Traditionally flash is used in nature photography for either close up work where depth of field is needed or in those classical bird portraits of the 40's, 50's, and 60's, showing a pinsharp bird against a dark background even when the subject is usually seen in daylight. These latter were the product of a time when flash equipment was heavy and calculations of exposure more complicated. The electronic/computer revolution has changed all that and we now have at our disposal lightweight, compact, computerized smart flashunits and cameras which take the drudgery out of nature flash photography.

A good example of the utilization of these recent advances is exemplified here by the photograph which was taken by my son, Michael, already an accomplished award winning photographer at the age of sixteen years. It is spring in Bahrain and we are looking for subjects for him to photograph for the BBC Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition 1994. He decided that a colourful subject would be the best choice. Maybe a White-cheeked Bulbul, a Hoopoe, a Bee-eater or one of the seven species of shrike which are seen in Bahrain. The mesquite groves of Sakhir are a draw for migrating birds during the spring and the new delicate leaves will often provide an attractive surround for the main subject. We cruised around the area on a fine afternoon looking for any subjects which might present themselves. A number of Hoopoes were around but never seemed to settle in an attractive setting. The afternoon wore on and Michael still had nothing that satisfied him. He could hear some Bee-eaters but it transpired that they were only landing on telegraph wires or tantalizingly out of react of the 600m lens he was using. The light was fading fast and we were about to give up. Just then a Bee-eater settled on a dead bush but we were, of course, on the wrong side of it and the backlit bird lacked both definition and sparkle. The bird seemed quite unafraid now that the light had almost gone, as frustratingly often happens. On this occasion there was just enough light for the Velvia film he was using but it was now so flat that the result would only be a rather dull portrait.

During the school holidays one of the things we often do in the evenings is to leaf through books looking at the work of some of the great photojournalists and try to understand what makes their pictures so outstanding and how they took them. Fillflash is a commonly used technique which we had often discussed on these occasions. When employed in the right situation it works very effectively to open up the shadows thrown by backlighting and render the colours rather more vibrant. Michael wondered why we couldn't use the technique here? Despite the fact that it is normally used with rather shorter focal lengths than the 600 mm we felt that it was worth a try although I was unsure exactly what the effect would be.

He mounted the SB25 flash unit directly on the Nikon F4 camera body hot shoe and dialled in the - 1 2/3 stop compensation recommended for subtle fillflash shots. With the negative compensation dialled into the flash computer the effective range of the flashtube is considerably increased. Thus, providing the subject is within this increased range, it should be partly lit by the flash whilst the background is lit by available light. Michael managed to fire off four or five shots before the Bee-eater flew off. This technique certainly does work well but you must remember that with many mammals and other nocturnal creatures there is a likelihood of producing the animal equivalent of red eye when the flash is mounted directly on the camera and that it may be advisable to move it off to one side by using an off-camera flash cord.

The shot of the Bee-eater above won Michael the 15-17 year age group prize in the competition - so he earned something and I learned something!