APPARATUS AND METHODS OF 

 PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS 



[W. FARREN] 



So far as the photographic part of the work is concerned, there is no essential difference 

 in photographing birds and their nests and other subjects. I propose, therefore, to devote 

 the greater part of this chapter to hints and methods for overcoming the special difficulties 

 that are presented by the natural shyness of wild birds, and for giving natural representations 

 of their nests. 



The one purely photographic point I would emphasize is the importance of giving as full 

 an exposure as possible. In dealing with objects so near to the camera as birds and their nests 

 must be in order to give a large enough image, the contrast of heavy shadows and bright 

 patches of light in juxtaposition is accentuated, and nothing but a full exposure can prevent 

 a spotty, unnatural, and inartistic result. The question of backed, or colour corrected plates, 

 light filters, etc., can be left to the photographic temperament of the individual. 



I. SPECIAL APPARATUS 



For photographing birds' nests very little in the way of special apparatus is necessary ; in 

 fact, good work can be done with any ordinary stand camera, and a cheap single or rectilinear 

 lens. The most important addition is a device for tilting the camera. This may be in the form 

 of a ball-and-socket joint on the tripod head, or preferably, for the sake of rigidity, a tilting- 

 table. It can be obtained from almost any firm of camera manufacturers, or, as the construc- 

 tion is simple, it can be home-made. The simplest form consists of two boards hinged on the 

 front edge. The bottom board is secured to the tripod head with a thumb-screw in the same 

 way that the camera is usually fixed, and another screw passing through the centre of the 

 upper board secures the camera. Slotted struts of brass or other suitable metal on each side, 

 pivoted to the edge of the upper board and sliding on milled-headed or thumb-screws on the 

 lower board, allow of its being fixed at any desired angle. 



It is frequently necessary to fix the camera very low when photographing nests on the 

 ground. The lowest elevation of commercially manufactured tripods is too high for special 

 requirements ; some telescopic metal stands close down short enough, but these are too flimsy. 

 Special low tripods for this purpose are made by more than one firm of camera manufacturers. 

 Those I have seen have the great disadvantage of being non-adjustable as to height. The 

 carrying of two tripods is, moreover, in my opinion, a very poor way of providing for fixing the 

 camera at less than a certain height. A very little ingenuity is necessary to devise a tripod for 

 general use, with a minimum elevation of about two feet. I have one made to my own design, 

 which is four jointed ; there is no folding, but all the joints slide one in the other, and it can 

 be fixed at any height from about 18 inches to nearly 6 feet high. (See Figs. 1 and 3, Plate 

 LXXVIII.) A piece of special apparatus often required when photographing nests is a small 

 pocket-mirror for reflecting light on to a nest in a dark situation. 



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