Puffin Ride

Flight with no machine in it. The rider sits on a seabird over the edge of a cliff, and the whole shot depends on height.

Wind is the other half. Hair and clothing pulled back say the air is moving fast, which is what separates flying from hovering.

The wings are fully spread and the frame is wide enough to hold them. A tight crop on the rider loses the wingspan that makes the bird capable of carrying anybody.

Put the drop in shot. Sea, rocks or surf below the pair gives the height something to be measured against, and haze over the water says how far down it is.

Spray, other birds or the cliff face passing behind gives the movement a reference. Without something fixed to travel past, flight reads as a hover.

Use it for an escape, a coastal setting, or the first moment somebody leaves the ground.

Skip it at ground level. Without the drop the shot reads as a person holding a large bird.

Penguin Ride stays on the ice and walks. Puffin Ride is airborne over a cliff. The bird's feet settle it.

Dolphin Ride is at the waterline, with spray and a wake. If there is any surface under the pair, you are in one of the other two.

The model brings the pair down to eye level on the ground. Say airborne, out past the cliff edge, with the sea far below.

The other failure is still air. Ask for wind in the clothing and hair pulled back, or the shot reads as a hover.