Hiding

Learning goal

You will be able to choose in the field the ways of letting a wild animal stay as it is without noticing you. You will know when, where and how to set up a hide or an observation hut, and how to get in and out of it. You will understand that camouflage isn't a color but breaking up shape, movement and shine; you will take into account the movement of the face and hands, the shiny surfaces of the lens and the sound of the camera. Knowing that many animals get used to a vehicle more than to a walking person, you will use the car as cover. You will take into account the limits of hiding, never hiding near a nest, and that in areas where hunting takes place camouflage can put you in danger. In the light coming from the narrow opening of a dark hut, you will expose an observer's face correctly on every skin.

The question

Your friend now knows both the heron's hour and its place. They reach the shore before sunrise, putting the wind and the light at their back. Still, the moment the heron notices them it straightens its neck, backs away from the shallow water and turns its back on them. Sitting behind the rock works for a few minutes, then the bird is uneasy again. Your friend wonders how the bird notices them so easily: they are wearing a green coat and trying not to move. How do you become invisible?

Context

In the previous lesson you saw learning an animal's hours, places and behaviors before takeoff with the knowledge given by a birdwatcher and a guide (Lesson Y.3). In the street and documentary track you met the photographer turning, over time, into an ordinary part of the setting in documentary work (Lesson S.7). While learning to wait for the scene, you also worked on deciding in advance how long you will give a scene before leaving it (Lesson S.4).

Becoming invisible among people is a process of getting used to each other; a wild animal, on the other hand, often never gets used to a person at all. Many birds are sharp-eyed and notice movement, shine and the human shape from very far away. Hiding is therefore not a disguise, but ceasing to be a person in the animal's eyes. This lesson takes up the tools of hiding, the hide, camouflage and the car, and what matters more than them: patience.

Simple explanation

What is a hide for?

A hide is a portable cover, often in the colors of nature, that takes the photographer and their camera inside, with small openings only for the lens. The animal sees the hide but can't see the person inside; after a while it can accept the hide as an ordinary part of its surroundings. That is why a hide works better if it is set up facing a place the animal often uses, for example a feeding shore or a perching branch, and a few days in advance. Many protected areas and bird sanctuaries also have permanent observation huts; these do the same job.

You get into the hide when the animal isn't there, often before sunrise, and come out after the animal has left. Asking someone to bring you to the hide and then walk away is another way: some birds, seeing one of two approaching people walk away, behave as if they assume the area has emptied. Inside the hide, too, you must not put an arm or a face out of the opening; you need to move the lens slowly and switch to silent shooting. A hide or a hut is never set up near a nest; hiding doesn't remove the distance rule of the nesting season.

What does camouflage hide?

Camouflage is making it harder for the animal to recognize the photographer as a person by blending their shape, movement and shine into the surroundings. Color matters less than people think; what really gives you away is an upright human silhouette, quick movements and surfaces shining in the sun. Matte clothes in natural tones, standing not in front of a bush or a rock but inside it or behind it, sitting close to the ground and breaking up your silhouette are most of camouflage.

The face and hands are the most mobile surfaces and those that reflect the most light; on every skin, light or dark, the shine on the forehead and cheeks and the movement of the hand are noticed from afar. A thin face net and matte gloves reduce this. The front glass and shiny body of the lens reflecting the sun can also alert the animal; a lens hood and a matte cover help. In areas where hunting takes place and in the hunting season, on the other hand, full camouflage can make you invisible to hunters too; you need to stay away from these areas or carry a visible marker.

Why is a car good cover?

A vehicle hide is using the car as a hiding place: the photographer stays inside the car and shoots from the open window. Many birds and mammals living by the roadside or along a dirt road between fields have got used to the vehicles they often see much more than to a walking person; when a car approaches they often stay in place, while when the same person gets out they flee at once. Turning off the engine, not opening the door and avoiding sudden movements keep this tolerance.

