NEST-PHOTOGRAPHY. 35 



they come out in the print as staring white 

 patches without a semblance to a dark green leaf. 

 The worst of these had better be nipped off, and 

 the others bent into a fresh position so as not to 

 throw the light into the lens, and a very full 

 exposure should be given. 



Nests in Tall Trees. 



At first thought a hand-camera seems to be the 

 most natural and convenient form for use amid 

 the slender branches of lofty trees, and it is 

 constantly taken for granted that a tripod cannot 

 possibly be of use " up there," but in point of fact 

 there is probably no place when the despised legs 

 are more essential than in tree-work. It may be 

 said at once that nest-photography is, broadly 

 speaking, time-exposure work, the great depth of 

 focus required, dictating stopping - down and a 

 consequent long exposure; and what chance is 

 there of finding a firm resting place for a hand- 

 camera on the narrow rounded limbs at the top of 

 a tree ? No, this is emphatically the place for the 

 tripod. The legs can be spread out and lashed 

 to any convenient branches, the great difficulty 

 arising when branches are absent. A nest placed 

 in a tall, thin larch with only a tuft of 

 feathery branches at the top, is the extreme of 

 difficulty. Sometimes the summit of another larch 

 standing near by (and these trees rarely grow 



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