My two cents. I think you might try longer exposures with a polarizer. The pol will cut out glare from the glass and a longer exposure will bring the nest and birds into good light without flash. This will, of course, wash out bright leaves. Since a flash rig seems to get more and more complex the more you think about it in this situation, I think the simplest option (no flash) is best. A reflector rig might work if the nest were empty, but since there are nesting birds there a big shiny reflector (or a powerful flash for that matter) may just scare away the parents for good.
Ken Archer is a nature photographer on the list. Hopefully he will respond and give a more professional point of view. Thanks, Deb --- "Ryan K. Brooks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi all, > > Somewhat of a flash-newbie here. I do mostly > landscape and available > light shooting, but I've got a really neat bird nest > (complete with three > young and two very caring parents) easily accessable > thru a window. > > I've been shooting (moderately successfully) with > Delta 3200 to get into the > shadows, but would like to do some color work. To > do this, I really need to > use flash, but I've got two problems: > > - Besides the little "leafy tunnel" I'm shooting > through, there's really no > other place for large uninterrupted passage of > light- I'm concerned about > heavy shadowing from all the leaves and branches. > > - I'm going through glass. The birds are about 2.5 > feet on the other side of > a window. > > It's almost like I need a real diffuse source of > light outside (it's in a > shadowed area all day), but am not sure how to > achieve this. I can work a 5P > cable outside, to either a 360 or 550 flash- I'm > using a MZ-S for 35mm so I do > have some wireless options as well (but this will be > difficult to do w/o the > built in flash reflecting off my window.). > > Any thoughts? Is this just impossible? Again, > just thought I'd ask the > experts since this might be better answered by a > studio person. > > There's a semi-live (and somewhat crappy) updating > web cam pic here: > > http://friends.backcountry.net/nest/image.jpg > > If that helps- the nest is in the middle of the > screen. > > TIA, > > Ryan Brooks > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
