On the morning of September 9, 2020, Sebastian Velasquez woke to a moody amber sky above his Northern California home. It was the middle of a wildfire season that, by its end, would scorch more than 4 million acres and claim dozens of lives. People locked themselves indoors to evade the smoke. But the now 19-year-old college student, and youth winner of the 2019 蜜柚APP Photography Awards, felt driven to capture the “scarily orange” scene. He drove to nearby Pescadero State Beach, donned a respirator, and headed for the waterline with his camera. Velasquez wasn’t sure he would be able to see any birds through the haze—until he spotted a group of godwits and curlews foraging along the shore, seemingly unfazed by the smoke. It was a challenging environment. The ash-clouded sky dimmed his view. Shooting at the long end of a 200-600mm lens in such low light meant limiting his shutter speed to 1/200 second and raising the ISO to 6400. Any movement risked blurring the...