30 Winning Photos Nature Photographer Of The Year Awards

11. Runner-Up, Other Animals: “Slow But Safe” By Ruben Perez Novo
“It occurred to me to take this photo when I found this little snail walking through some dry leaves on the ground. As soon as I saw the semi-transparent shell of the snail I knew that I wanted a strong backlight, the also translucent dry leaves were perfect to help the composition.

I took three leaves from the ground and arranged them with an interesting composition with a flexible clamp. Behind them I arranged two backlit flashes mounted with a diffuser each. After closing the diaphragm and adjusting the ISO and speed, I adjusted the power and the distance from flashes for good lighting. Finally, I waited until the snail passed in an interesting place for the composition.

The photo was taken on a summer morning in a shady area between some trees. This helped me to be able to use only the light of the flashes for the exposure. In this case the lighting for this photo is exclusively artificial, coming from two flashes which allows you to have total control over the light. I took this photo in Ares – Coruña – Spain.”