Ever
since I can
remember I have always had a
fascination for cameras
and
photography, but
with the advent of the Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera
replacing the old 35mm Single Lens Reflex Cameras this
interest has been
ever more focused and with good reason.
I
was like a youngster with a new toy once the penny really dropped about
what
the age of digital photography really meant, not just to me, but for
photographic evolution.
The
door was now well and truly wide open to a whole new world of
photography.
It
means that you can now buy a digital camera
that is based on the old
SLR
variety for only a few hundred dollars equipped with an 8 gigabyte memory
card
and
battery charger, go out and take anything up to
1,942 pictures,
view them
on the LCD screen on the back of
the camera and
keep the pictures you like the look of and simply delete those
that you
don't.
All
I have
to do is take the memory card out of the camera and
place it into my
desktop computer and hey-presto I would be viewing
the
very pictures
that I had
only just taken.
Who
Said Technology Was A Bad Thing...
Gone
are the days of buying a 36 exposure film opening up the back of
the
camera, pulling the film across the back and trying to make sure it
lined up with
the running teeth before shutting the back and winding the
film on until it
had
reached the first exposure segment, take the
picture and keep my
fingers
crossed that I had got everything right and the
shot had come
out as planned.
Once
all 36 shots had been taken you would then have to wind the
film back, or
on later models
that had auto-rewind, press a button. Carefully remove
the film
in
low light conditions so as not to expose the film to
excessive light that
could
spoil it. Then take the film to the
photography store or send off for development, which could take
anything from a few
days to perhaps over a week.
So
not only is the modern DSLR version of photography much less
complex,
but more importantly, once you have the basic equipment the
actual
costs are
virtually nil.
What
Sort of Pictures Can a DSLR Camera Take?
Allow
me to demonstrate. Bearing in mind that I am no expert
photographer I
set-up the below shots of some Great Tits and Blue Tits
after giving what I
was looking for some serious thought on how I could actually
achieve
the close-up pictures...
Great
Tit by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K - Lens 18-70mm
Blue
Tit by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K - Lens 18-70mm
Blue
Tit by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K - Lens 18-70mm
The
above four pictures are from a set of ten photographs that took me over
a
month to set-up and take. I wrote an article on EzineArticles.com
that goes
into the details of how this was done if you would like to find out or
know
more
then please read How to Take Photographs of Small Birds.
Why Travel to Exotic
Locations for Exotic Birds...
Next are a couple of photographs of Ring Necked Parakeets that believe
it or not were taken in my own back garden on one of the several bird
feeders.
The Ring
Neck Parakeet is not unfamiliar to the garden and we are daily
inundated with
dozens all wanting to feed at once. The noise can sometimes become just
a bit
much and I'm sure that passers by must often wonder what is going on in
my
back garden.
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Ring
Necked Parakeet by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
Hard
to imagine that
such a fragile beautiful creature can thrive in a totally alien
environment, yet where some creatures of the world struggle to survive,
birds such
as these can find and make home in the most unlikely of places.
Beauty... Or The
Green Beast
Ring
Necked Parakeet by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
While
being colourful
and cute looking, the Parakeets are in fact quite a problem
to the UK. They have begged, stolen, and borrowed over the years from
our own
indigenous birds to become over 40,000 strong.
By bullying other birds looking to feed and wrecking trees and other
plant life
they have managed to get themselves onto the list of being a national
pest and
in 2010 it will be legal to destroy these beautiful birds.
Mind you they are no fools and catching and culling them won't be easy.
Our Noisy Australian
Visitor... (A Big Story)
Moving away for a
minute from hard to get photographs to the virtually impossible.
Over the years we have had some very weird and wonderful visitors to
our garden,
which even includes a pheasant, but nothing could prepare us for our
2009
summertime visitor. It really is a case of seeing is believing.
I'm not massively impressed with the pictures I managed to take of this
bird, but
I was in a bit of a rush and also all fingers and thumbs...
In fact we even managed to get the press involved
with this event, so it was
quite
a big story to us. Read the press article Bright foreigner visits Thorpe
birdtable.
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Golden-Mantled
Rosella by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
We
heard and saw him/her a couple of times after taking these pictures,
but it
was always brief and he disappeared as quickly as he/she arrived. Sadly
we
have not heard or seen it since.
Can you imagine what it felt like to look out of your window having
heard an extraordinary sound only to be faced with what can only be
described as the
most beautiful bird that I have ever seen. I just thought I was
imagining it.
Mind you it could have been a lot worse... imagine if I had seen it,
grabbed my
camera, run outside and it had flown away. How could I possibly have
explained
(A) What I had seen and (B) Who would believe me?
