Not a lot different going on at the moment. Both these videos were made to try out various things. The first is a short clip of both Great Tits making a recent visit to the Nest Box. The video was put together using VideoPad.
This longer video was shot using a different camcorder. A s/h Canon XL2 which can take interchangeable lenses. Some was shot using the 20x optical zoom which comes with the camera and some with the Canon 70-200 EF IS L lens. Alternative lenses have to be focussed manually. It was unfortunate that yesterday morning gave dull rainy conditions. The XL2 records in wide screen HD.
There are so many buttons, dials and facilities on the XL2 it is going to take quite a while to learn to drive it and I'm looking forward to some good results once the Sun makes an appearance.
Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.
Friday, 11 February 2011
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Some Colour at Last
It is great to see that we must be getting closer to Spring. On our afternoon walkabouts there are some flowers to be seen. In the churchyard the patch of Winter Aconite is growing each year and always puts on a cheerful show,
Nearby in the churchyard are several clumps of Snowdrops. Another welcome sight.
Also to be seen in several gardens are various colours of Crocus. These are growing in one of my plant troughs.
I can see that it wont be too long before Daffodils and Narcissus are in flower as the stalks are about half height now.
The photos were taken with my mobile phone.
Nearby in the churchyard are several clumps of Snowdrops. Another welcome sight.
Also to be seen in several gardens are various colours of Crocus. These are growing in one of my plant troughs.
I can see that it wont be too long before Daffodils and Narcissus are in flower as the stalks are about half height now.
The photos were taken with my mobile phone.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Macro on Monday - Guess What
Well, I seem to have won the gold star again for last week's puzzle picture. No. It wasn't a spud, tater or potato. Wilma was on the right lines by suggesting it was a rock and Glo did think about dried fish skin. It was no use putting the chip pan on because the fish I had photographed was a fossil from my tiny collection.
At 50mm length it wouldn't have made much of a fish and chip supper anyway.
My thanks as always to all who had a go at identifying the photo.
Now for something a lot less ancient for this week's macro puzzle:
Clue: Evergreen descendants confined here.
No prizes - just for fun.
At 50mm length it wouldn't have made much of a fish and chip supper anyway.
My thanks as always to all who had a go at identifying the photo.
Now for something a lot less ancient for this week's macro puzzle:
Clue: Evergreen descendants confined here.
No prizes - just for fun.
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Ladybirds
A few days ago I got round to clearing up a pile of fallen leaves. I dumped them in the green wheelie bin for collection in March when the service restarts after the Winter break. The next time I went to use the bin I spotted this group of seven spot ladybirds inside the lid. They had been overwintering in the leaves.
Yesterday while I was repairing some fence panels I noticed quite a few more seven spots in various nooks and crannies. I hadn't expected to see so many considering temperatures were down to -10C near the end of last year.
Yesterday while I was repairing some fence panels I noticed quite a few more seven spots in various nooks and crannies. I hadn't expected to see so many considering temperatures were down to -10C near the end of last year.
Friday, 4 February 2011
Friday at the Flicks - Tree Sparrow, Preening Doves, Great Tit Nest Box
When the single Tree Sparrow appeared during the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch I was able to take this piece of video:
During the week I spotted this pair of Collared Doves preening each other - won't be long before they are breeding again.
Finally some short clips of occasions when both Great Tits are in the nest box. These visits occur most days and are very brief.
It ended up a bit on the breezy side last night. It was a good job I checked some of my older fence panels as one was bending alarmingly in the strong gusts and threatening to disintegrate at any time. Fortunately I was able to brace it against the wind and thankfully it is still there this morning though it needs some bodging (repair). Our winds didn't compare with those experienced in parts of Australia recently but still enough to bring some branches down in the village.
The maximum gusts in mph as recorded by my weather centre over the past 24 hours.
It was a pleasant surprise when I saw that the temperature was a very respectable 11C at 7 a.m.. Long may it stay that way.
Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.
During the week I spotted this pair of Collared Doves preening each other - won't be long before they are breeding again.
Finally some short clips of occasions when both Great Tits are in the nest box. These visits occur most days and are very brief.
It ended up a bit on the breezy side last night. It was a good job I checked some of my older fence panels as one was bending alarmingly in the strong gusts and threatening to disintegrate at any time. Fortunately I was able to brace it against the wind and thankfully it is still there this morning though it needs some bodging (repair). Our winds didn't compare with those experienced in parts of Australia recently but still enough to bring some branches down in the village.
