Photographing Birds' Nests 153 



been done there ; but I would not advise any but 

 those who are perfectly level-headed and sure- 

 footed, in other words good climbers, to try it, for 

 the situations are often dangerous, necessitating, 

 as they do, the use of both hands for the manipu- 

 lation of the camera, and thus leaving to the legs 

 and feet alone the duty of holding one in the tree. 



Two methods can be used for securing the 

 camera in the tree. The tripod can be lashed 

 securely to several of the limbs or branches, or the 

 camera can be fastened directly to one of them by 

 means of the ball-and-socket clamp. The latter 

 method is by far the easiest and most satisfactory, 

 although upon some occasions it will be found 

 necessary to employ the former. 



The same general directions hold good here 

 concerning the surroundings of the nest, except 

 that a greater number of leaves in the foreground 

 will have to be removed in most cases. This is 

 owing to the fact that the slightest breeze will 

 often sway not only the branch upon which the 

 nest is built, but also the one upon which the 

 camera is fastened, and this is ruination to all 

 sharpness of outline in the picture. Guy ropes 

 are here of no avail, and so a short exposure is 

 almost always absolutely necessary. 



This necessitates a larger stop and, conse- 

 quently, less depth of field. Leaves in the back- 

 ground must, obviously, be out of focus, but it is 



