This image of a female Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) was taken in the coastal rainforest near Capurganá, Chocó, Colombia. Unlike the more vibrantly marked males, the female exhibits a gentle combination of lemon-yellow and olive-brown tones, offering a softer palette that blends beautifully with the surrounding foliage. In this frame, she’s perched on a diagonally angled branch, perfectly still and illuminated by a quiet patch of filtered light breaking through the canopy. Her posture, alert but calm, brings a sense of balance and quiet energy to the composition.
The photograph was captured using the Canon EOS R5 paired with the RF 800mm F11 lens and a 1.4x extender, yielding an effective focal length of 1120mm. Shooting handheld in the low-light conditions of the rainforest required some careful adjustments. The aperture, fixed at f/16 with this setup, necessitated a higher ISO—set to 3200 to lift the shadows without losing feather detail. The camera selected a shutter speed of 1/125 second, just enough to hold sharpness with steady hand support and the subject’s brief stillness. The depth of field was narrow, but sufficient to maintain crisp detail through the face, chest, and upper wings.
This shot represents the type of fieldwork I enjoy most—quiet observation, reactive timing, and the challenge of maximizing natural light under complex conditions. The moment came together not through staging or waiting, but through attentiveness to movement, light, and opportunity in a living ecosystem.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
