Sample photograph

[BobGilbody]

This photograph was an early attempt:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/167726...posted-public/

[pschlute]

Well your setup seems to be working very well, nice shot.

As to the question of whether to use flash to capture birds or other wild animals, I cannot answer.

[Manfred M]

I don't know anything about flash impacting birds, other than what I have just read.

On the other hand, there are the aesthetics of images coming from that technique and in my view, that is the issue with this image. An image taken when it is quite dark outside using artificial light, regardless of whether it comes from flash or any other source, tends to be stark and uninteresting. You have extreme highlights and extreme shadows (high dynamic range images), which are generally not pleasing to look at.

I can see using flash (used appropriately) as a fill light, but as a blunt and uninteresting light source, as shown here, it does not work all that well, in my view.

[BobGilbody]

Thanks for the edit, I'm not too good with computers.

[BobGilbody]

Thanks for the comment.

[BobGilbody]

The photo was taken at 2.30pm. It was a sunny day but the background was in shadow. The dark trees [ in shadow ] were removed by using Light Room and Photo Shop. I used two speed lights, one pretty much straight on the other high to the right. That resulted in shadows and the underside of the birds right wing appearing black. I watched some videos that addressed use of studio flash to get pleasing results for human portraits. I don't think they are applicable to birds. Hopefully with four speedlites I will overcome the problem of shadows.
Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.

Bob

[Manfred M]

The photo was taken at 2.30pm. It was a sunny day but the background was in shadow. The dark trees [ in shadow ] were removed by using Light Room and Photo Shop. I used two speed lights, one pretty much straight on the other high to the right. That resulted in shadows and the underside of the birds right wing appearing black. I watched some videos that addressed use of studio flash to get pleasing results for human portraits. I don't think they are applicable to birds. Hopefully with four speedlites I will overcome the problem of shadows.
Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.

Bob

As a studio photographer who does both people and still life, I can assume you that good lighting is applicable to ANY subject.

The size of the light source (relative to the subject) impacts both the direction and quality of the light. A larger light source that is closer to the subject will give a softer light. The delicate feathers in a bird will show better with more diffuse light. A small light source, much like the mid-day sun, creates a hard light. There is nothing wrong with hard light, as long as you can control it.

Most photographers try to avoid the hard transition that you have here as you drop from light to pure black. I would have guessed that this image had been long after sunset.

[BobGilbody]

I agree that good lighting is applicable to ANY subject. Then again I completed my PhD in speculative ontology when I was 65. Was a mining engineer in a former life. Never did manage to come to terms with ethics or aesthetics. Surely the purpose of studio lighting when applied to humans producing an image that will be viewed by humans is more complex than mere 'good lighting'. [ not sure what good lighting is ]
Birds do not have facial expressions in the way humans have facial expressions. We as humans might project things onto birds but that's another can of worms.
Thanks for the comments.

All the best Bob