Thank goodness for digital cameras is all I can say!
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MoonPlane
by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
Not
all of my pictures are of birds, in fact birds make up only a small
percentage of them. The above picture was a snap I took while getting
some
pictures of the moon on a lovely summers morning.
Personally I think the picture has a kind of eerie, magical, mystical
feel to it,
could you imagine all the kids from a Harry Potter film being on-board
and
flying to the moon.
Back to Reality...
I actually entered this picture into the Big Picture Daily
Telegraph Newspaper
photograph competition, titled "An
Aircraft makes for the Moon". To my surprise
it actually made it as one of the 19 runners up. See ...an aircraft makes for the
moon on the
competition by Clive Anderson.
Staying
with the Subject of the Moon
I
have always found the subject of the Moon a fascinating one and try and
with
digital photography you can really get some great pictures, though
I tend to
use some additional photographic equipment when I do, such as:
- 200mm
or 300mm Lens
- A 2
times lens converter
- Tripod
or Mono pod
Then
there are the camera settings:
- Manual
focus
- Manual
zoom
- 100
to 400 ISO
- Timer
or Remote Control
The
manual focus is
essential when using a lens converter as few tend to
operate well when in automatic mode, but there are pros and cons with
all
corner cutting devices. Camera Lens Converters verses Camera
Lenses.
Below
are some other Moon photographs that I have taken. They were all
taken at different times using various set-ups, due to time of day and
weather conditions etc, I also wrote an article called Photographing the Moon With a
DSLR Digital Camera which
explores additional information and tips
in regard
to photography and the moon.
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The moon with a diameter of only 3,476km as opposed to the earths
12,742km
makes the moon approximately a quarter the size of earth,
which
means some
of the crater scares that you can see are hundreds of miles wide and
while the
moon may look like a wasteland it is imperative for our tidal systems
as it rotates
around us.
Cold Silent and
Uninviting...
As you can see there is quite a conflict between daytime astral
photographs
and nighttime ones. Have yet to get an opportunity for a clear night in
order to
get a decent full moon photograph. (As soon as I do I will post it)
The
Moon by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
Full
Moon on Halloween Night...
Full
Moon on
Halloween by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
Air
shows
Are Great for Photography...
There
are some great
photograph opportunities at Air shows, Farnborough
Air show,
Dunsfold Wings & Wheels,
and Duxford Imperial War Museum
are
among some of the largest and most popular Air shows in the United
Kingdom.
Digital photography is a real must in these situations so you can snap
until
your hearts content and when importing them to your computer
you can edit
and delete at will so as to only keep the best one's.
Using a good zoom lens is a real must for some exciting and close up
flying
shots of your favorite aircraft. It is also a good opportunity to hone
some of
your panning skills, especially when there is more than one aircraft
involved
and they are coming together for a break manoeuvre, chances are that you
will get them both in frame, but one will always be slightly out of
focus.
Gets
Your Heart
Racing...
There are some things that you simply cannot replicate with photography
such
as engine noise and atmosphere. I cannot put into words how muscular
these
aircraft sounded.
P-51
Mustang
Fighter by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
There
are Wing
Walkers and then there are real Wing Walkers, just when you
think you have seen all there is to see. The Guinot Skincare Biplane
Team
step it up a notch.
Guinot
Skincare
Team by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
Believe
it or not, the two wing walkers on this amazing team were
actually
women. I do not say this for shock, horror, gasp, but it really was
pretty daring
and impressive.
Wild but Majestic
and Beautiful...
When finding an opportunity to photograph Stags it is advisable not to
chose
the rutting season. My friend and I found this out the hard way by
placing
ourselves in some fairly dangerous predicaments in the name of
photographing
these amazing Red Deer Stags.
It
is not until you get really close and personal to these awesome
creatures
that you begin to understand the power concepts that are lurking beneath
the intriguing and inviting exterior.
Stag
Standing by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
No
man would stand a chance against such a creature if it truly decided to
catch and harm him,
and yet my good friend or photo buddy and I pushed
about as far forward to capture these and other images as we dared.
Two
Stags
Rutting by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
These
normally placid creatures become the most unapproachable animals
when the rutting season is upon them, they can become highly agitated
and
aggressive towards anyone or anything that dares to come near them at
this
time, but in the name of photography we pushed the boundary with
several of
these magnificent creatures. In fact the one above became so aggressive
towards us that we actually turned and moved as fast as we could
without
actually running.
Not an experience I would suggest or recommend, especially when you
think
how it could have turned
out. Great pictures for sure, but it could have got
messy...
