I am lucky enough to have a garden that is visited by a constant stream of birds. We have feeders up and two nest boxes so there is plenty to try to photograph. Last year I concentrated on the feeders closest to our house. With a D300 and a 2x teleconverter I could just get a keepable picture although the background was less than ideal. I was also a little too close to the birds. In December we visited the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Musuem and whilst there the words 'wireless trigger' came to mind.
So, yesterday I had a test run. The tree at the bottom of the garden has three feeders on it and being close to the hedge is popular with robins, blue tits and starling who like the fact that if they feel threatened, the hedge is close to hand.
I used one Calumet super clamp to attach my D300 to a branch (and used a length of climbing rope and a carabiner as a safety line) and a second superclamp to attach a SB-26 and diffuser about 1m from the bird feeder. The strobe was fired using a PC synch cord from 'Flash zebra' in the US. Lon, the owner makes synch cords some 3m long with screw-in sockets. The D300 was in manual mode, AF continous, using 9 AF points, rear curtain slow synch and fired using a Hahnel wireless remote.
The Hahnel remote proved reliable, in fact I could sit in our front room watching a repeat of 'Midsomer Murders' and drinking tea whilst photographing the birds nearly 100 feet away in the back garden. The two problems where that the birds often used the side of the feeder closest to the hedge (and therefore away from the camera) and that the bird feeder is not an object of beauty.
But the approach works. Now to refine it.
Today I picked up a long branch from the Common, drilled a few shallow holes in and tied it horizontally between 2 branches on the tree. This gives me a much more natural looking feeding point. The holes are fairly close together so that the field of view of a telephoto lens covers them all. I have used several holes since I will not help matters if I have to go out there and refill the food supply too often. The branch is slightly inclined away from the camera side to make the holes less obvious and it is placed on the north side of the tree so it gets some sunlight through the branches (this advantage will disappear once the foliage comes out). When tying the branch up I took care to ensure it was well secured so I can, if I want to, mount a flash or camera on it. I have also ensured it is fairly high up so that the local cat population cannot leap up and grab a meal.
As I type this I am now waiting for the birds to get used to this new addition. There is bird seed of various types in each of the holes and the super clamps, minus strobes, and tripod are also in position so that the birds get accustomed to these changes. I doubt that they will have relaxed today, but I am hoping that in a week's time, the new branch and clamps will be seen as 'business as usual' and then I can introduce the camera.
Yesterday I discovered that the flash did not worry the birds half as much as the shutter, so I am using a longer lens to let me place the camera further away. So, once the birds are more familiar, I can add in the SB-26, an SB-24, a camera, lens and the Elinchrom triggers and wait again.
Patience, patience....
So, yesterday I had a test run. The tree at the bottom of the garden has three feeders on it and being close to the hedge is popular with robins, blue tits and starling who like the fact that if they feel threatened, the hedge is close to hand.
I used one Calumet super clamp to attach my D300 to a branch (and used a length of climbing rope and a carabiner as a safety line) and a second superclamp to attach a SB-26 and diffuser about 1m from the bird feeder. The strobe was fired using a PC synch cord from 'Flash zebra' in the US. Lon, the owner makes synch cords some 3m long with screw-in sockets. The D300 was in manual mode, AF continous, using 9 AF points, rear curtain slow synch and fired using a Hahnel wireless remote.
The Hahnel remote proved reliable, in fact I could sit in our front room watching a repeat of 'Midsomer Murders' and drinking tea whilst photographing the birds nearly 100 feet away in the back garden. The two problems where that the birds often used the side of the feeder closest to the hedge (and therefore away from the camera) and that the bird feeder is not an object of beauty.
But the approach works. Now to refine it.Today I picked up a long branch from the Common, drilled a few shallow holes in and tied it horizontally between 2 branches on the tree. This gives me a much more natural looking feeding point. The holes are fairly close together so that the field of view of a telephoto lens covers them all. I have used several holes since I will not help matters if I have to go out there and refill the food supply too often. The branch is slightly inclined away from the camera side to make the holes less obvious and it is placed on the north side of the tree so it gets some sunlight through the branches (this advantage will disappear once the foliage comes out). When tying the branch up I took care to ensure it was well secured so I can, if I want to, mount a flash or camera on it. I have also ensured it is fairly high up so that the local cat population cannot leap up and grab a meal.
As I type this I am now waiting for the birds to get used to this new addition. There is bird seed of various types in each of the holes and the super clamps, minus strobes, and tripod are also in position so that the birds get accustomed to these changes. I doubt that they will have relaxed today, but I am hoping that in a week's time, the new branch and clamps will be seen as 'business as usual' and then I can introduce the camera.
Yesterday I discovered that the flash did not worry the birds half as much as the shutter, so I am using a longer lens to let me place the camera further away. So, once the birds are more familiar, I can add in the SB-26, an SB-24, a camera, lens and the Elinchrom triggers and wait again.
Patience, patience....
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