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Great
Tit by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200 - Lens 18-70mm
Great
Tit by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200 - Lens 18-70mm
Blue
Tit by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200 - Lens 18-70mm
Blue
Tit by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200 - 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 our own back garden on one of our several bird feeders. The Ring Neck Parakeet is not unfamiliar to our 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 our back garden. (Did I mention we live in Surrey, United Kingdom)
Ring
Necked Parakeet by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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 200
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.
Golden-Mantled
Rosella by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
Golden-Mantled
Rosella by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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!
MoonPlane
by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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:
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.
The
Moon by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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 200
Full
Moon on Halloween Night...
Full
Moon on
Halloween by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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.
B52
Mitchell Bomber
Aircraft by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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 200
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 200
Believe
it or not,
but 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.
Close-Up
of Stag by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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 200
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 200
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.
Fly
Agaric Mushroom
by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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 200
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.
Brilliant
Red
Autumn Tree by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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.
Giant
Tree in Autumn by Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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.
Green
Damsel Fly by
Clive Anderson - Camera SONY Alpha 200
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 200
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 200
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.
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