Canon Club Challenge winner: Reflections in motion with Lutz Krause

The challenge, Reflections in Motion, invited Canon Club members to capture movement through reflections, using water, glass, mirrors, metal, polished floors or other surfaces to make action feel fresh and unexpected.

The winning image, with the most votes from fellow Canon Club members, is by German photographer Lutz Krause. His winning image, titled Graugans (German for grey goose), captures a greylag goose moving fast across the surface of the water, wings lifted, feet trailing through the spray, with its reflection stretching below it. It is a simple wildlife moment, but the reflection gives it another layer: movement above, movement below, and just enough distortion to make the frame feel alive.

Sometimes wildlife photography is about careful planning, and sometimes it is being ready for the moment when everything suddenly comes together. For Lutz, it was a little of both.

His winning image was taken at Flughafensee in Berlin, a lake that is partly a bird sanctuary. Although visitors can see only part of the protected area, Lutz says there is plenty to discover there, including kingfishers, greylag geese, turtles, grey herons and more.

On the day he took the winning image, the weather was on his side. “In beautiful sunshine, I was lucky that some greylag geese were flying around in front of me, and I wanted to photograph them in flight,” he says.

“After several failed attempts, I was lucky and was able to photograph one with its reflection. I knew straight away that it was a great shot. The reflection makes the picture something special.”

The goose isn’t just flying through the frame; it is interacting with the surface of the water. The splash behind it shows speed, the outstretched wings show its effort, and the reflection connects the bird to the challenge theme in a natural, unforced way. Rather than a static mirror image, the reflection is broken up by the moving water, which makes the image feel more dynamic.

For shots of birds in flight, Lutz uses the Tv (Shutter Priority) setting on his Canon PowerShot SX70 HS. This allows him to choose a fast shutter speed while the camera handles the aperture. For this image, he shot at 1/2,000 sec.

That fast shutter speed was crucial. It froze the goose’s wings, its legs and the spray from the water, even though the subject was moving quickly. Lutz also used continuous shooting to improve his chances of catching the exact point where the bird, movement and reflection came together.

“Focusing is always a challenge," Lutz says, "because everything has to happen very quickly. Good lighting conditions are definitely a requirement for good shots.”

His method is to follow the bird through the camera, zoom in as close as possible (he used a focal length of 162.46mm here) and try to keep it in focus, although he is quick to admit this “does not always work”. That's part of what makes such images so satisfying when they succeed.

Lutz is 74 and has always taken lots of pictures, but says photography “only really started” for him after he bought his Canon PowerShot SX70 HS in September 2020.

“Since then, this camera has been my daily companion,” he says. “What inspires me about the camera is that it has a great telephoto and macro capability. It is very handy and takes great pictures, so I can photograph distant animals and also small beetles.

"I am still fascinated and enthusiastic about animal photography."

Lutz enjoys photographing dragonflies, butterflies and, as he explains, “everything that moves.” Birds in flight are a particular favourite, partly because they are a challenge to capture well.

For Lutz, the biggest lesson is that wildlife photography cannot be completely controlled. You can choose the right settings, find a promising location and keep practising, but the moment itself still has to happen in front of you.

“Wildlife shots cannot be planned,” he says. “Everything simply has to come together in that moment, and you have to keep calm.”

That calmness is especially important when photographing birds in flight. It’s tempting to rush, but tracking the subject, keeping it in the frame and choosing the right moment all become easier if you stay patient.

“A bit of luck is also part of it,” Lutz adds. “What is important in animal photography is a lot of peace, patience and joy in nature. Nothing can be forced.”

Head to Canon Club to enter the next challenge – or, you can vote for your favourite images even if you don’t submit an entry yourself.