We are now heading for our nth heat wave - currently it is 37 degrees in the shade in the garden, where the grass is brown, there are no cyclamen yet (normally there are a few by now) and there are corpses of dried out, unripe fruit under most of the trees. The quince seems to be coping the best, but then they are from Persia originally so it is probably feeling at home. The victoria plums are making me feel guilty on a daily basis and shortly I will brave the heat to pick a few to bake.
Checking my camera roll for the week, I could only find a few photos of a cat sprawled in its basket after having spent too long outside yesterday evening (he is in disgrace). This failure on my part led me to thinking about what photography I do and what works. This is all the more important, as we await the Big Event, the near total eclipse of the sun on Wednesday. We must dig out the welder's glass for the camera and make sure that it is fully charged, ready for the main event. It would be even better if we could find the link for the tripod, which would make a good photo that much more certain, but we've not seen it since the last partial eclipse in 2005 or 2006.
Perhaps half of the photos and all the videos I share here come from trail cameras, fixed around our land and triggered by motion sensors. I suspect it is mainly luck, and trial and error, that mean I find places to put the cameras so that they get interesting shots, such as the badger family looking for fallen cherries. The speed at which wild animals in general, and birds in particular, move, means that getting an unfuzzy photo is a matter of luck.
Pine martens are so speedy and small that this is often the best that can be hoped for, but is too granular as the animal was too distant from the apparatus.
Photos in daylight are a bit clearer - you can see the markings on its face rather better - but it is still fuzzy and granular.
Of course some blurry photos are actually quite clever, in that you get the idea of motion quite nicely, as with this pheasant that is just landing to see whether it too can find some fallen cherries.
It is astounding that some beautiful animals can be such bad subjects for photos. My beloved hares are often around but moving so fast, photos blur or are unappealing. This one is a bit too distant so zooming in gives it a granular quality.
This one is rather better in terms of quality, but the subject is not looking at its most appealing!
Bambi is also guilty of this - here he looks a bit fuzzy and blurred, and he is looking away from the camera.
Here he is looking at the camera but pulling silly faces.
Occasionally, you are lucky and catch real life moments that are quite impressive. Here one of my vixens is proudly bringing home lunch for the cubs - either rat or baby coypu.
Rather more dramatically, she then brought something rather larger home for dinner - I'm not sure how I feel about this one!
Squirrels tend to be just a flash of red blur, so this one is quite good, and you can see the flash of white on its belly. They are also often too far away from the camera or actually on it.
Boar make good subjects as they are large and don't move too quickly, on the other hand, they damage cameras when they can and aren't always totally visually appealing, especially from behind, especially males... The cute little ones move way too fast.
Actually there were a few photos on my camera, but they are preparations for our float for the Comice in two weeks time, and I am not unveiling that excitement before the day of the parade, so there!
Anyway, if things work, there will be a bunch of black and white photos next week of a disk with a light ring around it. Remember, don't look directly at the eclipse, even through a camera (unless covered with welding glass) unless you have the special, approved, eclipse watching sunglasses! Enjoy the spectacle if you are in the path, and if you aren't, wait for the photos!
No comments:
Post a Comment