Floating hide?

phil_b

phil_b

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Phil
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Has anyone built or tried a floating hide? I maybe spend too much time watching YouTube and have seen a number of wildlife photographers using them in lakes to get close to and get a nice low perspective on water birds. This is what I have came up with so far and at least it floats. The timber is in one piece and I have added a piece of 3 x 2 across it with a tripod head bolt up through it to hold a gimbal head. The 2 pieces of sewer pipe have bolts sticking up and fixed in place and the timber is held on with 6 wing nuts. 4 bolts are sticking up at the 4 corners and the blue pipe just pushes on, these hold a camouflage tarpaulin and then a camo net and this is held in place with elastic toggles to hooks on the timber. A few minutes unpacks it from the boot of the car ready to go on the water.

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I assume you are going to paddle it along by swimming - do you hve a wet suit?. I look forward to seeing photos taken from it.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
I assume you are going to paddle it along by swimming - do you hve a wet suit?. I look forward to seeing photos taken from it.

Dave
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Thanks Dave. I have chest waders that will let me go to about 4ft deep if necessary. I'm in Northern Ireland and we have lough Neagh locally which is fairly shallow, I have been scouting locations and lots of bays are only a few feet deep up to 100 metres off shore.
 
Please post a video of your first few outings with it.

Seriously though, you will need to be careful where you use it. I doubt if many,if any reserves would allow it's use, lakes where there are fishermen would be out too.
 
phil_b said:
Thanks Dave. I have chest waders that will let me go to about 4ft deep if necessary. I'm in Northern Ireland and we have lough Neagh locally which is fairly shallow, I have been scouting locations and lots of bays are only a few feet deep up to 100 metres off shore.
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mex said:
Please post a video of your first few outings with it.

Seriously though, you will need to be careful where you use it. I doubt if many,if any reserves would allow it's use, lakes where there are fishermen would be out too.
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I have only had a quick Google but though it is an ASSI (Area of Special Scientific Interest) I could not readily find any access restrictions information....................though one report from the Belfast Telegraph speaks of there being areas of very treacherous deeper waters.

So none too clear as to who to contact to confirm what if any restrictions there may be in regard to access and who it may be appropriate to liaise with about this???
 
I have got all the bits ready to build mine, but i'm getting a knee replacement next week, so it is 'on hold' until I can get around again.

Similar to yours, but with 5" pipe all round and extra cross braces at front, a marine ply wrap-around 'deck' area with a couple of hand grips and gimbal mount attached. Similar frame, to support the 'camo' fabric.

Having used waders in shallow waters, I can confirm that a 'dry-suit' is much better, more comfortable and a lot safer. It is so easy to lean forward just a bit too far when focusing on a subject and find your waders full of water..........If you ever venture into deeper water, this could be fatal!

Good luck with yours and I look forward to seeing some images.
 
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Box Brownie said:
I have only had a quick Google but though it is an ASSI (Area of Special Scientific Interest) I could not readily find any access restrictions information....................though one report from the Belfast Telegraph speaks of there being areas of very treacherous deeper waters.

So none too clear as to who to contact to confirm what if any restrictions there may be in regard to access and who it may be appropriate to liaise with about this???
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Large areas of the lough shore have permanent shooting hides out in the water for duck shooting and there is numerous slipways around it where there is regularly large numbers of jetskis, paddle boards, speedboats etc. I suspect that the only places there would be a problem is like Oxford Island which is a nature reserve.
 
Vintage Racer said:
I have got all the bits ready to build mine, but i'm getting a knee replacement next week, so it is 'on hold' until I can get around again.

Similar to yours, but with 5" pipe all round and extra cross braces at front, a marine ply wrap-around 'deck' area with a couple of hand grips and gimbal mount attached. Similar frame, to support the 'camo' fabric.

Having used waders in shallow waters, I can confirm that a 'dry-suit' is much better, more comfortable and a lot safer. It is so easy to lean forward just a bit too far when focusing on a subject and find your waders full of water..........If you ever venture into deeper water, this could be fatal!

Good luck with yours and I look forward to seeing some images.
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I was surprised to see how buoyant it was, the photo above is my garden pond and I got in and tried it. I gave ply cut to cover the deck so it feels less open. I do a good bit of kayaking and always wear a life vest and I will be using it here too and have a waterproof case for my phone in case of emergency.
 
mex said:
Please post a video of your first few outings with it.

Seriously though, you will need to be careful where you use it. I doubt if many,if any reserves would allow it's use, lakes where there are fishermen would be out too.
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Lough Neagh has a couple of small nature reserves on it, the majority of it is open for duck shooting, boating, jetskis etc so I should be OK. I will only be there for a couple of hours early in the morning and probably spring time mostly. I'm think great crested grebe mating ritual etc.
 
phil_b said:
If you search YouTube for floating photography hide, there is a lot of guys doing the same thing. I thought it would be a fun thing to try.
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I'm sure that it will be great fun - but as said make sure that you have a waterproof camera set up - there used to be kits for using DSLR's underwater, maybe they are still for sale

We visited my daughter plus family yesterday who are spending a week on the IOW - my son-in-law got stung by some kind of fish - his foot came up like a balloon!!
 