A bag filled with sand or rice resting on the window frame takes the weight of a long lens. When waiting together with other observers in enclosed spaces and huts, silence is a shared rule and conversations are held in whispers. If you want to photograph the observers in an observation hut, shoot with their permission and taking into account the light coming from the narrow opening: in a dark hut the side of the face turned to the window is lit, the side looking inward in deep shadow. While the camera tries to average the darkness, light skin close to the window can blow out, while dark skin in the shadow can lose its detail; metering from the lit side of the face leaves both skins in the right tone.

Visual evidence

Your friend borrows a hide from the club. They set it up on a Thursday evening at the edge of the reeds facing the shore where the heron feeds, far from the nest, and leave it there until Saturday.

On Saturday, before sunrise, they walk to the hide together with a friend from the club; the friend leaves them there and walks away. Inside, they put on the face net and the matte gloves, keep the lens back from the opening and switch to silent shooting. Half an hour later the heron comes down to the shore and starts hunting without looking at the hide at all; they photograph it from fifteen meters, relaxed and as it is.

In the afternoon they move to the observation hut on the far shore of the lake. Inside, a woman silently scanning the shore with her binoculars, an observer whose skin is dark brown, sits in the light coming from the narrow window. Asking her permission, they photograph her; they take the metering from the lit side of her face turned to the window. Her skin is in its own warm brown, her cheek in shadow darkening with a soft transition.

Common mistakes

Summary

Becoming invisible is ceasing to be a person in the animal's eyes: a hide set up in advance and entered when the animal is away, a camouflage that breaks up shape, movement and shine, and a vehicle hide that many animals are used to, combined with patience, let the animal stay as it is. Hiding doesn't make approaching a nest legitimate and calls for care in hunting areas; an observer's face in a hut is metered in narrow light from its lit side and photographed in its own color.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will watch an animal while hidden.

1. Choose a place near you that a bird or an animal often uses; with a hide, an observation hut or a car, find a spot facing it, far from nests.
2. Take your place when the animal isn't there; break up your silhouette, cover your face and hands, cover the lens's shiny surfaces and switch to silent shooting.
3. Wait at least an hour without moving and compare the animal's behavior with a day when you stood in the open; if you photograph an observer, get their permission and meter from the lit side of their face.

Check yourself

• When you were hidden, did the animal behave more relaxed than in the open?
• Was there a movement, shine or sound that gave you away?
• Did the face in the hut appear in its own color in the narrow light?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Why is a hide set up a few days in advance?

• A) So that the animal accepts it as an ordinary part of its surroundings
• B) So that the hide dries
• C) So that the light changes
• D) Because that's the rule

2. What gives you away most in camouflage?

• A) The exact color of the clothing
• B) The camera's brand
• C) An upright human silhouette, quick movement and shine
• D) The lens's focal length

3. Why does a vehicle hide work?

• A) Because the car is higher
• B) Because many animals have got used to vehicles much more than to a walking person
• C) Because the engine sound calls the animals
• D) Because light comes better through the window

4. Why can full camouflage be dangerous in a hunting area in the hunting season?

• A) Because it damages the camera
• B) Because it scares the birds
• C) Because it makes the hide heavier
• D) Because it can make you invisible to hunters too

Answers

1. A — A new object makes the animal uneasy; as time passes it stops counting it as a threat.
2. C — Sharp-eyed animals notice not color but the human shape, movement and shiny surfaces.
3. B — An animal that doesn't count the vehicles it often sees as a threat doesn't notice the person inside either.
4. D — Being invisible also means being indistinguishable in the eyes of a hunter looking for game.

Summary card

• Becoming invisible: ceasing to be a person in the animal's eyes.
• Set up the hide days ahead, get in when the animal is away, have a friend walk off.
• Silhouette, movement and shine give you away; cover face and hands, keep the lens matte.
• The car is good cover; don't get out, turn off the engine.
• No hiding at a nest; care in hunting areas; in a hut, meter the face from its lit side.

Bridge to the next lesson

Photographing the heron as it is from the hide makes your friend very happy. Then the bird suddenly takes off and passes low in front of the hide. Your friend holds the shutter button down, but when they open the frames, in all of them the bird is blurred or the focus is on the reeds behind. How do you get a flying bird sharp? The next lesson takes up continuous focus, the camera's tracking modes and the fast shutter speed needed to freeze movement.