Years ago, I thought that if I wanted to be a nature photographer with a long telephoto lens, I would have to use a flash set-up; the set-up of choice at the time was the Better Beamer. The Better Beamer is two side plastic panels and a Fresnel panel -the Fresnel panel is positioned in front of the flash), and the two side panels attach via velcro (and usually a rubber band is needed <wink>) to the external flash. This attachment to the flash helps to concentrate the output of the flash into a narrow beam, which is needed with long telephoto lenses.
I was using a Better Beamer on my flash the day I shot the American Oystercatcher image above. However, it was rainy, and my flash kept getting wet and needed drying off and restarting every minute. Since I was waiting for one of the large oystercatcher chicks (there were 4) to come out from under the adult I decided that I should just give up on my flash and try to shoot it by bumping my ISO’s really high. This was a situation where the flash would have helped considerably. The noise in the image ruins it for me. Plus it is not nearly as sharp as I would like—still it’s an interesting shot.
I have never been a huge fan of the flashed look —even when using fill flash, I find that the eyes can have a steel look to them. It is helpful in low light situations I just prefer not to use it. After that day I left my Better Beamer at home, and it has never made its way back into my gear bag. Cameras have improved so much in the last decade anyway.
Update on the OC chick that hatched near my home. It is gone-no sign at all of the little one and it appears that the two adults have left the nesting area as well. We have had lots of rain and wind. The evening that the chick hatched we had wind gusts upward of 40 miles an hour and torrential rain. The bad weather lasted for days, apparently the chick did not…