BIRDS AND THE CAMERA 



155 



all the conditions are perfect and one uses keen judgment 

 as to the exact instant when the exposures are made, and 

 if he is lucky, one plate out of three should yield a perfect 

 picture. Taking wind and weather as they come and nests 

 in all varieties of locations, one can count himself fortunate 

 if he secures one perfect picture out of thirty exposures. 

 This does not apply to feeding station pictures where con- 

 ditions are much simpler and more easily controlled and 

 where a far greater percentage of perfect pictures can be 

 expected. As it is the object of this article to show how 

 bird photography is done, 

 rather than to depict its 

 difficulties, in order that 

 those who are interested may 

 secure another resource for 

 their leisure hours, we might 

 well begin with this simplest 

 form of bird photography. 

 The feeding station . We 

 will assume that birds have 

 been attracted to a feeding 

 log according to the explana- 

 tions in the December issue 

 of American Forestry for 

 1915 and that a number of 

 birds are coming regularly 

 to be fed, either near a win- 

 dow or to a spot in the 

 woods. It is then time to 

 arrange the perch upon 

 which the birds are to be 

 photographed, for in tak- 

 ing bird portraits one soon 

 learns that the field of the 

 camera is extremely small 

 and the focal range very 

 limited. The camera 

 must be focused on a nar- 

 rowly delimited area and 

 the birds must come to ex- 

 actly that spot, for a frac- 

 tion of an inch difference 

 will often ruin the picture. 

 When ready to take the 

 photograph all other food should be removed or cov- 

 ered so as to increase the chances of the bird's coming to 

 the exact spot. It always takes birds some time to get 

 used to a camera, so a box should be kept where the cam- 

 era is to be placed for several days previously. In fact 

 it is well, instead of using a tripod, to drive a post in the 

 ground as in the accompanying illustration of a photo- 

 graphic station near a window and keep a box perma- 

 nently in position where the camera can be concealed. 

 When all is in readiness, a thread or a long rubber tube 

 is stretched from the shutter to the window or hiding 

 place and one waits for the bird to come. Even more 

 convenient than the thread or long tube is a device made 

 from the electro-magnet of a doorbell, which, by the use 

 of a couple of dry cells, can be made to trip the shutter 

 even more successfully than the thread. 



LESSON IN NEST PHOTOGRAPHY 



The floating nest and environs of the pied-billed grebe. In photographing birds' 

 nests one should try to show as much of the environment as possible without 

 making the nest too small. 



one-fiftieth of a second is 



The camera. -For this type of photography almost any 

 kind of a camera will do even a kodak with a portrait 

 lens attachment and with no focusing device can be used 

 because the distance from the lens to the spot where the 

 bird will be can easily be measured. The best camera 

 for bird photography, however, is one that has a ground 

 glass for focusing and has a bellows length of at least, 

 fourteen inches (preferably more) so that a portrait at- 

 tachment will be unnecessary. A 4 x 5 size will prove 

 most convenient for all-around work. 



Thelens. The longer the 

 focal length of the lens, the 

 better, because it permits 

 one to use the camera at a 

 greater distance, and even 

 when this does not seem 

 necessary it is an advan- 

 tage because even the tamest 

 birds will jump at the click 

 of the shutter and when the 

 camera is farther away, the 

 sound is not so audible. 

 Telephoto lenses, however, 

 are unserviceable for most 

 bird work because they re- 

 quire too much care when 

 focusing and too much time 

 when exposing. The more 

 expensive anastigmat lenses 

 are the most satisfactory 

 because they permit of 

 shorter exposures, thus de- 

 creasing the chances of the 

 bird's moving, and permit 

 of taking pictures on days 

 when the sun is not shining. 

 Any lens, however, is satis- 

 factory when the light is 

 good. 



The shutter. For feeding 

 station pictures and most 

 other work, the ordinary 

 lens shutter working at one- 

 fifth, one- twenty-fifth, and 

 satisfactory, although the 



shutter that makes the least noise is the best. Multi- 

 speed and focal plane shutters which are necessary for 

 flight pictures requiring an exposure of not more than 

 one-eight-hundredth of a second are not necessary here. 



The exposure. In photographing birds or other ob- 

 jects at close range, about double the exposure required 

 for landscape work is necessary. Thus in bright sunlight 

 the correct exposure with the diaphragm at F. 11 or 

 U. S. 8 would be one-twenty-fifth of a second. Birds which 

 jump at the click of the shutter show movement in a one- 

 twenty-fifth second exposure, so it is better to open the 

 diaphragm to F. 8 or U. S. 4 and give one-fiftieth of a sec- 

 ond exposure. On dull days the exposure must be length- 

 ened as in other photography and many of the negatives 

 will be ruined by the movement of the bird. 



