raptor photo
Well-known member
I know this topic has been thoroughly discussed, but curious to see what the average photographer is/isn't okay with. Please answer the poll.
Wildlife Photography Ethics Poll
- Thread starter raptor photo
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None of the above.
Please clarify what is meant by "okay with". Do/would do personally or don't care if other people do it? And is the question targeted at ethical means of creating an image or ethical treatment of the wildlife?
raptor photo
Well-known member
What you would do personally. The question is about what extents you will go to to create an image.
TurtleCat
Well-known member
I’m on the fence with bird calls. I haven’t done it but I have thought about it in limited scenarios for short duration but I just haven’t gotten around to try it and I may never try it.
raptor photo
Well-known member
Same with me, considered doing them but never actually done it. Part of the reason I made this poll.
I am not sure what is meant by "photographing at a non-baited setup",
Does this include a normal blind built in a natural high bird traffic area so photographers can shelter during a shoot and also not be seen by the birds?
If so how is that harmful to the birds?
Does this include a normal blind built in a natural high bird traffic area so photographers can shelter during a shoot and also not be seen by the birds?
If so how is that harmful to the birds?
simonsi
Active member
You should add a “none of the above” option so you can count those too, otherwise negatives arent counted.
“Photographing at a non-baited setup” - means “normal” photography, no bait, maybe from a blind, walk-around??
“Photographing at a non-baited setup” - means “normal” photography, no bait, maybe from a blind, walk-around??
raptor photo
Well-known member
It isn't harmful to birds, but some people may say that it is changing the environment and not a completely honest photo. I personally am fine with it.
raptor photo
Well-known member
Wanted to do that, but after votes had been made, I couldn't change it. Maybe just vote for the non-baited setup?
Gray area in some of these, but it truly surprises me that anyone would be okay with scaring an animal to get it to run or fly.
what I do is my business. What other do, is their business. I may not do it but do not object to it. Other practices I object to.
I photograph birds at and around our bird/squirrel feeders and those of others. This also includes critters eating our veggie and flower gardens. Don’t do the others.
raptor photo
Well-known member
The poll is about what you do though. Not about what you object to.
frdjohns
Well-known member
I'm gonna just sit here, maybe with some popcorn, and watch how silly this thread gets.
what if a friend or tour leader does it?
raptor photo
Well-known member
It's about what you are willing to do to get an image. If a friend or tour leader does it, do you have to do it to?
There should be a none of the above option. That’d be my choice.
Well I’m certainly ok with and have many times photographed at non-baited setups. I think that’s just photography without any caveats.
For the rest of the list, bird seed at backyard feeders is something I use with photography quite often. I’ve also used daytime fill flash with some subjects but realistically not for quite a few years now. The dynamic range of modern sensors has made it much easier to avoid daylight fill flash and just pull up shadows in post.
Similarly I used to do a lot of multi-flash work with hummingbirds but these days just leverage the high ISO capabilities of modern cameras to capture those images without flash units though it can make it harder to light up their iridescent gorget.
For the rest of the list, bird seed at backyard feeders is something I use with photography quite often. I’ve also used daytime fill flash with some subjects but realistically not for quite a few years now. The dynamic range of modern sensors has made it much easier to avoid daylight fill flash and just pull up shadows in post.
Similarly I used to do a lot of multi-flash work with hummingbirds but these days just leverage the high ISO capabilities of modern cameras to capture those images without flash units though it can make it harder to light up their iridescent gorget.
Yeah, easy to anticipate, I guess. LOL.
When I very first started I would sometimes take a quick step towards a bird hoping it would fly. Now I'm at the point where as much as I might want the subject to fly, if I can tell I'm making it really uncomfortable just by pointing my camera at it I move on.
raptor photo
Well-known member
Same here. One time, when I was just starting off, I stupidly threw a rock near a heron, getting it to fly. Even then right after I did it, I knew I'd never do it again.
