Flash photography for wildlife in motion

[insidewildlife]

I wasnt 100% sure where to stick this thread, so apologies if its in the wrong place.

I'm looking for some advice on a image i want take.

We have a fox that visits our garden every night usually an hour or so before dusk so i usually get a some nice shots in semi-good light. The fox is pretty accustomed to me and is compeltely relaxed in my presence, in fact i can get the fox to follow me around our garden to pose in front of different backgrounds. I've also managed to get the fox to jumped over a small stream we have in the garden (approx 1 metre wide), he will do this repeatedly so i get a fair few chances at the shot.

The shot im after is the fox in mid air or mid take off jumping across the stream, but in darkness using flash. very much like this (now disgraced as it was a captive animal) http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jan/20/wolf-wildlife-photographer-award-stripped

Im looking to do something similar but probably from a lower angle, my objective being to be at the same height or lower than the fox.

My question is what equipment do i need or should i use for flash/lighting? Obviously i have the on camera flash but this alone creates a very flat image so im guessing i need some fill lighting/flash. What would you suggest using (please feel free to be as vague or specific as you like) I'm ideally not looking to spend too much on equipment but appreciate im probably going to need to buy an external unit of some description.

Also what camera settings would you suggest, ie shutter speed to freeze the fox sharp despite the relatively fast movement?

Any advice much appreciated!

Regards

Alex

 

[LongLensPhotography]

It is really simple if you have a certain location in mind. Set up your off camera flash with radio triggers in the modifier of choice and wait. You may choose to put clear plastic bags on the flash just in case it rains. Probably you could even setup a laser trap to trigger the shot.

 

[insidewildlife]

I have a location chosen, i can pretty much choose where he will jump the stream.

How close/far from the subject would you put the flash unit/s?
Just one unit + on camera flash?
Radio triggers? you'll have to excuse my ignorance, i literally have never used an external flash unit.

I have a 7D which i've read has some built in flash thing... any idea where i can find more info on that... im off to google it anyhow.

 

[pingu666]

theres cheap yn systems, 602 and 603 i think
i use 602 , with the right cable u have wireless remote shutter too, with 602 system

 

[Sharky]

If you have a 7d install Magic Lantern on it and either use the motion detection feature or trap focus. It'll make life a lot easier to get the perfect shot.

 

[insidewildlife]

theres cheap yn systems, 602 and 603 i think
i use 602 , with the right cable u have wireless remote shutter too, with 602 system

How does the yn602 trigger work? i am literally clueless on flash. I'm guessing the small bit on the camera and the the others on each slave unit and when you fire off the the shutter it triggers the flash?
is this the right one?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/1907...f11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

Which slave units would you recommend?

 

[insidewildlife]

If you have a 7d install Magic Lantern on it and either use the motion detection feature or trap focus. It'll make life a lot easier to get the perfect shot.

I've got so much to learn! I've seen magic lantern before... was slightly concerned about installing it. Is it widely used then? The motion detect and trap focus modes look very useful!

EDIT: also is it possible to set it to burst so it captures a series of images as its set off?

 

[Sharky]

I've got so much to learn! I've seen magic lantern before... was slightly concerned about installing it. Is it widely used then? The motion detect and trap focus modes look very useful!

EDIT: also is it possible to set it to burst so it captures a series of images as its set off?

I use ML nightly builds on a 50d and it's been faultless, nothing is without risk so i do recommend having a good read before doing anything.

On the MD and trap focus yes you can set a number of images to capture once it fires, very very handy:

 

[insidewildlife]

I use ML nightly builds on a 50d and it's been faultless, nothing is without risk so i do recommend having a good read before doing anything.

On the MD and trap focus yes you can set a number of images to capture once it fires, very very handy:

It does sound brilliant.. just terrified to do it! Will have to do some reading over the weekend. Any recommended sources?

 

[Sharky]

It does sound brilliant.. just terrified to do it! Will have to do some reading over the weekend. Any recommended sources?

The risk is very low, in a very simplified nutshell, ML is installed to your memory card and boots off that once you've done the initial installation on the camera. If you don't want to use ML take the card out and use a different card that doesn't have ML on it, or format the existing card telling it not to retain the ML installation. So you have the option of running ML or not, but after you've used it it's difficult to go back to a vanilla Canon firmware.

Only one source that's ML themselves but you can get variations from other developers (i've used TragicLantern again without issue which had different features at the time).

http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/7D_support

http://builds.magiclantern.fm/#/

 

[Sharky]

** do plenty of reading tho to understand it **

 

[pingu666]

How does the yn602 trigger work? i am literally clueless on flash. I'm guessing the small bit on the camera and the the others on each slave unit and when you fire off the the shutter it triggers the flash?
is this the right one?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/1907...f11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

Which slave units would you recommend?

the boxy style one sits on you camera, detects when you fire the shutter, it then broadcasts that, and the recivers(longer plastic ones) pick that up and command the flash to fire. they have a long range, dont have issues of slave optical systems (not flashing or camera pics up onboard flash in the picture too) downside is you dont have ttl flash metering, its manual. the fancy radio triggers have that, and grouping too.

flash wise then a yn 560 mk3 has the reciever inbuilt, which is nice, otherwise it dont really matter