a sliver of sunlight. This lasts mere seconds. Liron knew he’s have approximately 10 seconds to nail this shot, and hopefully get a bird flying through the frame.
eclipse bts – photo credit: Jack Bailey
During totality, it’s like dusk, where you can begin to see a few of the brightest stars. However, as soon as the moon shifts, the amount of light increases dramatically. Not wanting to miss the shot, Liron changed his exposure quickly using the shutter speed dial under his finger. He was able to quickly increase it to 11000/1, although later admitted that perhaps reducing the ISO from 10,000 might have been a better option that would have resulted in a higher image quality.
The money shot of the frigate bird and the diamond ring
Still, hindsight is 20/20 as they say. And Liron actually managed to capture the photograph that he’d spent a year planning.
Advice for capturing the next eclipse
For those photographers who would like to capture the next eclipse, you’ll have good opportunities if you visit Spain in 2026 and 2027. So you’ll have plenty of time to plan an incredible shot.
Liron recommends that photographers get creative and consider their location and foreground details of potential shots. Close up images of an eclipse have been done so many times, it’s a great thing to be able to put your own stamp of creativity on a photograph. He recommends meticulous planning, practice shoots, and above all, making the most out of just experiencing a total eclipse and being in the path of totality. The photograph should be secondary to the experience.
BTS – immediate reaction post-totality – photo credit: Jack Bailey
“It was simply a life-changing experience I would say, being under that total solar eclipse in Mexico with the sky full of those magnificent frigate birds,” Liron adds. “It is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced in my photography career so far.”
Liron Gertsman is an award-winning nature photographer and conservation photojournalist based in British Columbia, Canada. You can see more of Liron’s work on Instagram, and on his website.
