One Flash Photography Pt 2

Before me lies one of the most incredible displays of carnivorous plants in the world. Don’t take this statement lightly. It’s not hyperbolic. This little strip of the North Carolina coastal plain plays home to more species of carnivorous plants than any place on the planet.

Unfortunately, this fact isn’t lost to plant poachers. Species such as the Venus flytrap are endangered. This wee monster is only found within an 80-mile radius of the city of Wilmington, North Carolina – and nowhere else. Though you can buy flytraps everywhere from grocery stores to Walmart, wild poaching is a major issue. These little plants may only fetch a couple dollars from wholesale buyers, but in an economically depressed region those couple of dollars add up fast when you dig up and sell off a thousand of them in a week’s time.

My prime objective today, however, is far more ubiquitous. The pitcher plant is a tall and slender species with a specialized leaf that is rolled into a large vertical funnel. Above the funnel is something of a lid that is meant to keep too much rain from collecting inside – which would cause it to fall over from the weight. Though some rainwater does collect inside of these plants, this species actually secretes its own liquid into the bottom of the pitcher which is filled with digestive enzymes. Lured in by the promise of water and / or the aroma, anything that falls into this digestive brew is then slowly broken down and the plant absorbs the nutrients. It’s a fabulous adaptation to this environment where nutrients are scarce, and life has been forced to adapt laterally in order to survive here.

As singularly beautiful and fascinating as these pitcher plants are, my interest in them today has more to do with the symbiotic relationship that they develop with other denizens of this savage garden. These little bug and water collectors haven’t gone unnoticed by other species. And in times of drought, such as the situation the coastal plain is in at the moment, the pitcher plant offers up its very own microclimate and chance for survival to anyone who has figured out how to exploit it – such as frogs.

I like frogs. Really, I like all amphibians, but frogs especially. And as the extinction rates of these creatures continues to far outpace that of any other species on Earth right now (it’s estimated that 40% of all species of amphibians are currently threatened with extinction), I find myself turning my lens towards these little guys more and more.

Certain species of frogs that live throughout the poccosin and pine savannah complex are a few of those species who have learned to take advantage of the pitcher plants in their neighborhood. Finding a pitcher plant is about like stumbling upon a porch light that is left on all night. For a frog, if you sit there long enough, the bugs will simply come to you. And so, species such as the pine barrens and pine woods treefrog will back itself down into the tube of the pitcher plant and wait for dinner to be served.

Thanks to the digestive liquid below, these pitcher plants also create a humid environment inside of their tube as the water steadily evaporates into the air. Let the rains fail, and this tiny little bit of moisture inside of the pitcher plant can quite literally save the lives of the frogs here as they take shelter from the drought inside.

At first glance, it might seem as though the frog is the only one benefiting here. Technically speaking, the frogs are what we might call parasites in this regard. They plug up the tube, and lap up every bug that comes their way while robbing the pitcher plant of any and all food. But frogs and pitcher plants have been doing this dance together for a very long time.

The biggest problem with digesting an insect for a pitcher plant, is getting through its tough exoskeleton. This takes work. It takes time. Bugs can languish away in the bottom of these plants for weeks as the enzymatic process slowly breaks everything down. And this is where the frog comes into play.

When a frog or another predator captures an insect then eats and digests it, what comes out the other end is exactly what the pitcher plant wants. This is quite literally fertilizer. It’s the nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (amongst other things) that are the nutrients all plants need to sustain life. Though it may seem like the frog is parasitizing the pitcher plants resources by gobbling up everything that comes its way, it is in fact aiding the pitcher plant in the digestive process.

The frog does not need the pitcher plant to survive. Nor does the pitcher plant need the frog to survive. Both species are perfectly capable of doing all of this on their own. But when they come together, there is a synergy created from their efforts in which both species benefit exponentially.

Man, I love this stuff.

When it comes to photographing the smaller majority of the world, flash is an indispensable tool. Working with subjects on this scale, we are able to do the very things that we just cannot get away with animals such as grizzly bears and owls – and that is control the light. Good luck marching out into the sage brush to set up a large soft box 3 feet away from a grizzly bear. But with a frog, for instance, this is entirely possible.

None of this is to say that we cannot use flash on other animals. It’s just that when it comes to working with larger subjects, our approach is completely different.

You see, in nature photography we can more or less distill everything down to two types of flash photography: fill flash and flash as the primary source of light.

One of the biggest challenges to learning how to use flash in the wild is simply understanding when, why, and how these two different forms of flash photography are used. Out here in the pine savannahs and poccosin swamps, I might find myself using either of these techniques or even both at the same time. But with the larger and more charismatic megafauna of the world, we are limited only to fill flash.

Before we can go any further with this though, we need to actually define a few things about these different types of flash setups.

We use fill flash when we need to add just a touch of light to our subject in order to help balance out the lighting ratio between the background and the subject itself. In essence, this is used to help keep things relatively evenly illuminated in our composition. Often times we will find a subject such as bird that happens to be slightly darker than the background. If you flip this lighting scenario around, that is to say you have a bright subject against a dark background, the results can be fantastic. However, when the subject is in shade and the background illuminated, the results are underwhelming to say the least. Yet, this is nature photography – which means that we are not in control of all the variables. And so, in this type of situation, you may consider adding fill flash to “fill in” the shadows on the subject.

Using flash as the primary source of light is completely different. When we decide to do this, we are making a decision to take full control over the light that our camera is recording. This is not to say that the only light the camera will see comes from flash units. However, it does mean that this will be used as the primary means of lighting our subjects – even though we may use natural light to our benefit as well in these situations.

