Exploring Nature with a Camera

Abstract

BIRD photography has reached such a pitch of excellence, its devotees are so many and so enthusiastic, that we are apt to forget that the camera is a useful aid in many other branches of field work. In “Exploring Nature with a Camera”, Mr. E.G. Neal makes this clear. He deals, it is true, with the photography of birds, but he devotes as much or more space to insect photography, night photography, plant photography and so on. His chapteron night work is illustrated by some good flashlight pictures of badgers near their sett, and we envy him the thrill of taking them. The author says in his preface that “this book is written in the hope that the keen naturalist who has got a camera, especially those of the younger generation, will be encouraged to try it out”, and it can be highly recommended as a present for the beginner. Although Mr. Neal says his little volume “is not a technical book on photography”, it is full of practical information on the use of the camera (not forgetting his hints on the type of instrument) and how to take pictures of birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, flowers, fungi, etc. Here and there, as if by accident, interesting observations are recorded. Commenting that it is often easier to photograph a portion of an object than the whole, say a few twigs rather than the whole tree, he gives as an instance ice-encased twigs during the great 'crystal thaw' of 1939-40, when trees, bushes and other vegetation were thickly coated with clear ice. Then, as an aside, he remarks, “I was interested to see a wych elm tree with the usual covering of ice, for I knew that the white letter hairstreak butterfly (Strymon w-album)laid its eggs every year on the twigs of this particular tree, and that they would now be encased in ice. The following July this species was more common than for many years, so the ice had no appreciable bad effect.” Exploring Nature with a Camera Ernest G. Neal By. Pp. 103 + 62 plates. (London: Paul Elek (Publishers), Ltd., 1946.) 10s. 6d. net.