24 NATURE AND THE CAMERA 



select the most suitable point of view, one that shows 

 the nest to the best advantage and at the 'same time 

 gives a proper idea of the environment, which is a 

 very important consideration. 



Having chosen your point, remove or fasten back 

 the intervening branches. The view of the nest 

 being comparatively unobstructed, place your camera 

 on a very low tripod or even on a pile of stones. 

 The object of this is to avoid the effect of looking 

 directly down on the nest, for that simply shows a 

 plan of the nest and eggs, without giving a proper 

 idea of either its form or its position. 



In these plan-like photographs of nests it is some- 

 times difficult to determine whether the nest is in a 

 bush or on the ground. Some people have the idea 

 that in order to obtain a good photograph of a nest 

 all the eggs should be visible, and everything is 

 sacrificed to that end. I have seen deep nests, such 

 as the vireo's or even the Baltimore oriole's, photo- 

 graphed directly from above, so that only the rim of 

 the nest itself was visible. In this way no idea of the 

 exquisite form of the structure was given. It is quite 

 sufficient if about half of the egg shows in the pic- 

 ture. The nearer ground the camera is placed, to 

 within about eight inches, the better will be the 

 effect of ground; but it must be remembered that, in 

 addition to the full use of the swing-back, the lens 

 will have to be stopped down to its limit (i.e., the 



