Photographing foxes at night

[Alex90]

I have been out last couple of nights trying to photograph the foxes that frequent a feeding site run by several members of the local community. The Fox/s turn up pretty much every night and have done for a couple of years.

One chap i spoke to suggested flash, and as these foxes are used to human presence that they arent too fussed by it as it happens so quick.... he has used it before with some success.

But what flash would i want (if any) to be able to take a picture of a fox that was say 7-12 metres away, in semi-darkness?

are there any alternative techniques... I currently have a canon 300D body so need a flash that is compatible with that.

Cheers

Alex

[Elean0r]

I don't know the 300D, so don't know if it's got an onboard flash or not. If it has, why not try it and see what happens. You might need to take off your lens hood though, sometimes they cast a shadow.

If the foxes are regular visitors and get frightened by it they're sure to come back again.

You might need to set the camera to manual first, otherwise you might not be able to focus.

[Elevate29]

You could use the onboard flash but it's likely to reflect back off the fox's eyes. Better to connect a separate flashgun and position it off camera which will give more pleasing results. You'll need a hotshoe adaptor and a connecting lead which can be picked up on auction sites pretty cheaply. You don't need to spend a large amount on the flash but check its compatible & the voltage isn't too high for your camera before fitting it otherwise you could fry your camera!

elevate

[eeyore]

the 300d does have an onboard flashgun but is pretty pants - so better to use the canon speedlite range of models, but make sure you get the ex variants, as the older ez variant isnt compatible with the dslrs - however these arent cheap, and also imo the foxes are likely to be cauitious of flash as to many wild animals it is reminiscent of gunfire.

a better option might be to use some halogen floodlights , like those sold by screwfix for workshop lighting , or even a powerful torch , if you introduce the lighting gradually the foxes will get used to it.

remember to change your white balance to the halogen setting if you do this, or you will get a colour cast

[andrewinpompey]

Or use wireless triggers which you can get from a well known auction site (aka *Bay triggers) for maybe £10-15 each. With these, the flash can be say 10 metres away, triggered by radio signals. You can use any old flash - you want one where the output can be adjusted manually on the flash. Only drawback is that you then have to go up to the flash to alter the output, whereas with some of the expensive flashes you can alter flash power from the camera (on Nikons, anyway). But it means that you can do it much cheaper (e.g. get two old flashes plus triggers, for less than the cost of a single modern flash).

If you did it this way, presumably you'd need to get a person to stand in for the fox, while you checking that the flash power was correct?

If you want to know more about wireless triggers, check on the Strobist flickr group.

[Words]

There are two main issues with using flash. One is eye-shine and the other is that the images can be a little flat. To avoid eye-shine you need to be quite close (I use an external flash but mounted on the camera body... the Canon 430EX unit). If you can position the flash off-camera and to the side you will get better depth to the shots, but it's obviously much harder to set up that kind of arrangement unless you can predict the fox's movements, but good advice on previous posts on what you need.

[stealthpaul]

Hello

Have you considered Night Vision?

I know its not photography as such, but using a device like the Yukon Ranger Pro, and camcorder with a video in, you can capture some amazing footage.

We have some great footage of badger cubs playing.

The footage although black and white is really good quality, so perhaps there may be a way of connecting it to a camera body that can recieve an input?

I know the 5D Mk2 has a video facility, i wonder if you can record from a video source also hmmmm......

Paul