1002 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 1917 



How the Forest Animals Are ''Snapped'' 



Photographing by flashhght is one 

 of the more recent advancements in 

 the field of picture-taking which has 

 helped to secure for photography a 

 permanent place among the arts. 

 Paul J. Rainey, the explorer and 

 hunter of wild animals, proved several 

 years ago at the first exhibition of his 

 wild animal flashlight pictures taken 

 in Africa, that this class of photo- 

 graphy offered a virgin field to the 

 manufacturer of apparatus and to the 

 man behind the camera. ' Soon after 

 this there was an awakened interest 

 in animal film shooting in preference 

 to gun or tra^pshooting. 



At the present time photographic 

 flashlight apparatus has been de- 

 veloped to a point where guesswork 

 is eliminated and where it is possible 

 to photograph any object in motion. 

 To do this it is necessary for the 

 camera to catch the object in motion 

 just at the instant when the flash 

 powder is giving forth its brightest 

 light. This requirement calls for a 

 high-speed shutter to stop the motion 

 on the plate of the object being photo- 

 graphed. With a flashlamp recently 

 perfected by William Nesbit, the 

 shutter is automatically snapped at 

 exactly the moment when the light 

 from the flash powder is most intense. 

 His apparatus has been widely used 

 to take flashlights of wild animals in 

 their haunts and has given uniformly 

 good results. 



Must Act Quickly 



When flash powder is ignited it does 

 not burn up or explode instantly, as 

 might be supposed. It burns more 

 and more brightly until it reaches its 

 point of greatest brightness, from 

 which point on it dies down until it 

 goes out. This whole operation takes 

 at the most one-fifth of a second. 

 However, good pictures will be ob- 

 tained only if the camera is snapped 

 during this fifth of a second, when the 

 flash powder burns the brightest. 



On the other hand, this point can 

 never be definitely determined before 

 taking the picture. It changes for 



different powders and also varies for 

 the same powder, since the powder 

 may become slightly damp and will 

 not burn in the same way. It is evi- 

 dent, then, that to snap the camera 

 at precisely the right moment is not 

 so easy as it might appear. 



The flash lamp devised by Mr. 

 Nesbit consists of an aluminum con- 

 tainer to hold the flash powder, a 

 cover for this container, a mechanism 

 to fire the powder, and an attach- 

 ment which will automatically snap 

 the shutter of the camera at the 

 moment when the flash powder is 

 burning brightest. The unit is water- 

 proof and so compact that it can be 

 readfly attached to a tree or other 

 convenient support. 



Tie Wire to Bait ^ 



The flash powder is placed in a box 

 made waterproof by a coat of paraffin 

 and is then placed in the space pro- 

 vided for it in the flashlamp. The 

 powder is fired either by a blank 

 cartridge or by an electric spark fur- 

 nished by a dry battery. A firing-pin, 

 controlled by a spring and a trigger, 

 simi ar to those used in a rifle or re- 

 volver sets off the cartridge. 



When taking a flashlight of an 

 animal, a wire is attached to the 

 trigger and then tied to bait of some 

 sort. The animal is attracted by the 

 bait, and if it touches it, the wire is 

 pulled, which, in turn, pulls the 

 trigger, releases the firing-pin and 

 ignites the powder by exploding the 

 blank cartridge. When the powder is 

 to be ignited electrically, a wire is 

 stretched from a switch to the bait. 

 Once the bait is touched a circuit is 

 closed and an electric spark sets off 

 the powder. 



"VALUABLE PUBLIC SERVICE" 



Regina, Sask. 

 Canadian Forestry Association: — 



Enclosed is my annual fee. The 

 Association is doing valuable public 

 service in pressing campaigns for 

 safetv in the forested parts of Canada. 



N. F. B. 