I built one a couple of years ago, great fun - be read for some very strange looks and questions!

Mines along similar lines to yours but a bit more rough and ready. The one difference is where I attached the screw for the gimbalI had it lowered so the wood itself was at water level. The gimbal then raises the lens just a few inches off the water line, and will be lower than yours - and at the risk of opening up the jokes - every inch counts!

Id recommend a drysuit over chest waders as when you bend over to get down to the viewfinder you run the risk of water entry with waders - using s tilted rear screen could help there if you have one

http://www.birdphotographers.net/fo...hick-and-mum?p=1164963&viewfull=1#post1164963

https://talkphotography.co.uk/threads/great-crested-grebe-splashing-the-kids.630507/

Mike
 
pooley said:
I built one a couple of years ago, great fun - be read for some very strange looks and questions!

Mines along similar lines to yours but a bit more rough and ready. The one difference is where I attached the screw for the gimbalI had it lowered so the wood itself was at water level. The gimbal then raises the lens just a few inches off the water line, and will be lower than yours - and at the risk of opening up the jokes - every inch counts!

Id recommend a drysuit over chest waders as when you bend over to get down to the viewfinder you run the risk of water entry with waders - using s tilted rear screen could help there if you have one

http://www.birdphotographers.net/fo...hick-and-mum?p=1164963&viewfull=1#post1164963

https://talkphotography.co.uk/threads/great-crested-grebe-splashing-the-kids.630507/

Mike
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Cheers for that Mike. Love the grebe with family shot, that is what I'm hoping for. I am going to try the gimbal as it is for the moment until I see what it is like and how choppy the water may be but I can easily work something to lower it if necessary. The low pov makes the images.
 
Much coolness, will be watching this one.
 
Well maintaining focus isn't easy. And i need to get a bit lower to the water. Other than that i was able to get close to lots of stuff including a kingfisher that landed on a post. It was good fun as much as anything else. I was in up to around 4ft of water with no trouble, a lot of the time i was only in 2 ft of water and just sat down on my knees. Spent a while this evening and have got the camera down another inch and am going back in the morning for an hour. Have a clear waterproof camera case on the way so that i can easily video a few bits. Used a Nikon z6 and sigma 150-600.
View: https://youtu.be/-ova4oBz47I
 
Well done Phil - it looks exciting, but it also look cold!!
 
I'd like a floating hide. Unfortunately living in the overpopulated south of England, I'd struggle to find place bodies of water where there is both access and worthwhile subjects.
 
steelydan said:
Brilliant results to be honest, how was transportation ? Does it break down easily?
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The wooden piece unscrews from the pipes with 6 wing nuts and both sections of pipe are seperate. The 4 pieces of blue pipe just lift off and come apart where they meet at the top.
I attached the tarpaulin and camo net together , it just throws over the top and 6 pieces of elastic go over hooks on the wooden frame. It will fit in the boot of any car and build up in a few mins. I am self employed and have a van for work so can set it into the van in one piece without taking it apart.
 
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Love this, what an epic project. The POVs you are achieving are outstanding!

Do you get much attention from people? Something I would struggle with.
 
Dale. said:
Love this, what an epic project. The POVs you are achieving are outstanding!

Do you get much attention from people? Something I would struggle with.
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Thanks Dale. I had the camera an inch lower than this for my attempt yesterday morning and am going to go another inch lower again when I get time to alter it. I have been going in to the water at 6.30 at a little used slipway so haven't seen anyone so far! Lough Neagh where these were taken is the largest lake in the British Isles at 150 square miles so there is plenty of quiet areas.
 
Great stuff, Phil. I particularly like the little grebe and chicks.

Dave
 
robinsslee said:
Nice one Phil, inspiring but I wonder about the laws around England waters if you required to obtain a licence for it.
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Don't really know. I would have thought that the only place you would get into bother was around nature reserves. Anywhere else would be the same as shooting from around shore would it not?
 
I went back to near enough the same spot on Friday morning for another. It was grey and overcast but zero wind so there was lots of nice reflections. I had the camera an inch lower than the first attempt and i spent a while today altering things more and the camera is now 2 1/2 inches lower than the first time. All taken with the D500 and sigma 150-600.

DSC_3224-Edit by Philip Blair, on Flickr

DSC_2993-Edit by Philip Blair, on Flickr

DSC_2793-Edit by Philip Blair, on Flickr

DSC_2778-Edit by Philip Blair, on Flickr

DSC_2764-Edit by Philip Blair, on Flickr

DSC_2654-Edit by Philip Blair, on Flickr
 
Really like the last one.....
Are they heavy crops?
A lot of the images seem soft to me....
 
phil_b said:
they are a combination of a noisy D500 at high iso, a slow lens and poor shutter speed on a grey dull morning unfortunately.
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You're getting into some great positions, so your images will be great when the conditions are right....
 
I think that you are doing really well Phil - some marvellous images

Is it cold - how long can you comfortably stay in the water
 
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