EOS 40 D / 580EX Speedlite / tripod

[marshawhiteseyffert]

I would like to get an idea of the best set up for night photo of an owl. I will have moonlight only. I can use artificial light to manual focus if I need to.

Songbird

[marxz]

Given, I'm guessing, you'll be using a telephoto lens of more than say 200mm, you can get a "better beamer" (or do what I did and make one out of a plastic fresnel lens and some coreplas) that will give your flash the extra reach to do a decent job.

otherwise if you know that the owl has a regular perch you could set up the flash (or flashes) close by the perch with a diffuser on it and trigger it wirelessly... I don't know the theoretical limit of Canon's IR wireless but it might handle it - catch is you'll need at least 2 speedlites or at least one and the Canon ST-E2 Speadlight master transmitter, buy some "ebay" radio flash triggers or hire some pocket wizards to trigger it - the alst two ways you'll need to set your flash power manually as ETTL doesn't work with them

[marshawhiteseyffert]

Thanks. A wireless setup sounds like the bill.

Marsha