Say FREEZE! Amazing images of birds captured at 1/8000th of a second by
amateur British wildlife photographer
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:07 PM on 19th January 2011
These birds would normally be gone in
a flash but British wildlife lover Roy Hancliff has frozen them in time at
an astonishing 1/8000th of a second using a home-made photography set he
built in his garden.
Revealing the hidden glory of the
animals in flight, these stunning pictures show the moments normally too
quick to see with the naked human eye.
Included in the astounding collection
is a super-speed mid-air duel between two Pine Siskins in a conflict over their
patch.
Freeze! A Red Shafted Northern Flicker is frozen by amateur wildlife
photographer Roy Hancliff at 1/8000th of a second
Snapped: Two Pine Siskins are shown in a mid-air brawl after Roy
Hancliff's amateur photography set captured the birds at 1/8,000th of a
second
Mr Hancliff, 65, from Oxford, has even
managed to freeze still hummingbirds, who are famed for their speed with
wingbeats of up to 90 times every second.
Another startling picture shows a
small chickadee flying straight at the camera like a low-flying bomber.
To capture every intricate movement on
camera the shutter is opened and closed 250 times faster than a person can
blink.
Frozen: A hummingbird - notoriously hard to capture - prepares to
feed on bee balm
An osprey, and a stellers jay caught in mid flight in Okanagan Valley
garden in British Columbia, Canada
And hidden from the
winged creatures in the back garden of his log cabin in British Columbia,
Canada, he polishes the process by firing five flashes simultaneously at an
even more impressive 20,000th of a second.
To highlight the birds, he paints his
own coloured backgrounds by hand and sets them behind the birds' feeding
area.
By doing this he removes the
'clutter' of the trees and plants in his garden and makes sure the birds
really stand out for the viewer.
Full flight: A House Finch looks as though it is attacking the
camera, careering straight for the lens
Mr Hancliff said: 'When I take the
shot its so quick I don't see it. Our eyes simply aren't fast enough to
register all the action that is happening right in your own back garden.
'It's only afterwards when I check
what I have that I know what images I've got. You really have no idea of
what you are getting until you review the pictures later.
'I'm stunned by the beauty of a
regular bird you see all the time suddenly looking very different when it's
frozen in time.
Happy snappy: Rot Hancliff took up nature
photography when he moved with his wife to Canada in 2003
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