Flashing a Fox (yes or no)

  • Thread starter Thread starter den
  • Start date Start date
den

den

Suspended / Banned
Messages
9,607
Name
Dennis
Edit My Images
No
Hi, i just need a bit of advice regarding using flash to capture a regular fox at dusk......i only own two lenses ,the 400mm 5.6 and the 70-200mm F4 IS and a 1.4x teleconverter........i will have a pop up hide aprox 50-70 metres away...having not used a flash and to be honest i have no experience on using one but due to it being dusk the 400mm is not much help and the 70-200mm with the 1.4x will help as its IS ,what i would like to know is how much of a advantage i would have in getting a good sharp shot using a flash ....two flash units come to mind a i know the GN is important ,the 580xii and the nissin mkii .....any help or advice would be apreciated.Thanks
 
having now read the subject matter :p
can you setup the flashes near the subject, if you know it's coming...set out some food maybe? and then remotely trigger them?
direct flash will give you huge red eye problems I think.
or can you remote them both in the right direction from the top of your hide using a wired trigger?

also why is your 400mm 5.6 no use?

the 70-200 F4 will be f5.6 and 280mm (when you attach the TC) and have to be stopped down a touch again to regain some sharpness
the 400mm will be f5.6 and probably be lovely at f5.6 (you can use the TC on the 400mm but if the range is fine at 400mm I would stick with that. and the 7D will of course get you a touch closer than the 1Dn)
IS isn't a problem as your flash speed will be 1/60 anyway and you'll be using a tripod surely or monopod.
if you shoot above 1/125s then your flashes wouldn't sync anyway iirc
 
Last edited:
Wack the ISO up Den :thumbs: What time is Dusk around your parts? It might need a bit of exprimenting at that distance and time of day, but you could set the 580 up close to the subject as a slave and trigger it with the onboard of the 7D. Manual mode on the 580 and use high speed sync.
 
The subject is a regular at the farm near my little owl who comes to collect a chicken carcass left for her every night she comes in and circles around the back of me down the side of a garden and away...as it's always been dusk when she apears i have not bothered to much of getting shot's of her due to lack of light ....just thinking of making the most of the situation and purchasing a good flash unit ,the max my iso is set to is 3200 and i have no problems with that but would a good flash unit if used correctly improve my chances of getting a good image.....when she comes under the gate she sits and waits for a while and knows when and were the food is and what time it's thier , i may have to do some reading on flash set up's .
 
Dennis, buy a rabbit squeaker and see how close she will come. Only a fiver or so.
 
fracster said:
Dennis, buy a rabbit squeaker and see how close she will come. Only a fiver or so.
Click to expand...

My wifes Rabbit dont sqeak Ade, it moans a bit though :D
 
Dennis

I would not recommend using a flash set-up as the outcome will not be that great. If you have electrics close by then you would be a lot better off setting up some lighting. The fox already knows you are there and to be honest the hide will not help you, even with lights set up the fox will come as usual.

The other easy option is to start and put the food out earlier in the day as the cold/dark nights start. You should find that the fox will start to come earlier. If it still remains not to come until later in the evening then don't put any food out the following night and you will find the fox will come earlier the night after.

Hope the above makes sense.
 
Thanks for the advice......to be honest the hide does help as it did tonight ,she came to within 15ft of me......without the hide as soon as she spots me she is off ,the hide gives me a fighting chance of close shot...i got one tonight but iso 6400 and nearly dark it's not great.....
fox by den9112, on Flickr
 
is the the original resized or cropped in?
I presume is the full image and you can in frame if around the fox
looks good though, not too dark at all
 
A small crop to remove the horrible blue bin in the background....time was 18.48pm .......i have a good idea of the route she takes to the food in the garden.......i may start putting some of my own food out a bit earlier to see if that may tempt her a bit earlier ...just got a couple of sea bass on whoopsie at asda will cover them with some sardines...that should work.....the annoying thing is only 10mins earlier the sun is just behind were she walks in with some nice light which would just give me what i am looking for ...a nice project for me in the coming months.
 
I'm sure the fox will like the sea bass and sardines but so will other things like a stray cat. I've found peanuts to be very good for attracting foxes. They have the advantage that they are cheap, ignored by cats, foxes like them and the fox will stay and eat them as they are too small to be carried off.

Only drawback is if they are put out too early magpies, crows and other birds will spot them and finish them off.

Dave

Good photo by the way; looks like one of this year's young.
 
Foxes smell food from a long way off :)

Try to make a call when you put the food out as she will also get used to this.

As the hide goes, ditch it. The fox already knows you are there and it will become more and more confident with you. Trust me on this as I have had numerous foxes around me all within a few meters. Most of the time I was shooting at 200mm and at times I have taken shots at 85mm.

The secret is to stay very still, even when you can't see the fox because the chances are the fox is watching you before you spot her.

Good luck.
 
Stuart....Thanks for the advice ,after ditching the hide i have found the track that she uses to come in for the food ......i have purchased a fox caller from bestfox call .co.uk.....and a few tins of sardines in brine .......i got some shot's last night when she sat with 40ft while i was behind a wall waiting for her to come for the food.......i just need to get her a touch earlier and as you say staying still as it worked ,i fired a few shots while she was sat looking at me to the point i gave up and left her to it as the light was bad .doing a lot of reading up on foxes at the moment so looking forward to getting to know a bit more about them.
 
Den, i have a lot of experiance of calling foxes, over the next month or so Foxes will start to be more receptive to the call. Beware of using flash, foxes are very clever and will soon associate flash with danger. As the weather gets colder and the cover gets less Foxes will start and venture out in daylight. I have used many calls over the years, the one i have had the most success with is http://www.foxcalluk.co.uk/. Good luck.
 
den i have several foxes comeing every night in fact they are often around dureing the day , i allways wear a camo face viel & gloves they dont appear to see me as long as theres no rapid movements heres a not very good pic of 3 comeing they come within 6ft of me
Picture674.jpg
cheers pete
 
After a long wait ,and finally following tracks and remains of food i found the vixen.....well i say found i mean were she retreats to.....i actually found her asleep hidden in some ferns , i was aprox 50 metres away so i found a nice spot to settle down in ,i watched her untill she woke up and left (nearly 3 hours in the same spot),i got some shot's asleep and her looking around every now and then....she took me by surprise when she just upped and left ,i got some shots but i was set up for still shots so they are a little blurry ,but great to see during the day....i will post shots tonight...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top