Nocturnal photography

[Jonners]

I have tried, with very limited success, to photograph a nightjar in my fairly local forest. I have found a favoured spot and was fortunate enough to have the bird come and alight in front of me the other evening at about 10:45pm. I took the following photo, before both the bird and I disappeared into the night. I have not cropped the photo (the bird was only 20 - 30 feet away), and I had manually focused on the apex of the branch earlier, as AF struggled in the failing light. Does anyone have any advice on how I can take a much better picture? I used (for this photo) my Speedlite 550EX for flash. Should my shutter speed be much higher? Should I stop the aperture down more. Should I be using a tripod (this was hand held, resting elbows on knees as I was sitting on the ground)? Any help and advice on night shooting would be much appreciated. I realise that I'm not going to get too many opportunities for trial and error, and I also recognise that I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to get this close to such an amazing bird IMHO. Thanks.

[pressld2]

I would say a tripod would be useful, particularly as you had pre-focused. You only have to move a little when hand-holding and your focus point will move with you.

The standard advice for shutter speed when hand-holding is to use the reciprocal of the focal length. As you were set at 96mm you should ideally have been using 1/100th sec instead of 1/60th sec. However, if all the illumination is from the flash it's less important because the flash duration itself will be much, much less than 1/100th sec. So the flash should freeze both subject and camera movement. Was there any other light source? It looks like subject movement on the birds wing so a higher shutter speed would have helped.

Dave P.

[JeffH]

Sorry Jonners but in my opinion and that of many other wildlife photographers you really shouldn't be using flash for nightime shots of nocturnal flying/feeding/hunting species (save for captive birds which aren't reliant on their own skills).

The latest research suggests that doing so can severely impair the dark adaptation of birds such as Owls and Nightjars for as much as one hour, making it difficult (if not impossible) for the birds to hunt successfully during that period of time.

Such impairment, albeit temporary, can be catastrophic for birds with nestlings to feed - particularly at this time of year when the hours of darkness are at their minimum - and if the same bird is targeted repeatedly may prejudice the success of an entire brood

I hope you don't mind me pointing this out and I'm sorry to dampen your enthusiasm but, as with all wildlife photography, the wellbeing of the subject must always come first

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)

[Jonners]

Originally Posted by JeffH

Sorry Jonners but in my opinion and that of many other wildlife photographers you really shouldn't be using flash for nightime shots of nocturnal flying/feeding/hunting species (save for captive birds which aren't reliant on their own skills).

The latest research suggests that doing so can severely impair the dark adaptation of birds such as Owls and Nightjars for as much as one hour, making it difficult (if not impossible) for the birds to hunt successfully during that period of time.

Such impairment, albeit temporary, can be catastrophic for birds with nestlings to feed - particularly at this time of year when the hours of darkness are at their minimum - and if the same bird is targeted repeatedly may prejudice the success of an entire brood

I hope you don't mind me pointing this out and I'm sorry to dampen your enthusiasm but, as with all wildlife photography, the wellbeing of the subject must always come first

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)

Jeff, I don't mind you pointing that out at all - in fact thank you for doing so. I wholeheartedly agree that the welfare of the bird comes first, and I am quite happy to put my wishes to bed on this one. I wouldn't want to in anyway put these birds at any kind of peril, and am alarmed that I might already have done so. So thanks Dave too for your advice - good as it was it looks as though it will be best if I don't use it, at least not under these circumstances. Once again Jeff, thank you.

[Gill Catton]

I am inclined to agree with Jeff. Actually I'm suprised that this rare breeding species isn't Schedule 1.....

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by Jonners

Jeff, I don't mind you pointing that out at all - in fact thank you for doing so...........Once again Jeff, thank you.

You're very welcome Jonners - thank you for accepting the advice in the spirit in which it was given

I've spent many hours watching (and listening) to Nightjars myself in the Breckland area and it is a truly wonderful experience.

Nice blog by the way

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

I am inclined to agree with Jeff. Actually I'm suprised that this rare breeding species isn't Schedule 1.....

Me too Gill but with the population on the increase in recent years (see -
http://www.bto.org/survey/complete/n...tjar_intro.htm )
I guess the powers that be consider Schedule 1 status to be unnecessary.

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

I am inclined to agree with Jeff. Actually I'm suprised that this rare breeding species isn't Schedule 1.....

Someone probably realised the courts would be clogged by irresponsible dog owners that disturbed the nest lol

[pressld2]

Thanks from me too Jeff. I hadn't realised that flash could have such a serious impact. I thought it might knock out their night vision for a minute or two but had no idea it could be affected for so long.

Not that I've ever tried to photograph nocturnal species nor had any plans to, but it's good to be aware of these things.

Dave P.

[cutecoot]

And from me, too ... I was on the Ashdown Forest the other night with my camera looking for nightjars .. saw two fly over (and a couple of woodcock), didn't really have much chance to take photos of them, but did try taking photos of some other things and the flash came on .. so that would probably disturb the birds a bit as well. I hadn't really thought of that, so won't bother taking the camera next time!

[clog]

what is the general feel then on nocturnal photography (with torch) of spiders? Would this cause great disturbance?
Where would be acceptable and where not?
i have take pictures like this in my own garden and expect for insects there is not a lot of wildlife to disturb (unfortunately) but what about in other areas?