Wildlife Photography across the Water: Tips and Techniques- Use of wireless multi flash

Monday 13 July 2009

Tips and Techniques- Use of wireless multi flash

Once again i will back up Martins last post about the use of remote wireless flash use,A couple of years ago i spent a very nice summer shooting European Badgers at night,Badgers suffer from 'white eye' if the lights are on camera so need to be set away from the camera/lens set up. I started off using the 2 EX550 flashguns that i had,both in front of the subject and one to either side of the camera, This was OK but gave a 'studio' feel to the shot so i bought 2 more flashguns so that i had 2 in front of the subject and 2 behind lighting up the background, This gave more depth to the image rather than just having a black background,I was shooting with Canon gear at the time using the ST-E2 to trigger the flashguns that had been set as 'slaves', the set up i had for badgers was 1 flashgun set about 4 feet each side of the camera-1 being about 5 feet high shooting down and 1 set low to the ground, The idea being to light the badger from above with the high light and the low light would lighten underneath the chin, I would look through the viewfinder and see what needed to be lit behind and set the lights up accordingly,A simple but effective set up, I had the ST-E2 set up on a L bracket so i could swap from landscape to portrait without affecting the trigger,The focusing was set to manual and i would prefocus whilst it was still light on a small amount of food that i had carefully placed,

I also used Canons 20D instead of the 1D MK2 that i had at the time as the shutter was much quieter and was less likely to spook the animal-today i would use the 1D3 if i still use Canon as it has a brilliant silent shutter mode,
You can trigger 'slave' flashguns by having a 'master' gun set up on the camera but i preferred this set up for what i was doing at the time, I still have yet to get a Nikon equivalent but its on the list

Dave

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.