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Camouflage The Art of Concealment

by Mike McNamee

Your writer has always been a bit leery on the subject of camouflage clothing. While a number of people wear army surplus clothing because it is cheap, there are a small proportion who do so because they like to look like off-duty SAS warriors! This is typified by a 60-something local who struts about our town's Asda in a camo outfit, complete with spats.

The fact that he almost always has his elderly mother in tow rather destroys the image, but you get the point. Sadly, inappropriate wearing of camouflage is often accompanied by an unhealthy interest in guns and hunting. The research for this article involved looking at a number of websites populated by the biggest bunch of slack-brained, socially inept, weapon-toting misfits you are likely to come across. Much of the material was in video form. One particularly unpleasant character filmed himself holding up the head of a 10-pointer stag. 'What a beautiful stag', he murmured ecstatically over his victim. What a jerk! It was a much more beautiful stag while it was going about being just a stag before this bastard shot it with his bow and arrow for his own personal gratification.

The only relief from the depressing litany of animal cruelty occurred when a post was made by some redneck bow hunter who had fallen out of a tree and very seriously disabled himself - one is tempted to write in and suggest that he now knows what the 50 per cent of stags which are injured, but not killed, by bow hunting, actually feel like! The depressing coverage of deer being mortally wounded was only relieved by a clip showing a stag turning on a hunter and kicking the living daylights out of him. The fact that the idiot had brought the incident upon himself by spraying his own mouth with some sort of elk scent only made it more amusing. Sadly the deer was unable to inflict any life-threatening injuries on the hunter.

So it is against this background that we write about camouflage for use in nature photography - just don't go into Asda wearing it and don't go anywhere near the bank! Disruptive pattern materials (DPM) as they are known in the military are the product of much research and they have filtered their way into the catalogues of nature-watching suppliers. There are some differences; the modern DPM has to avoid detection by both satellite and digital sighting devices which are not an issue for getting close to birds and mammals. Indeed, compared to humans, most (all?) mammals have only two cone receptors (dichromatic) rather than our three and so animals see a different range of colour. Conversely they have acute abilities in other ways, such as detecting movement, smellsand, in some instances, 'seeing' outside the range of human vision.

Siberian dwarf hamsters have two classes of cone: one with maximum sensitivity in the ultraviolet (c. 360nm), the other with peak sensitivity closely similar to that of its rod; and Syrian golden hamsters have a class of cone with peak sensitivity at about 506 nm, but they lack a second cone type. Snakes have good infrared detectors in their tongues. The popular expression 'red rag to a bull' is inaccurate it should be quoted as 'any rag to a bull'; it is the movement, not the colour!

Camouflaging yourself against a natural backdrop is very much locationdependent; camo for the desert is quite different to that for the Arctic or dark woodland. Also, what an animal considers a threat is very complex.

Two glass marbles on the ends of a stick will terrify a blackbird (it thinksit is an owl), a stickleback will attack a pencil stub with a blob of red paint on it (it thinks it is a rival male). Successful concealment, then, depends upon a knowledge of the subject species and its environment. Shape is important and the less you look like a human and the more you look like a bush the better you will be. This is an advantage of a hide which has a much more visually neutral form to it. The problem with a hide is mobility and getting it into position should you have to move.

Having decided that a hide is not your favoured approach then you have to be dressed for stalking. Your first decision is how warm or waterproof you need to be. If you already own good quality outdoor clothing then a thin over-top in camouflage will be sufficient. Bushwear provide suits, some of which use RealTree fabrics (www.bushwear.co.uk - http://www.realtree.com/camo/ ). These start at £75, rising to around £140 (for the fancy die-cut, leaf suit). If you are squeamish about buying froma hunting supplier then www.wildlifewatchingsupplies.co.uk may be more politically correct for you, although the base materials designs are almost always the result of military funding. The new venture by Stealth Gear (www.stealth-gear.com) is reviewed by John Fairclough at the end of this article. McNamee went to a local army surplus outlet and got kitted out with a warm jacket, trousers and a balaclava for just £47.

When it comes to camouflaging your photographic equipment, opinions differ. Most people seem to agree that field craft is more important than covering every square inch of your tripod and lens in camo material. The white Canon lenses are regarded with some suspicion although many put camo covers on them for protection against scuffs and scratches.

No matter what you do, there is always the problem of the big scary eye called your front lens' element. This can be made slightly less conspicuous by photographing from within the hide and not pushing the lens out of the hide at all, so that the front element is effectively in the shadows. This requires a deeper hide and certainly rules out the seat hides so popular with rifle hunters. There are always the compromises to consider between having to clatter about the undergrowth with a heavy bulky hide and a more fleet-footed approach of moving carefully in the open. One thing that is almost certain is that your clothing should not make rustling noises when you move. Noisy SLRs are another problem which is ever-present.

