Copyright: © Daniel Biber, Germany, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World & Wildlife (2018 Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards
- The shortlist for the 2018 Sony Wold Photography Awards has been released.
- A series of images from semi-professional photographer Daniel Biber shows a swarm of starling forming the shape of a giant bird.
- The images were taken near Sant pere Pescador in Catalonia, Spain.
- The winners will be revealed on April 19 at Somerset House in London.
A series of photos showing a swarm of starlings creating the shape of a giant bird have been shortlisted for the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards.
Nearly 320,000 images were submitted across 10 categories by photographers from over 200 countries and territories - the highest number of entries to date.
A shortlist - or the top 10 photos across each category - has been decided across the Awards' four competitions: Professional, Open, Youth, and Student Focus.
Taken by semi-professional photographer and aerospace engineer Daniel Biber, the images, titled "Fantastic Starling Swarm," and shortlisted for the Professional Natural World & Wildlife category.
They were taken on December 31, 2016, near Sant pere Pescador in Catalonia, Spain.
"For years, I have been observing huge swarms of starlings in the area," Biber said. "This time I had scouted over several days, where the starlings gather in the evening to sleep and tried to capture this impressive spectacle.
"I took thousands of shots and here I had the incredible luck of witnessing the rushing swarm taking on the unique shape of a huge, flying bird (no retouching!).
"Then it disintegrated again to form itself into an impressive, large, pecking bird." There's a special name for a large groups of starlings, which is referred to as a murmuration.
Copyright: © Daniel Biber, Germany, Shortlist, Professional, Natural World & Wildlife (2018 Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards
The Professional competition is judged on a series of works, while the Open competition is judged on a single image.
The shortlisted Professional and Open images will go on to compete to become category winners, with the chance of being selected as Photographer of the Year winning $25,000, or Open Photographer of the Year winning $5,000.
The overall winners will be revealed on April 19 at Somerset House in London, with an exhibition of all shortlisted and winning images to follow.