BIRDS OF OUR BUSH 



have included the picture on page 47, which will show the 

 lack of detail in a photograph taken at a distance even 

 slightly greater than usual. However, we wish to do no 

 more than give the beginner the benefit of any experience 

 we have had, and this question, as all others, must be 

 decided by the taste and judgment of the photographer. 

 When dealing with larger subjects, of course, the distance 

 must be so increased as to cause the bird to occupy about 

 the same area on the plate. 



Before we leave the question of the position of the 

 camera, we wish to draw attention to another common 

 failing in bird pictures — one which, too often, is un- 

 avoidable to some extent. A glance at the picture of 

 a Straw-necked Ibis, appearing on page 111, would give 

 the impression that the bird represented was several 

 feet in height, or at any rate much larger than a 

 person acquainted with the bird knows to be the case. The 

 reason for this unnatural appearance is the fact that the 

 picture was taken with the camera (the old magazine one 

 at the time) fastened to the ground at so low a level as to 

 silhouette the bird against the trees and sky and to place 

 it in direct contrast to the large building in the back- 

 ground. This example only goes further to support our 

 idea that the camera should, where possible, be placed so as 

 to look downward slightly on the subject. 



When it happens that the tripod used is not high enough 

 to support the camera in the required position, we always 

 contrive to attain the necessary elevation by placing the 

 tripod on a rough staging rather than by adding to the 

 length of its legs. Sufficient logs, poles or other material 

 may usually be collected about the locality, and some stout 

 string does wonders in keeping these together. This rough 

 structure, besides giving stability to the camera when 

 worked by a thread, serves as a foothold for the operator 

 as he focusses. These stagings of ours have many times 

 been the cause of much merriment amongst other photo- 

 graphers, who never seem to accept our very kind invitation 

 to use them when they accompany us. We must admit 

 that a few times our structures have "let us down" at a 

 critical moment, but we nevertheless prefer them to the 

 great wobbly, unwieldly legs which other observers' 

 cameras are obliged to assume. Our sentiments towards 

 the above-mentioned means of elevation must be somewhat 



40 