The absurdity of it all was confirmed on a recent trip to watch fallow deer. We had worked our way close to a group of males contentedly chewing the cud in the late-summer sunshine, some 20 yards from a road and using a small cluster of trees as cover. There we were, all camo'd up and feeling smug when a car pulled up and out popped a Japanese tourist, followed swiftly by his high-heeled wife. He raised his little compact camera but decided his lady needed a more natural background. So off she set at full speed, running over to stand among the stags and have her picture taken. The stags for their part looked on with amused patience and carried on chewing! So much for stalking.

Camouflage - Disruptive Pattern Materials

The subject of camouflage design has been studied and written about in some depth. Wikipedia covers the subject over many pages, listing the patterns used for more than 180 countries. Historically the most dominant material is US Woodland. This may serve only to illustrate that US arms salesmen have been busier than others. The patterns seems to have gradually evolved with digital detection technologies and the newer 'digital' patterns have to confuse both satellite and target-sighting hardware. RealTree makes an appearance from 2007 onwards. Much of this discussion has no relevance to wildlife photographers who work with the more limited ranges of animal colour detection but for whom movement and the visibility of the moving pattern is crucial. Some of the experimental patterns for the military were rejected because although they provided better concealment for stationary soldiers, they were more visible if moving.

The 'tiger' pattern is one of the more interesting. It is unclear who designed it but it was used by the French in Vietnam and probably by the SAS in Burma at the same time. There is a whole set of tiger stripe patterns including some modern 'digital' versions. Tiger patterns are currently in use in Afghanistan. It has always been something of a mystery why a pattern as distinctive as a tiger stripe should be so effective as a camouflage, but we should never forget that the tiger has been refining the design for millions of years and tigers who stand out in the undergrowth will be hungry tigers!

"I well remember at the beginning of the war being with Picasso on the Boulevard Raspail when the first camouflaged truck passed. It was at night, we had heard of camouflage but we had not yet seen it and Picasso, amazed, looked at it and then cried out, yes it is we who made it, that is cubism"

Gertude Stein

Stealth Gear

Camouflage Suit and Accessories John Fairclough reviews this new range of clothing for the nature photographer. In a very similar vein to some of the comments already made on the previous pages, I would like to take this opportunity to add my three pence worth. For many years now the majority of camouflage clothing made available for photographers has been primarily designed and manufactured for the hunting industry, leaving people like you and me to 'make do'. You had two options: go out in gear which may have been originally made to kill the species you wish to photograph, or secondly to go out looking like an SAS soldier out on manoeuvres!

Now for the good news - there is a new English company called Stealth-Gear (SG) who have nowconsulted many professional natural history and wildlife photographers, and then designed and manufactured a series of outdoor clothing garments and accessories especially for them. For those of you who travel a great deal and in turn experience the rules, regulations and headaches regarding carry-on luggage, the designers have come up with a newstyle vest/waistcoat specifically designed to getthe majority of your essential camera gear through security and onboard. For this alone, it has got to be worth looking at.

To date the SG catalogue includes a camo jacket, trousers, fleece, vest, gaiters, poncho and hides. This represents a good start and there is more planned. This feature will be having a look at some of the new products by SG.

SG have spent quite a bit of time researching not onlywhat camouflage materials are required, but, perhaps moreimportantly, they have identified some of the pitfalls and missing features of the products currently available from the many alternative 'hunting-based' suppliers. They have gone for plain olive green liveries for their clothing rather than DPM although they have available the more recent tree and foliage pattern mimics.

In reviewing for Professional Imagemaker, please note, I am not for one minute suggesting that a wedding photographer wears this gear on the actual day of a wedding shoot, unless of course it is in the Outer Hebrides, irrespective of how bad the weather is!

The four pieces of clothing reviewed can be purchased as separate items and are supplemented by a pair of gaiters, a poncho and a number of hides. All these items are aimed at providing the photographer with a more comfortable, warmer, drier and camouflaged way of working in the field.

I would imagine a number of the readers go out working in all the elements of the UK's famous weather conditions, including those very cold winter days. Wear one of these suits and there are a couple of points which will be guaranteed: you will be warm, comfortable, waterproofed and secondly, you will not look like a member of the 'SAS' out on manoeuvres.