At first glance it would seem as though using the flash as our primary source of light would always be the go-to strategy. The essence of photography is light – right? Thus, why not take full control of all the light and make everything easier on ourselves?

The problem with using flash as the primary source of light is that you have to figure out some way in which to position the flash off axis from the camera itself. This means that the burst of light from the flash cannot be coming from the same direction as the camera. There are a few creative concepts that can be achieved by breaking this rule of thumb, but as you are starting out with using flash in the wild, it’s best to let this be one of those cardinal rules you never break.

If the flash itself cannot come from the same direction as my camera, that means I need a way to set up my flash unit, or units, someplace else. If you have ever been involved in a professional portrait shoot, you may recall the use of light stands on the sides of you, or the model, with umbrellas or soft boxes attached for instance. This is exactly why the photographer used such setups – so they can control all of the light, so they can use their flash as the primary lighting. With consenting people, this is an easy way to do things. But with wildlife, you may find it a bit more difficult to do.

This is why when it comes to larger subjects, we tend to only use some form of fill flash. But with smaller subjects, such as the frogs I am out searching for, we can get our flash or flashes off axis from our cameras very easily with the use of a few simple accessories that allow us to work like a portrait photographer while still keeping everything physically connected together and functioning as a single rig.

Much like every aspect of photography we can think of, there are many different ways of achieving a similar goal. Other photographers may have different setups that they prefer to use for specific reasons. For me, however, my setup is one that I have been dialing in for years now to meet my specific needs and tastes as an artist.

To start with, we need a flash bracket in order to get our flash off of the camera itself. Many of you reading this may already be familiar with the concept of a flash bracket – especially if you are a bird photographer. Hands down the most widely used version of this is made by Wimberly and the whole things functions to simply lift the flash a few inches higher than the camera itself. This type of flash bracket, however, is ONLY suited to fill flash. Why? Because even though it raises the flash up above the lens, you have no control as to where the flash is placed and you are still “on axis” with the camera. For fill flash, this is OK – for the most part. But the whole thing is far too limiting for my tastes.

I travel a lot for my photography and quite often weight and space are a consideration for me – even though I prefer to check my luggage in the belly of planes inside of Pelican Cases. What this means is that I prefer to use equipment that can play double duty for me. I don’t want to have to carry two different types of flash brackets down to Panama with me so I can use fill flash on birds and have a macro setup as well. Instead, I want one flash bracket to rule them all. And this is why I am in love with Really Right Stuffs flash bracket system. It offers me maximum versatility.

Really Right Stuff Flash Bracket

The brilliant thing about this design is that you can move the angle of the flash around this loop. Want the light directly overhead? No problem. Want it to come in from an angle? You can do that too. Your are not stuck to using one fixed location. Add to this the RRS telescoping flash extender, and you have the ultimate handheld flash setup for photographing small subjects like frogs, lizards, snakes, butterflies, etc.

Really Right Stuff flash brackets are completely different from any other bracket on the market. Instead of being L shaped, you can purchase either a C or O shaped bracket. This may not sound like a big deal, but it really is. You see, by making a flash bracket C or O shaped, Really Right Stuff created a platform that allows you to move your flash around the bracket anywhere you want to. When I am roaming around the tropics photographing birds or sloths or what not in the rainforest, I simply attach the flash on the very top of the bracket much like any other flash bracket would force you to do and work with fill flash. But when I am ready to aim shorter lenses at smaller subjects, I can then slide the flash down into a multitude of other positions. And I can even pop another flash onto the bracket for multi-flash work.

In addition to the RRS flash bracket, I also use a telescoping flash extender made by the same company. This is where things really get interesting for me. Since the key to working with flash as a primary source of light is to position the unit so that the light is coming from a different direction than the camera itself, with the telescoping extender I can position my flash so that it sits at 90 degrees to the subject – much like you would with a light stand. Being able to stick a flash unit all the way out beside your subject (or directly above it for that matter) you are able to create a much more natural look. This is what allows me to take full control.

Finding frogs inside of a pitcher plant is not an easy task. I feel like it must be one frog per two hundred pitcher plants I look at. This is only a partial truth though. There are far more than this. I hear their songs all around me. And when I position myself in such a way as to partially back light the pitcher plants with the sun, I can see the silhouettes of these little guys buried deep inside. But finding a frog inside of a pitcher plant and finding one you can photograph are entirely different matters.

I’m not really interested in shooting down into the plant itself. I want a frog who has made his way up to the lip of the pitcher to join in the chorus of other amphibians filling the air.

Every step I take now runs the risk of destroying something amazing. I feel like Gilgamesh in the land of Lilliputians. Crimson red sundews sprawl out like little sun bursts on the ground coated in sticky residue for trapping insects that have the bad luck to land on them. Butterworts can be seen loosely interspersed and wielding a similar strategy as that of the sundew for harvesting its meat with sticky leaves that lure in, trap, and digest its prey. Venus flytraps are everywhere with their toothy jaws agape waiting for some unsuspecting creature to happen along. All of this can be seen within the span of a few feet. Yet the savage garden goes on and on as far as the ecotone extends between these two habitats. This is the original Little Shop of Horrors.

Every frog I have ever photographed in a pitcher plant was discovered almost accidently. Yes, I was looking for them. But literally ever frog I have discovered occurred after I had stopped for some other reason and then just happened to notice it sitting there beside me. And today would be no different.

To Be Continued . . .