Photographed in the lush cloud forest of Dapa, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, this image features a female long-tailed sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii) perched gracefully on a slender branch at La Minga Ecolodge. The misty morning air softened the light, enhancing the delicate green iridescence and chestnut tones of her feathers. Her more understated tail, compared to the male’s dramatic streamers, still conveys elegance and poise. The background fades into a gentle blur of cloud forest foliage, lending a sense of tranquility and intimacy to the scene.
This photograph was taken with a Canon EOS R5 and RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM lens. The shutter speed was set to 1/1000 second, carried over from photographing hummingbirds in flight earlier that morning. This ensured that even the slightest movement from the perched sylph—whether a flick of her tail or a sudden lift-off—would be rendered in crisp detail.
The aperture was f/6.7, chosen to provide enough depth of field to keep the entire bird sharp while still allowing the background foliage to dissolve into a smooth, soft blur. This separation from the background draws the viewer’s attention directly to the sylph without distraction.
ISO 800 was selected to compensate for the subdued light typical of a misty cloud forest morning. It allowed the use of the faster shutter speed and optimal aperture without introducing noticeable noise, preserving the fine details in the feathers and surrounding textures.
In the cloud forest, light is unpredictable, filtered through shifting layers of mist and dense vegetation. These conditions demand careful technical decisions, and on this morning, the settings worked in harmony to create an image that is both accurate and evocative.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