The above three pictures of Red Deer Stags were taken in Windsor
Great Park
and Bushy
Park.
Red Deer Stags are wild animals and there are obviously things to do
and
things not to do when attempting to photograph them, to find out what
these
are you can read my article Tips for Photographing Red Deer Stags
Using a
Digital Camera.
Spooky
Season for Large Vegetables...
Halloween
is always a great time for all those off the wall images and costume
parties, but one thing that is as old as tradition itself is the
Jack-O-Lantern
made from hollowing out that innocent vegetable the pumpkin.
Halloween
Jack-O-Lantern courtesy of Roger Whitington - Camera Nikon D40
As
we can see thanks to my good friend Roger, (who not only took these
great
pictures of carved out pumpkins, but also did all the work himself) the
effects
from a bit of imagination can be quite dramatic.
Halloween
Jack-O-Lantern courtesy of Roger Whitington - Camera Nikon D40
I
think photography and Halloween Pumpkins produce some really impressive
images. If you want to create some great pumpkin photography, but are
not
quite sure how to go about it I created an article called Jack-O-Lanterns - How
to Carve and Hollow Out a Pumpkin For Halloween
that you can read
to find
out exactly how it is done.
Spotted...
Fly Agaric the
Mushroom of Fairy tales...
Autumn brings us many things, some of which are mushrooms and fungi,
and toad stalls. Probably one of the most famous and known about is the
Fly
Agaric mushroom.
Generally
recognised
for their part played in magical films with winged elfs
jumping
from one to another and more commonly associated with the good
old
garden gnome.
Fly
Agaric Mushroom
by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
In
Search of the Elusive Fly Agaric Mushroom
is an article I have
written
that
explores and explains the lengths and difficulties that can be involved
with
searching for quality specimen fly agarics as well as tracking down
some of the
other great autumn rewards.
Burning
Bush? No An Autumn Tree Blushing Brightly...
More
Autumn delights,
but on a larger scale than the mushrooms. I came
across these trees at Virginia Waters in Surrey on the same day as I
captured
the shots of the mushrooms. This picture really does not do this bright
red tree
justice as it stood out so brightly among all the other trees even
though they
two
were showing some gorgeous displays of colour.
Jack
and The Beanstalk Proportioned Tree...
This
photograph really does not do this magnificent giant tree a real
justice,
but as I stood at the base looking up it just seemed to go on and on.
After
giving it a big bear hug and wishing it well I thought it would make a
great
picture looking up the branch less side toward the sky. Hope you like
the
results.
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Giant
Tree in Autumn by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
There
is just something about trees and Autumn it is as though they are
completely transformed, making them visually stunning in many cases.
Small Creatures Make
a BIG Photographic Impact...
From one end of the spectrum to the other, while insects may make our
skin
crawl or hair stand on end in many cases, they are an important part of
our
eco-system and play a major role in keeping the mini environment
ticking along.
In photography terms they are not only a challenge, but certainly
rewarding if
you are lucky enough to capture a really good image.
Take the Damsel Fly, it may not be the greatest of subjects, but
catching one
standing still long enough to get a close up photograph is no easy feat.
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Queen
Takes a Rest on a Leaf...
This
Queen Wasp stops
for a needed break using a leaf as her chosen place
of rest. I was fortunate enough to come across this Giant Queen Wasp
and
quickly added some magnifiers to my camera lens. She was at least an
inch
and a half long and when she eventually did take off it was like
watching and
listening to a miniature helicopter.
To think that she would be responsible for creating millions of wasps
in the
future was quite a frightening thought.
Queen
Wasp on Leaf
by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
Below
is a photograph of a Drone Wasp or worker wasp, you can
get a fairly
good idea of the size differential between the drone and queen, which
is why I
chose to show you two pictures of wasps.
I am not sure if the sting from a queen is anymore painful than being
stung by
the drone, but I certainly tried to take enough precautions so as not
to find out
from either.
Wasps a rule tend to be mainly fruit eaters or small insects, but the
do feed
meat to the Queen and their larvae. They attack other flying insects
such as
flies etc, chew off their wings make them into a ball and flown home
and fed
to their larvae.
Drone
Wasp on Wall
by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha A200K
Their
nests can
normally be found in holes in the ground or inside hollow trees.
Unfortunately for us, wasps feel equally at home in a garden shed, wall
cavities, eaves and roofs.
When it comes to photographing Insects or anything else in miniature
there are
a few things to remember and possible equipment that might be of some
use
or benefit. For that reason I have written an article called The Magical World
of Insect Digital Photography - A Digital Camera Adventure in Miniature
that you
may find useful or quite interesting.
