Trogon Photo Tours

November 2019 - This month's article goes through different flash and setup shots taken on our Arizona photo workshops and scouting trips there. 

Broad-billed Hummingbird photographed by Nate Chappell at Amado, AZ.  Canon 1D3, 500F4 manual mode, 1/250 F25, iso 250, 4 slave flashes set at 1/32, artificial background, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  With this multi-flash setup I was able to stop down a great deal and just focus on the flowers, when a hummingbird showed up I would fire away and often I would have enough depth of field to get it in focus.  The reason only 1/250 of a second works in this case is that the flashes are supplying all the light, the exposure would be black without the slave flashes.  The duration of the slave flashes at 1/32 is about 1/8000 of a second which becomes the effective shutter speed for the shot. 

Broad-billed Hummingbird photographed by Nate Chappell at Madera Canyon, Arizona.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x, 1/2500 F8, iso 1000, Av mode, evaluative metering -0.3, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  This was a setup shot, but not a multi-flash one.  I placed the flower in a clamp and put sugar water on it. We were shooting in bright sunlight so I was able to get a fast shutter speed and freeze the wings in some shots despite not using a flash at all.  I was trying to focus on the bird here rather than the flower as I couldn't use as much depth of field as I needed to keep my shutter speed up. 

Lesser Long-nosed Bat photographed by Ken Archer in Madera Canyon, Arizona.  Canon 7D2, 24-70mm at 65mm, manual exposure, 1/200 F20, iso 400, 4 slave flashes at 1/16, remotely fired.  This shot was set up next to a hummingbird feeder which these nectar feeding bats visit in the evening.  This technique is similar to the hummingbird multi-flash technique except no artificial background is needed because they are night animals and a black background is fine if not preferable. 

Ring-tailed Cats photographed at Madera Canyon, Arizona by Ken Archer.  Canon 5D4, 100-400 at 124mm, manual exposure, 1/200 F22, iso 400, 3 slave flashes at 1/16, remotely fired.  While one normally wouldn't think to use multi-flash on a mammal like this there are some advantages if you know where the animals will be and can get the flashes set up.  Rather than using one flash straight from the hotshoe using 3 slave flashes spread out the light from different directions at a lower power, this greatly reduces the chance of getting red eye or eye shine and provides more even lighting throughout.  We have been able to locate these animals on our last 2 trips to Arizona so we plan to try and photograph them during each Arizona photo workshop going forward.  Staying a couple of nights at Santa Rita Lodge inside the canyon will greatly increase our chances for this species. 

Pallid Bat photographed by Nate Chappell at Amado, Arizona.  Canon 5D3, 500F4, manual exposure, 20 seconds on bulb firing continually, F22, iso 800, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head, Phototrap, 4 slave flashes triggered by bat crossing infrared laser.  Down at the pond in Amado we use a different setup.  Here the slave flashes are fired by the bats going through the laser target.  Because the shutter of the cameras are continually open an exposure is made when the flashes go off.  The result is you have a lot of images that are just pure black where no bats have entered the frame during the 20 seconds, however when a bat trips the trigger you generally get a really nice image like this one.   

Little Brown Bats photographed by Nate Chappell at Amado, Arizona.  Canon 5D3, 500F4, manual exposure, 20 seconds on bulb firing continually, F22, iso 800, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head, Phototrap, 4 slave flashes at 1/16 triggered by bat crossing infrared laser.  Because the shutter is open for 20 seconds sometimes you get 2 bats in the frame which are most likely bats coming through at 2 different times and creating a multiple exposure on the same frame.  Contrast this with Ken's image above which was shot at 1/200 where the 2nd bat is just another bat coming in at a distance at the same time. 

Curve-billed Thrasher and White-winged Dove photographed by Nate Chappell at Amado, AZ, Canon 5D3, 500F4 1/3200 F9, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  We placed some suet inside this set up Cholla Cactus and it provided a lot of great photo opportunities.  In this case we would just focus on the top of the cactus and lock the focus by releasing my finger from the back button focus.  Then whenever there were birds on top of the cactus I would fire away, in this case the Thrasher put up a defensive posture as the dove came flying in to land.  Because it was pretty bright I was able to stop down to F9 and get both of them pretty sharp.  This image was awarded in the Audubon Contest top 100 for 2018.  

House Finch, Pyrrhuloxia and Northern Cardinal photographed by Nate Chappell at Amado, Arizona.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1/2500 F6.3, iso 1600, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  This is a shot from the same setup a couple of days later when the weather wasn't cooperating as much.  I couldn't use as much depth of field or my iso would have been very high.  The result is if you view the image close up (50 or 100%) the birds are not all that sharp but for web presentation it works well.  However, this image was also awarded in the Audubon top 100, this time in 2019.  I entered the image despite the lack of critical sharpness because I thought the image was so unique with the birds in 3 different positions, I guess the judges agreed.  

Hooded Oriole photographed by Nate Chappell at Amado, Arizona.  Canon 5D3 500F4, 1.4x, 1/4000 F8, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering at -0.3, 580ex fill flash at -1.0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  We always do a fair amount of setups with flowers at our site in Amado.  I dripped sugar water on this flower to attract this species and others.  I used some fill flash to help fill in any shadows as the sun had gotten very bright by this point.  Since my shutter speed was very fast I filled at -1.0 rather than -2.0 or lower as the fast shutter speed lessens the power of the flash.  We didn't do very well with Orioles and Tanagers this year in April so we moved the 2020 workshop back to May which is when it previously was and this image was taken.  It seemed like it was a late migration in 2019 as well.

Greater Roadrunner photographed by Nate Chappell at Amado, Arizona.  Canon 1DX II, 100-400 at 220mm, 1/3200 F6.3, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, handheld.  The tame (but wild) Roadrunners were the stars of the show during our workshop this year.  To get this shot, we place a couple of perches about 10 yards away from each other.  Then we put meal worms on top of the perch opposite the Roadrunner, he then flies from one perch to the next to collect the meal worms, giving us lots of opportunities for flight shots. 

Rivoli's Hummingbird photographed by Ken Archer in Madera Canyon, Arizona.  Canon 5D4, 600F4 1.4x 1/250 F8, manual exposure, Tripod.   Of course we take non set up shots as well.  Ken photographed this beautiful male Rivoli's (formerly Magnificent) Hummingbird in Madera Canyon this year.