I posted this photo to Instagram a while back, but it’s a bad platform for landscape-orientation images. They don’t lend themselves to the scroll well. Here it is in all its wide-winged glory, with stormy clouds behind. I love a bit of rim-lighting in patchy cloud conditions, where it gives you the opportunity to pop your subject forward from a dark background. A little contrast adjusting in Adobe Lightroom helps make the most out of a pretty flat raw file, and boom. Southern ocean wanderer, toroa, Northern Royal albatross, on a low overhead pass at Taiaroa Head. The viewing platform there is the best place to see these mainland-breeding albatrosses in their soaring glory.

Nikon Z9 + Nikon 80-400mm on the FTZ II adapter