30 Winning Photos Of The 2021 Nature Photographer Of The Year Awards

2. Highly Commended, Birds: “Sundance” By Christian Spencer


“The photo SUNDANCE is part of a collection or series called WINGED PRISMS.

A Black Jacobin hummingbird hovers in front of the sun in the Atlantic rainforest in Brazil. As the sunlight penetrates the wings it creates a prism effect filling the feathers with rainbows.

This is a natural effect and contains no digital manipulation and cannot be seen with our eyes.

I discovered this natural phenomenon in 2011 while I was making a film THE DANCE OF TIME.

The film opens with the scene of the hummingbirds in front of the sun in slow motion,

revealing the secret of the rainbows. The film went on to win 11 awards.

While trying to make a photo for the DVD cover I took most of the photos with the same effect, which went on to become the series WINGED PRISMS.”
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