shooting birds at night

[flowergirl]

I shot this heron on a night shoot last night. I used an external flash, as there was no way, even at iso1600, that i could get enough light. I have posted the original first, and the edited version second. iso400, f5.6, 1/40, tripod. I used 580ex flash, set to whatever the default setting is? ttl or etl or whatever it is called. I have absolutely no experience whatsoever on how to shoot with flash at night on nature subjects. (well, anything for that matter!). I usually hate flash, because it causes the eye to be either red or white, and the colour is usually off. I processed this in raw, then finished in photoshop. I am happy enough with the result as a record shot, but i would love to know how to shoot nature with flash. And please don't tell me to carry all sorts of light, i am talking about being on the move. My flash was mounted on camera, would it maybe have worked better if it was angled off to one side?
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f24/ottine/IMG_4344web-2.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f24/ottine/IMG_4344p_filteredpweb-1.jpg

[Dimitri]

I`m surprised you even got a picture, i take it it was pitch black?
I don`t know if i can help here as i have no knowledge of the subject but when i once shot in a dark area, i used (under advise) iso 100, aper f 8 and speed 1/160 in full manual mode and let the flash to throw the right amount of light and it worked fine with great results.
However, i was only a few feet far from the subject.

[flowergirl]

Dimitri, it was light enough for me to see the subject, but the river was the background. I also shot in iso100, the pictures seemed the same. iso 100, 200 and 400. I might have chosen this one of the bunch as the eyes were okay. In the others, the eye was either red, or that horrible scary white/opaque look. I thought f5.6 to try and get as much natural light, but i guess if i am using flash.....Maybe a diffuser on my flash might help? I guess also, i only had a few minutes to shoot, so couln't experiment with different settings. i only spotted the bird more or less as we were leaving. I could easily have stayed another hour!

[Dimitri]

Dimitri, it was light enough for me to see the subject, but the river was the background. I also shot in iso100, the pictures seemed the same. iso 100, 200 and 400. I might have chosen this one of the bunch as the eyes were okay. In the others, the eye was either red, or that horrible scary white/opaque look. I thought f5.6 to try and get as much natural light, but i guess if i am using flash.....Maybe a diffuser on my flash might help?

I have no idea Tina, i hope someone else can be of more use.:|

[CarolP]

I am pretty clueless when it come to night or flash photography. I did find a website on the computer that covers just about everything though. It is:
http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-flash/

One of these days I plan on reading it.

He does mentiont that when taking flash photography of a distant subject in a dimly lit area with a zoom you are likely to end up with red eyes unless you distance your flash from the camera and even a shoe mount won't be good enough. Not much of a help but it explains the problem.

[flowergirl]

carol, thankyou very much for that. Havn't time right now to read, but will definitely do so soon. It is a problem i want to fix/learn how to do better.

[JLP]

I've not looked at the web-site mentioned, but from experience of photographing rally cars at night with flash (and on slide film - zero tolerance!) I had to use up to 2 extra stops. I think this is due to the guide numbers being calculated for an area where you are likely to get some reflected light. (that could be rubbish, of course, but it has been 20-odd years and things may have moved on) It might be worth a try on a ststic subject before you rush around flashing at birds in the dark - if you see what I mean.

[flowergirl]

thanks john. good tip. It was just so unexpected, we were doing some nights shots in the city, next to the river. found him on the way home.

[JLP]

I know the feeling. My one and only trip to Australia was 'interrupted' by a
possum, which was being fed half way up a tree. My photos weren't as good as your original, which, all things considered, is not half bad

[flowergirl]

possums are so cute, but they are also a pest. It is going to cost me over $600 to get rid of the pussum that has claimed my home as her home, and to make it possum proof! I am going to put a box in the tree and hope she makes her home there. They can sure make a racket too. I had a large tree next to my bedroom window, and occassionally i would get woken up by the most horrendous and weird noises. Bit like aliens! Took me ages to work out what the hell it was.

[Mitcon]

Tina, may I ask what gear you were using ?
Changing ISO would have not made any difference. I do some nocternal wildlife shoots when asked and they can be alot of fun. You don't need to carry a heap of lighting or gear, your camera and flash should be enough and fast glass is not needed. I use my slow old Sigma 50-500 in sometimes total darkness with the 580 EX.

I don't know why these came out so dark for you as even on auto/standard settings they should have been better. No real need for a diffuser either unless you want a softer light. I would advise settings like the ones Dimitri was advised as your not using avail light theres no point in large apertures. Manual mode, f8 and focal speed equal to or greater than focal length, forget the tripod and meter off the subject itself. You should be able to get good results from the 580EX on it's standard ETTL settings.

You could increase the exposure settings if the flash isn't putting out enough light, but if you meter corectly and use manual mode it should work fine.

[flowergirl]

thanks wayne for the tips. I was using the 580ex, 100-400, but i must admit, i tried to angle it slightly up, as for some reason, i just don't like the light the flash makes. i used flash up north when i was trying to shoot a kingfisher in the very early morning, and just hated the result, apart from the fact that the eyes look horrible. I shot in manual mode, and manual focus, as the lens could not pick up the bird. I am sure the bird was close enough for the flash output. I actually deleted the brightest, thought it too bright, on the camera. Stupid me, must always check on the computer first!!

[Mitcon]

I never chimp, always wait and look at images on the computer. I never trust that little screen for anything but histogram and like info. I'm not a fan of the lighting a direct flash gives either but when there's no other light sorce and you want to keep things compact and simple it's what you have to deal with. There are things you can try/do though, if you like to angle the flash up slightly you might like to try making a little bounce card for the top of your flash. Did you try AF ? I often prefer MF in low light but I have found that my lenses will AF even in total darkness with the AF flash assit on most the time when I have tried.

[flowergirl]

i tried af, but it wouldn't do it.. maybe i didn't have af flash assist on? i did notice that i didn't get a red beam, maybe something went wrong there. Maybe the flash wasn't on auto, i really don't know. I have only ever used my flash a few times. Will take much more notice next time!