A notable feature of the garments is the quality, hard-wearing, and sturdiness of the materials and the methods of manufacture. This is obviously what a natural history, wildlife, and outdoor photographer has been looking for, for a long time now, especially when you consider some of the rough terrains and positions we end up in. This suit will protect you no matter how much crawling around on our hands and knees you do, not to mention lying on the ground, irrespective of what we are lying on or in and how wet it is!

Each piece of clothing is made up from a dark green, 100% polyester micro-suede, and is coated in 'Dupont Teflon' which in turn repels dirt, water, and unwanted stains. In addition, each garment has selective areas which are made from 100% nylon and reinforced in such a way as not to hinder movement, to make the suit much more practical, comfortable and protective. The protected areas include the knees and elbows. All the garments are 100%, fully breathable.

THE JACKET

The jacket, like the rest of the package, has many new features to offer.

Features include:

· Forest-green colour, ideal for blending into the grasses, bushes and trees of the British countryside.
· The jacket features 14 pockets in all, one of which is extremely large, on the rear of the jacket, and also doubles as a waterproof seat.
· Side zips allow easy access to your trouser pockets and also for more freedom of movement.
· Corduroy collar patches to cushion camera straps.
· The materials are strong and, with strategic use of velcro, they aresilent in use.
· Specialist strengthening provides additional protection against wear and tear when carrying a large rucksack or backpack.
· Under-arm air vents may be closed by both zip and velcro.
· Adjustable storm cuffs.
· Taped seams and YKK zips to guarantee waterproofing.

THE TROUSERS

You may ask what can be special about trousers, well that's what I thought until I used the 'Extreme' trousers. The material is the same as that used for the jacket, however, the design is very basic, but very effective. Here are some of the main features:

· The trousers have two large leg pockets, two waist/hip pockets, tworear pockets and two side ventilation zips.
· You can crouch and sit down without getting wet.
· You can crouch down without baring your back (the builder's bum) and getting cold, these are high-back design.
· Forest-green colour.
· The outer shell is 100% polyester micro-suede, Dupont Teflon treated to repel dirt, water and unwanted stains, including reinforced dark-green patches 100% nylon in contact areas.
· Mesh inner lining for breathability.
· Velcro ankle straps.
· A 'Velcro' 100% adjustable waist band system eliminates the use of belts if you so wish, however, there are belt loops available, or you could use both.

THE FLEECE

The fleece is fully detachable and independent of the main jacket. It is both windproof and waterproof for comfort and protection at all times.

It is made as a lightweight fleece from '100% Polyester' laminated with TPU and '100% Polyester Mesh'. It is designed for wearing in conjunction with the 'Extreme' jacket in the winter or colder periods, or on its own in warmer conditions.

Here are just some of the features to be found on the 'Extreme Fleece':

· Forest-green, stylish and lightweight.
· One deep-zipped side pocket on each side.
· One zipped breast pocket.
· Two press-stud pockets, one on each sleeve, ideal for your mobile phone, memory cards, etc.
· Fully windproof, waterproof, and breathable.
· Reinforced nylon shoulders.

THE WAISTCOAT/VEST

I think that this product will become a very popular piece of photographic clothing, not only for the natural history, wildlife and outdoor photographers but also for the many other types of photographers, including travel and press. The first reaction I had when I looked at it was that it could solve the problems of getting camera gear through airport security. The garment is a dedicated vest and may be used independently of the other pieces of Stealth Gear.

It features 12 very strong pockets, eight on the front, three inside and one extremely large pocket on the rear which is gusseted. Talking of gussets, the two lower front pockets have zipped gussets, which expand so that each pocket is large and strong enough to hold a professional 35mm DSLR with a smallish lens. A lens may also be wrapped in a protective collar and then put in the pocket. In some cases these pockets could hold a medium-format camera.

Features include:

· Forest-green colour.
· The outer shell is 100% polyester micro-suede, Dupont Teflon treated to repel dirt, water and unwanted stains and has 5862g/ m2/24hrs breathability, including reinforced dark-green patches 100% nylon.
· Corduroy colour to cushion camera straps.
· Very strong and silent.
· Taped seems to guarantee waterproofing.

The key features which make the Stealth Gear stand out are: 1 The extra large pocket on the back of the jacket unzips, drops down, and becomes an attached seat. This allows you to park your backside anywhere, at any time and, most importantly, keep it dry.
2 Adjustable internal shoulder pads to protect against those very heavy camera bags and rucksack.
3 A five-year guarantee on each garment.

In practice over a period of months the gear has proved comfortable and highly practical.

For more information, detailed specifications, prices, retailers, distributors and a fully detailed video please visit www.stealth-gear.com.



Updated 27/04/2026 16:44:22 Last Modified: Monday, 27 April 2026