One evening, I was sitting in a specially built hide in Hungary, photographing at water level. Hidden from the birds outside, I remained completely invisible as this Night Heron stood in front of me for a long time, busy preening its claws. I used camera settings that created a shallow depth of field, allowing the bird to stand out beautifully in the soft evening sunlight. The image received the distinction of “Commended” in the Best Portrait category of the global photographic competition Bird Photographer of the Year 2020 and was included in the annual high-quality coffee-table book featuring the best images from the competition.