More Pixels?....... Do We Really Need Them?

[John D]

I note your reply Kevin regarding the use of FLASH but question if the use of FLASH is acceptable when photographing wildlife. The last thing we should be doing is upsetting (spooking) wildlife just to satisfy our desire to get a photograph. Surely the wildlife comes first our desire to get a photograph is secondary.
Just MHO.
John D

[paulthomas]

Originally Posted by John D

I note your reply Kevin regarding the use of FLASH but question if the use of FLASH is acceptable when photographing wildlife. The last thing we should be doing is upsetting (spooking) wildlife just to satisfy our desire to get a photograph. Surely the wildlife comes first our desire to get a photograph is secondary.
Just MHO.
John D

I think reaction to flash varies from species to species. I've taken photos of Red Squirrels using flash and they took absolutely no notice

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by paulthomas

I think reaction to flash varies from species to species. I've taken photos of Red Squirrels using flash and they took absolutely no notice

I agree with you paul - Ive used flash with a fair number of different species without problems but there are some species where it is a no no. anything that might have been shot at, such as deer, will undoubtedly be spooked.

with regard to jonnys picture - i think a liitle bit of photoshoperry would be the best bet to lighten the face

[Jonny]

Thanks for your help guys. I nearly went the dslr route as I used to have an slr, minolta 700si, and I had a decent 500mm lense for it, which would of gone on the 7d ok. Sold it all on ebay to pay for the h1 (which was going to be a panasonic fz20). I think I will stick to point and shoot, I do lose loads of shots, but I am out a lot, so have many oppertunities. Eeyore, cheers for the comments, the deer had a fawn with it, thats why it didn't run off. I wouldn't of seen it if it wasn't for my boy who spotted it, about 30 to 40 feet away, it must of been laying down, and then stood up as we got closer.................Jon

[eeyore]

Jonny, I have taken the liberty of doing a little bit of photoshop on the pic to improve the facial lighting, as mentioned above, hope you dont mind.

It might also be worth applying a bit of gausian blur to the background and cloning out the nettle stem crossing the right ear - but i didnt have the time to do these right now.

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by eeyore

Jonny, I have taken the liberty of doing a little bit of photoshop on the pic to improve the facial lighting, as mentioned above, hope you dont mind.

It might also be worth applying a bit of gausian blur to the background and cloning out the nettle stem crossing the right ear - but i didnt have the time to do these right now.

Wow what a difference, thats really good, cheers.................Jon

[Beryl]

I think if you need to print on A 3 paper is where you will need the extra pixels

[Kev Lewis]

Originally Posted by John D

I note your reply Kevin regarding the use of FLASH but question if the use of FLASH is acceptable when photographing wildlife. The last thing we should be doing is upsetting (spooking) wildlife just to satisfy our desire to get a photograph. Surely the wildlife comes first our desire to get a photograph is secondary.
Just MHO.
John D

I couldn't agree more John, the welfare of the animal always comes first as I've commented on previously. The best image is one that you are happy with AND you can walk away leaving the wildlife undisturbed.

As others have said later in the thread the reactions vary greatly from species to species and also when and where the flash is used. Using flash in bright sunlight to balance the image has little or no effect on most species as the flash lighting level is less than the dominant ambient light level, they appear to think it's lightning, which they see all the time??. Instances where flash shouldn't be used is when the ambient light levels are very low and the flash would be the dominant light source. As the eye will have started to open up to compensate for the low light the flash would have a significant impact. At night I wouldn't recommend flash at all, just enjoy what you can see and take home memories