Birds on the Wing

Forest and Bird, Volume 18, Issue 4, 1 November 1987, Page 21

Birds on the Wing

By

Peter Daniel

H~ does one go about photographing native birds in flight? I asked myself this question over and over during our first few years on Kapiti Island. If I could do it, not only would it be exceptionally rewarding for me, but other people could see the beauty of our birds in action, and maybe their interest in and love of them would be enhanced. If people see any object as one of great beauty, then it becomes indelibly printed in their minds as something to be treasured. This was the kind of image of our native

birds that I set out to capture. Living here on the island, I occasionally got quick glimpses of beautiful colours and forms that, I realised, the human eye was too slow to register properly. Thinking about this made me realise that the birds themselves would be able to see all this beauty, hence one of the reasons that most birds within a species display to one another. Photography has been a serious hobby for me for nearly 30 years. After we moved to Kapiti in mid-1976, I soon realised the tremendous possibilities. My early attempts

were comparatively crude, but as time went by I became more discriminating. Between 1981 and 1985 I went through the phase of photographing birds at the nest from a hide. This was very satisfying at first, but I was still not doing what I really dreamed of, i.e. catching the birds in action. Then during 1985 I bought second-hand a large powerful flash unit with a revolutionary facility called power-ratio, which made it possible to reduce the flash duration. | soon realised that with this function, especially if | used a couple more flash units

with the same capability, | might freeze the movement. More pocket money, mine and my wife's, was used to buy another flash. I discovered that an older flash could be converted to power-ratio with an appropriate module, so I bought this too. I was successful at my first attempt, though I must admit to having used 12 rolls of Kodachrome 25 and 64. I used a standard lens and all three flashes set on 1/5000 sec. Two exposures of kakas in flight were successful. For me it was a dream come true.

Since then I have progressed to a 6 x 7 cm medium format camera. To fit the whole of a flying bird within the frame of the negative, its image should be small relative to the size of the negative. If the image is very small, however, it will not enlarge satisfactorily. The answer is to increase the size of the negative relative to the image of the bird, i.e. use a larger format. I do my own colour printing, and it is a pleasure to enlarge from 6 x 7 negatives. I now have a remote set-up which needs tending two or three times a day, but trig-

gers when a bird lands on a perch. The set-up consists of an infra-red transmitter on a tripod, connected by a 5-metre cable to a micro-switch which is triggered when the perch is depressed. There is a slight delay, so the bird is normally photographed as it flies off. The transmitter is aimed at the receiver on the camera, thus activating the shutter, power winder and one flash unit attached to the camera. The other two flashes are activated by the first flash via slave units. Doing my owncolour enlarging (up to size

40 x 50 cm) has heightened by awareness of what sort of negative or positive is required to make a good print. In spite of a big outlay on equipment and materials, years of practice and using up all of my spare time, approximately 98 percent of my exposed negatives are failures. | would strongly advise anyone contemplating doing the same thing to save up and buy adequate supplies of film. If you are mean with your film, forget about trying this sort of technique. When | photograph birds, I do so without damaging the surroundings. This means

that, instead of breaking off a branch which is in the way, I either move the camera or temporarily tie back the branch with string. This applies to small branches as well as big ones. There are people who have actually threatened species in other countries in their total obsession with getting a good photograph. When a hide is set up in the trees, no nails are used. A platform is tied to trunks and branches with rope and the hide is placed on top of this. A ladder is used for access. I repeat, no nails are used at all. ¥

Peter Daniel has been the Kapiti Island ranger since 1976. Prior to that he and his wife Linda lived on Fiordland’s remote Puysegur Lighthouse and on Stephen’s Island.