As a farmer, i think I see this ethics thing from a totally different perspective. I have interactions with wildlife on the farm on nearly a daily basis. From seeing a barn owl in one of my barns to watching the sandhill cranes eat the wheat in the fields I planted for cover crops. These interactions are both beneficial as well as detrimental to the wildlife in our area. In about 1903, this land in West Texas that I call home was first tilled for farming. Since then we have went from and area that had grass as tall as a horses belly that originally fed the bison that first roamed these great plains.
At times while riding the tractor, I will see birds nesting on the ground or on the roads around my barn. Kildeer nesearst in the gravel while birds such as nighthawks, avocets and other nest in the fields on the bare ground and you can't always see those nests. I try to raise the plow up over those nests but you can't always see them. Often times i will walk into a barn while working only to have a barn owl flying out to scare the heck of me.
There are other times where i see the benefits of what I am able to do for the wildlife. Ive seen groups of wild turkeys go to a small leak at an irrigation well for a drink in the middle of the summer as well as quail raising a very large batch of little ones in a harvested wheat field. Yesterday morning I saw a group of coyotes feeding on the carcass of a feral hog that had been shot a few days before. There are literally thousands of geese and sandhill cranes feeding in the fields of wheat or ground planted in wheat for cover crops. Every year we have nests of Barn Swallow on our homes and drip stations as they can generally find mud to build their nests.
In the springtime and summertime, I go down to and oil lease near the Caprock Escarpment and sit at a stock pond to observe and photograph birds and wildlife. These stock ponds were dug out using tractors, bulldozers and backhoes for the sole purpose of watering cattle. They are filled with water from and irrigation well and in one case has a oil well less than 50 yards away. The ponds are filled with life from turtles, frogs, salamanders and others. I have seen badgers, racoons, deer, opossums, coyotes and have even seen cougar tracks around the ponds.
My main purpose of this post is to show things from a different perspective. A perspective that I cherish. Of course I have seen others do that I don't agree with but it happens.
At times while riding the tractor, I will see birds nesting on the ground or on the roads around my barn. Kildeer nesearst in the gravel while birds such as nighthawks, avocets and other nest in the fields on the bare ground and you can't always see those nests. I try to raise the plow up over those nests but you can't always see them. Often times i will walk into a barn while working only to have a barn owl flying out to scare the heck of me.
There are other times where i see the benefits of what I am able to do for the wildlife. Ive seen groups of wild turkeys go to a small leak at an irrigation well for a drink in the middle of the summer as well as quail raising a very large batch of little ones in a harvested wheat field. Yesterday morning I saw a group of coyotes feeding on the carcass of a feral hog that had been shot a few days before. There are literally thousands of geese and sandhill cranes feeding in the fields of wheat or ground planted in wheat for cover crops. Every year we have nests of Barn Swallow on our homes and drip stations as they can generally find mud to build their nests.
In the springtime and summertime, I go down to and oil lease near the Caprock Escarpment and sit at a stock pond to observe and photograph birds and wildlife. These stock ponds were dug out using tractors, bulldozers and backhoes for the sole purpose of watering cattle. They are filled with water from and irrigation well and in one case has a oil well less than 50 yards away. The ponds are filled with life from turtles, frogs, salamanders and others. I have seen badgers, racoons, deer, opossums, coyotes and have even seen cougar tracks around the ponds.
My main purpose of this post is to show things from a different perspective. A perspective that I cherish. Of course I have seen others do that I don't agree with but it happens.
For me, like others, the answer is none. I seek, I find, I photograph. Some days you don’t get much, but that’s ok because im still out doing what I like and it makes the good days more special.
David Yarrow is a fine art photographer who sells prints for big money. One of his popular images is a giraffe running away on barren plains with a dramatic sunburst through the clouds. In a YouTube video he shows how he laid down in the back of a truck while the driver chased the giraffe so he could get the shot.
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