Use of flash in bird photography

[Seajay]

The light has been very poor in parts of the country lately and have noticed images appearing in the gallery where flash has obviously been used. Last week I used a little fill in flash from the hide which worked well but what concerned me was the reaction of the birds! Mayhem! One wood pigeon feeding on the ground ended up stuck in chicken wire I put along the bottom of the mixed hedge to stop cat attacks. Released him non the worse for wear but still very upsetting. I haven't tried flash since. What's your view? Surely the welfare of the birds come first? Do some of you use flash and they quickly become used to it or what? What about flash set-ups where the flash is funnelled as in a megaphone for telephoto shots? Do you get a similar reaction? Your thoughts and advice greatly appreciated.

[zan]

I haven't tried flash photography myself, but you'll be able to habitiate your birds to the light if you persevere. If you set up a flash to go off at intervals, they should get used to it and learn that nothing awful is about to happen.

In the meantime, you might want to temporarily move your chicken wire to avoid any more problems if possible?? At least make sure you keep feeding the birds so they can refuel between their escaping

Zan

[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.

[peterjclarke]

One wood pigeon feeding on the ground ended up stuck in chicken wire

Sounds like things went a bit wrong with your first use of flash with birds. I've used flash for quite a while and in some cases it's essential. There is no way to tell how an animal will behave when a flashgun is fired. Some seem oblivious to it and some take fright. It does not matter what speices or type of animal as they all behave quite individualy. One problem I often encounter is with using TTL flash. The preflash sometimes scares the creature and they move quickly and you get an unsharp image because it has moved during the exposure. I also find TTL flash a bit slow because of the split second lag before the exposure and you've missed the moment. I often make a test exposure using manual flash and this solves both of these problems. You do have to consider the subjects wellbeing as a priority over making an image for example. You would not want to use flash on a sheep perched on the edge of a cliff.

Another thing with flash is that the flash synch speed can be quite slow at 1/125 th sec on some cameras but higher spec ones can have synch speeds of 1/250 th or 1/300 th of a second. Some higher end DSLR's can with a compatible flash gun can employ high speed flash which allows much faster shutter speeds. This is great for birds in flight when using a long lens you can still have a fast shutter speed when using flash for fill light.

[matt_xyz]

I've recently been using fill flash on birds, sometimes with an extender (i.e. to increase the range of the flash) sometimes without. I've found that if you're some distance from the bird it rarely takes any notice of the flash. Up close, some birds will fly off, but I've realised this is a result of the shutter noise as much as anything else.

In recent days I've taken a few shots of birds in my garden from close range using fill flash. Originally I was using my 30D and found that the birds didn't like the shutter noise. Today I switched to my 400D, which has a much quieter shutter, and found that the birds generally ignored both the shutter and the flash.

In sum, if the ambient light is very low (e.g. in woodland) and a flash is fired from close range it may scatter the birds, but then so too will the shutter of a 30D. On a brighter day, if the flash isn't too close, then the birds generally ignore it.

Matt

[peterjclarke]

Well said Matt. I love my X-tender too.

[pressld2]

I've used flash on a few occasions and never seen any reaction from the birds. Admittedly I've usually been at some distance and just using the flash for a fill light but I did once take some pictures of a robin in fairly dark woods and he didn't seem at all concerned either.

These were all taken with fill flash...



Dave P.

[Blackbrook Eye]

In low light I regularly use two flash heads for my bird pictures, and find that they very quickly get used to it, I agree that it is more likely the mirror noise that spooks them but in my experience they quickly get used to this too. Using two flash heads allows you to create more natural looking pictures with greater depth than using a single flash,. The picture was taken with one difused camera mounted flash and another at 90 degrees to the right which was not difused.

[glsammy]

The worse reaction I've had is the odd fluttering of wings, nothing more. They soon became used to the flash and generally ignored it.

[peterjclarke]

In low light I regularly use two flash heads for my bird pictures

I've often done the same and set one flashgun to a slightly higher power output to 'model' the light. Of course it can be tricky to balance with the ambient light so as not to underexpose the background.

I'm going to start photographing birds flying with 4 flasguns set to manual and my big lens stopped down to F16 or so. I will use two flashguns to light the subject and the other two for lighting an out of focus painted board background.

Below are a few of my examples of different flash techniques.



Straight forward diffused fill flash on manual


High speed flash using the flash as the main subject light as the Redstart was in shade but the background was in sunlight. 1/500th second exposure.


At a focal length of 1000mm the flash extender was used to boost the range of the manual flash as the 'main' light with this backlit shot. The Herons eye appeared like a pearl and had to be fixed in Photoshop (2mins).


Using the X-tender to boost TTL fill flash range.


TTL fill flash with x-tender



Slow shutter speed TTL flash to create a blurred movement shot 1/10th sec.


Another slow shutter speed but faster at 1/20th sec TTL fill flash.



This Grey Seal cow was not bothered by the TTL preflash.


This bull Grey Seal did flinch with the flash so I switched to manual but at a 1/15th sec I could not get the shots sharp. I switched to 'rear-curtain' (fires flash at the end of the exposure rather than the start). This worked a treat and I was able to get a few sharp shots.

[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.