Animalphotography - Northern gannet in Helgoland

Last week i visited Helgoland in Germany for some animal photography. In May the Northern Gannet birds are breeding at the Island and stay there till their offspring is able to fly. These birds are really interesting for photographers because they are so big. In Helgoland you can get pretty close to their breeding places and because of the wind at the cliff you can also make some interesting photographies with the birds flying in the air.

Northern Garnet sitting on the cliff. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/400 Seconds
Aperture used	F5
Focal Lengh	150 mm
Time	05:35 pm
ISO	100

With the fast autofocus of my new Nikon D500 i was able to shoot some nice pictures where the birds where flying in the sky. I still fighted a bit with the different autofocus modes so i really need to get to know the camera a bit better for finding the correct settings faster. But with the time i really got some decent results.

Northern gannet flying with the sea in the background. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/500 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Lengh	150 mm
Time	06:08 pm
ISO	100

Northern gannet at their mating. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/200 Seconds
Aperture used	F8
Focal Lengh	150 mm
Time	05:12 pm
ISO	100

Sex looks pretty violent with the northern gannet. The male holds the female with the beak on her neck and standing with the feed on her during the sex game. Before having sex both animals peek woth their beak together and scream in different sounds. It looks somehow pretty funny when the back of the girl is slippery and the male tries to stand on the female.

When the sun has a certain incidence of light the water looks pretty nice when taking pictures. You can create different looking light balls when exposing with the right apperture and distance to the sea. When they build their breeding nests they collect gras and seagrass from the sea. Unfortunately we also saw some plastic in their nests.

Northern Gannet with light balls in the background. Picture: Florian Glechner.

Camera used	Nikon D500
Lens used	Sigma 150-600 mm lens
Filter used	none
Exposure Time	1/320 Seconds
Aperture used	F6.3
Focal Lengh	195 mm
Time	05:47 pm
ISO	100