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Using the ambush.. Nature.. How to take the most beautiful pictures.. Photography book

Nature

Using the ambush

You can get valuable pictures by using ambush: predators with a large and magnified shot, especially moving birds.
Ornithologists prefer to watch and photograph birds through the ambush. In some natural places designated for bird breeding, there are often permanent ambushes.

If you want to make a foldable and portable ambush for your personal use, use a wooden support frame covered with a resistant material, from the special tent fabric colored green or brown to blend well in the natural environment. The roof of the tent is made up of two pieces of this fabric: the first piece measures 4.80 meters x 1.50 meters and the other 1.20 meters x 1.5 meters. Line the long end of the first piece with the short end of the second piece and leave 2.40 meters empty on one end and 1.20 meters on the other end. Thus, you will have formed a tent in the shape of a cube placed on a simple wooden frame. For this frame prepare five lengths of 1.80 meters and four lengths of 1.40 meters in solid wood. With four of the five lengths of 1.80 meters form the edges of the tent and you plant them in the ground to form a square with a side of 1.10 meters, the fifth piece will be used diagonally to reinforce the stability of the whole. Connect the four pieces of 1.40 meters to form the roof bridge. Build your ambush very quickly and in complete secrecy at least 24 hours before you use it so that the animals get used to it.

Because of the long hours you will spend waiting, the inside of the ambush should provide a minimum of comfort and a small folding chair with a reserve of food and drink.

You can either cut a hole in the tent for the lens to pass through or you can prepare an adjustable hole with a zipper closure that allows you to place the lens at different heights. The interior of the den is very dark, so you have to overestimate the external light: constantly monitor the exposure conditions with a pseudometer. Avoid shiny objects and light clothing. Among the indispensable extras, let us mention the lens hood, the tripod and the soft shutter release. The shutter should not make too much noise, which unfortunately is not available in most modern small-sized cameras. The best pictures are those taken by photographers who have studied the lives of animals in order to become familiar with their behavior and to be able to anticipate their movements to some extent.

Bird photography in a permanent ambush

Here you see the interior of a permanent ambush in a natural centre for bird breeding. The location of this ambush was chosen so that observers could study several species of resident and nomadic birds in a place where rare bird species are found: since the ambush is permanent, the openings in it are larger than in a temporary ambush: most birds behave almost identically: they look for their food in the same places: they sit on the same branch not far from their nest. This allows to a large extent to anticipate their reactions by knowing in advance where they will undoubtedly return at one moment or another. However, a great deal of patience is required. I was lucky in the points of this picture, which represents a beautiful snow day that has temporarily come from the northern regions. The Lecaflex was equipped with a 500mm lens and worked at 1/500 sec at 8/F on Ford HP4 film.

Preparing the ambush

It is difficult and tiring for a photographer to sit cross-legged in a small ambush, especially if he has to wait for long hours before he can take the pictures that interest him. So the first important piece is a folding cloth chair. Put on thick clothes because the weather may change. Every good observer should be equipped with binoculars and books to identify the types of animals. A small notebook and pen and a bag for equipment and a complete photographic equipment: lenses, filters, films, etc. Carry a large knife with you to cut the branches of trees that will help you hide your ambush. Birds and other animals quickly forget their fear and dread after several hours of building the ambush. There is a trick that requires the photographer to enter with an assistant and when the latter leaves the ambush and goes away, the birds think that the ambush is empty.

Stereoscopic images without ambush

When I discovered this nest in the weeds that formed a hedge I waited five days to start taking pictures at 250 mm from the top of a nearby tree. On the sixth day I placed a triangular support in a field near the hedge so that the birds would get used to it. I put the camera on the support and equipped it with 400 mm and a button to take pictures from a distance. I hid myself four meters away and started taking pictures whenever the big birds came to feed their young.
Hasselblad 1/500 sec. 8 aperture Kodak Tri X for the two pictures.

Taking pictures from a distance:

The presence of the photographer scares the frightened animals and forces the birds to leave their nests and sometimes to abandon them completely. It is therefore important that the photographer can take pictures from a distance.

Some specialists use electronic circuits in which the shutter button moves automatically with the movement of the animal. Many lenses are available, some of which can be used from hundreds of meters away and even more. As for general use, a compressed air connection gives great results, but it does not allow the machine to move more than ten meters away. You must first make sure that the connection is working for the distance you have chosen.