The maximum gusts in mph as recorded by my weather centre over the past 24 hours.
It was a pleasant surprise when I saw that the temperature was a very respectable 11C at 7 a.m.. Long may it stay that way.
Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Heath Robinson and the Chinese Lantern
Oh oh I hear you say. Here we go again. Another technical post. Yep - another flash of inspiration, or something. The seed cases on my Chinese Lantern plant look fascinating now the orange outer coating has rotted away leaving just a skeleton surrounding the seed case. How best to present it?
First I tried a normal photo:
I also tried a series of focus stacked photos but the result was awful. While the outer casing was fine the stacking program had great difficulty resolving the red inner seed case. What would be better, to my way of thinking, would be a video but how to set about it. That's when the Heath Robinson in me came up with an idea. Find a way to turn the seed case and take a series of stills and then make them into a video.
I had recently acquired some stepper motors:
Normally a motor keeps going round when you apply a voltage. A stepper motor only turns a small distance each time you apply a voltage. The one I chose takes 48 steps to turn one revolution so I set up an Arduino 'computer' to control the steps and wait while I took each photo.
The seed case is being held on top of the motor with some pink Blu Tack.
Canon EOS 350D Canon EFS 18-55mm lens
f14 1/20sec ISO 200
Lighting - two 12V LED lamps.
Next - find a program to convert the still shots to a video. I had lost the program I previously used but a quick Google found the freeware program Images to Video HERE which has a simple interface and seems to do a great job. It only works with .jpg files but can make .wmv, .avi, .flv or .mov video files.
Once the video it made had been rotated in Corel Video Studio and repeated a few times the result was:
I think that occasionally it is interesting to be able to show and look right round an object.
First I tried a normal photo:
I also tried a series of focus stacked photos but the result was awful. While the outer casing was fine the stacking program had great difficulty resolving the red inner seed case. What would be better, to my way of thinking, would be a video but how to set about it. That's when the Heath Robinson in me came up with an idea. Find a way to turn the seed case and take a series of stills and then make them into a video.
I had recently acquired some stepper motors:
Normally a motor keeps going round when you apply a voltage. A stepper motor only turns a small distance each time you apply a voltage. The one I chose takes 48 steps to turn one revolution so I set up an Arduino 'computer' to control the steps and wait while I took each photo.
The seed case is being held on top of the motor with some pink Blu Tack.
Canon EOS 350D Canon EFS 18-55mm lens
f14 1/20sec ISO 200
Lighting - two 12V LED lamps.
Next - find a program to convert the still shots to a video. I had lost the program I previously used but a quick Google found the freeware program Images to Video HERE which has a simple interface and seems to do a great job. It only works with .jpg files but can make .wmv, .avi, .flv or .mov video files.
Once the video it made had been rotated in Corel Video Studio and repeated a few times the result was:
I think that occasionally it is interesting to be able to show and look right round an object.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Scavenger Hunt January 2011
I was fascinated by something which caught my eye on Glo's blog Porcelain Rose. Glo had found a idea / challenge on Kathy's blog Postcards From the P.P.. It was a photographic scavenger hunt with a list of twelve things to photograph.
They were, in the order they are shown in the video below:
A Stained Glass Window
A Library - our visiting library van
A Goldfish
Something reflective (not a mirror) - my garden pond
Front Door
Bubbles
A Tombstone over 100 years old - this one is dated 1893
Playground Equipment - at the village school
Something out of Place - my pet hate, cars on the public footpath
Nature - Chinese Lantern Plant seed case
Yarn
Abandoned Building - in my case this is the old Methodist School
All the subject were found in my own village.
I wonder what will be in the list for February.
Here you can find blogs which have taken part:
They were, in the order they are shown in the video below:
A Stained Glass Window
A Library - our visiting library van
A Goldfish
Something reflective (not a mirror) - my garden pond
Front Door
Bubbles
A Tombstone over 100 years old - this one is dated 1893
Playground Equipment - at the village school
Something out of Place - my pet hate, cars on the public footpath
Nature - Chinese Lantern Plant seed case
Yarn
Abandoned Building - in my case this is the old Methodist School
All the subject were found in my own village.
I wonder what will be in the list for February.
Here you can find blogs which have taken part:
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