Wildlife Photography across the Water: Garden Birds and Nikon SU 800

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Garden Birds and Nikon SU 800

Its my 18th wedding anniversary tomorrow (yes she has every bodies condolences) and my lovely wife has bought me a Nikon SU 800 which is the equivalent of Canons ST-E2 remote flash controller, so yesterday i put the hide up in the garden and gave it a quick work out, I set my SB 900 flashgun to remote and with the SU 800 on the hot shoe took some images-NOTHING- as i suspected it needs clear field of view from the controller to the flashgun as with the Canon but unlike the pocket wizards which are out of budget, No problem, i just put the controller on its own tripod and connect it to the camera with a remote cord and put the controller so that it can see the flashgun through the hide window, The Nikon cord is long enough to connect the controller with it outside the hide which is a feature i like, Straight away the flash worked, I has positioned it about 5 feet in front of the hide and slightly to the left and slightly above the perch, I did a couple of test shots and played about with the flash compensation by using the SU 800-all very easy to do and takes a few seconds, I plan on using it for my night time photography in the coming months for fox.possum and Raccoon with the aid of multi flashguns, I was up and out at first light today in the hide with everything set up as before in the hope of getting some tufted titmouse of which i managed lots of shots but due to the very low light only one sharpish image, I am in the last throws of getting over a bad cold and now just have a cough which seems to coincide with anything landing on the perch, So after an hour or so i gave it best and headed in for a cup of coffee, First impressions of the SU 800 are good, Its well built and easy to set up, You see it alot on programmes like CSI were they have their Nikon's with a macro lens and 2 macro flashes set on the end of the lens and the SU 800 on the camera, The controller has 2 settings, 1 for macro and 1 for just controlling multi flash set up, The images are nothing special but it was only a test after all, There is a strong possibility of snow tomorrow so its time to get some decent perches set up just in case

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.