Wordless Wednesday - Garden Pond Tadpoles

Monday Mystery - Guess What

Well, I've done it again. I though last week's mystery photo would be relatively easy, especially for computer operators though maybe not for laptop users. It was a close view of a computer mouse - easy now you can see the whole thing:

   


Right, let us see how you get on with this object photographed on a walkabout yesterday which I processed as a tiny planet to disguise it.
Guess What:


Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They will be revealed, along with the answer, next Monday.
No prizes except maybe a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.

Some You Win, Some You Lose

I tried converting about 500 of the time lapse still photos of the apple to video. Unfortunately the lighting is very variable. I'm not sure yet what the cause is but am working towards having external power to one of my Speedlight type flash guns to see whether that will give better results. The Speedlights do have a socket for an external power input but it only charges the lighting circuit. They still needs batteries in place to power the electronics. The only way to have everything powered externally is to route the voltage through the battery compartment. Theoretically an easy task by making a couple of dummy batteries to carry the wiring to the bottom of the compartment. Another job for the Round Tuit pile.

On a brighter note it is 13 years since I had a major cancer op. I don't think I will ever forget the night before the op. Although I went through all the extensive pre op preparations there was no certainty it would go ahead the next day unless a bed space could be guaranteed in the intensive care ward as I would have to spend three days there before being returned to the normal ward. Since then I have had regular check-ups at the local hospital. Last Thursday was the latest. It was really great to told I was being discharged from their care as after 13 years being clear it was very unlikely to return.

For about a fortnight I have been receiving bounce emails when I comment on other blogs. This seems to be a change in the way Gmail and Yahoo pass mail to each other. Originally I signed up to Blogger with a Yahoo address so I have changed that to a Gmail one hoping that things will revert back to normal. The comments I made were published OK but it stopped people receiving a copy by Gmail if that was the way they kept a track on comments being made.

Friday at the Flicks - Blackbird Singing at Dusk

As mentioned yesterday this was the first time I tried out a more effective wind shield and even on the couple of occasions when the breeze turned blustery it was hardly picked up by the microphone. Unfortunately no shield can cut out the sound of traffic and local lawn mowers.




I have yet to see how it behaves in stronger windy conditions.

Silencing the Wind

When filming outdoors I use a small shotgun type microphone on the 70D.
This one I bought from China:



It is supplied with a foam wind shield which doesn't work very effectively, if at all, to suppress wind noise in blustery conditions:



The best type of wind shield is a fluffy one which breaks up the wind but still allows the sounds you want to reach the microphone. I bought a cheap one to try out and fitted it over the foam:



A couple of days ago I was filming a Blackbird singing at dusk. There wasn't much wind but  a couple of times there was a short blustery outburst. The fluffy shield coped well with that as you can hear, or not hear, on the video tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

phalaenopsis orchid

Tadpoles by the Score

The great majority of the frog spawn in the garden pond has now disappeared and in its place are scores of tiny tadpoles:





I wonder just how many of these will grow and mature to join the other frogs in the garden.