Use of flash in bird photography

[matt_xyz]

very interesting Peter, thanks for that.

Matt

[Seajay]

Thankyou to you all for your kind advice. I will remove the chicken wire temporarily as Zan suggested but it will have to go back because of the neighbours cat. It's an old cat and a nice old thing but it can still catch birds. When I was rescuing the woodpigeon he came up to the other side of the wire thinking he'd give me a hand to finish it off no doubt! The wire (two foot high) runs for about ten foot and is just to stop him or one of his pals from leaping. I,ll have a go at getting the birds used to flash and will have a look at these flash extenders for when I'm out and about. I suppose they'd be useful at night? Say you were to use one with a 400mm telephoto what would the effective distance be?
Shutter operation noise is not a problem as I shoot from the hide nearly every day and see no detremental effect on the birds. This reaction was definately to the flash though perhaps exascerbated by the panic of the pigeon and the birds were very close. I'll try a flash education program as you all suggest and will let you know how we get on and hopefully the birds and I will be on the best of terms again.

[eeyore]

as regards the wire i'd be inclined to replace it with something with much smaller mesh so that birds cant get stuck in it.

[Seajay]

Good idea Eeyore. The mesh size is about 1 inch so I'll replace it with that very small bird mesh.
I've been having a go conditioning them to flash and there have been varying reactions but strangely nothing like that first occasion and I'm wandering whether there could have been another contributing factor. The reactions I,ve had are the fluttering of wings, an immediate fly off with some, obvious unease and a couldn't care less! Adverse reactions are diminishing with time and it is certainly not stopping the birds comming to feed (I don't fire the flash every time it's just a gentle, conditioning process). So far I do not feel that the use of flash is detrimental to the birds but never the less will proceed with caution. Some research needed now on flash photography as its an area I haven't delved into. I do have a couple of slave units that I could use as the built in camera flash isn't adequate with it pointing directly at the subject but OK just for fill in.
No flash extender though. Looks as though I,ll be needing more gear and more money - again!
Thanks agin for all your halp and once agin I'll update as I go along.

[GerryNick2]

Not a great fan of use of flash for wild bird photography. Have been experimenting with high ISO settings on my Canon 30D + 100-400mm as an alternative.

Have been getting some very presentable shots with the ISO 3200 custom setting, shooting in Raw converting to a 16 bit tif and then giving them a tweak with Noise Ninja to smooth out the background noise.

Here is an example see what you think -

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by rscott74

I have a pet Barn Owl that has been subject, over the years, to flash photography. I was a bit worried when I first started but he's never reacted at all even at close range. I think that my icon was taken with flash.

I've recently been researching the topic of flash photography on Owls and although I doubt it's an issue with captive birds, the following link may be of interest to anyone considering its use with wild nocturnal birds -

Effects of flash photography on owls. - photo.net

essentially the problem seems not to be the potential for permanent damage to the bird's sight but the dangers caused by "...disruption of dark adaptation..." for up to one hour and the adverse effect this has on the bird's hunting ability during that time.

Jeff

[Seajay]

Originally Posted by JeffH

essentially the problem seems not to be the potential for permanent damage to the bird's sight but the dangers caused by "...disruption of dark adaptation..." for up to one hour and the adverse effect this has on the bird's hunting ability during that time.

Jeff

These reports are disturbing Jeff. The well-being of birds and animals should always be our prime concern. My own experience so far is that it is not a great problem for our garden birds. They don't like it but become used to it. For birds out in the field I can make no comment as I haven't tried it as yet.
With nocturnal birds I suppose get to know the species you want to photograph and shoot quietly in the day.
Proceed with great caution is, I feel, the order of the day.