Heidelberg

Germany, May 2023

The old university town of Heidelberg in Germany is picture perfect. A walk to the famous Schloss Heidelberg, or Heidelberg Castle, gave us some amazing views of the city. I made the most of it by laying my camera as low as possible to the ground and capturing some Eurasian Blackbirds (Turdus merula) feeding on worms in the castle garden. Getting close to the ground and getting a low angle makes some of the plainest and most common subjects look great. Getting close to the ground also helps with very good separation from the background, giving a pleasing effect. The little daisy next to the feeding blackbird made this even more special. Now with swivel touch screens, one no longer needs to lie completely flat on the ground and look through the viewfinder to compose such images. That would look really odd too with hundreds of tourists around you. You can instead just lower the camera, swing and swivel the touchscreen to face up, and compose and shoot the shot. I tried the same method on this Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) family swimming in the river Neckar a few days later, as well as a Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides) feeding nearby.