Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/04/06

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Subject: [Leica] The best laid plans etc
From: geebee at geebeephoto.com (geebee)
Date: Sun Apr 6 14:03:41 2008

I had been trying to get close enough to any small bird to get a halfway 
decent shot and having failed with some serious glass I
switched to the Panasonic with a serious zoom range.

Small birds still proved elusive so I bought myself a camouflage suit that 
would convert my outline to greenery and twigs. All I
had to do was set up somewhere and wait for the birds to come to me.

I encountered an unexpected problem:
http://www.geebeephoto.com/2008/Temp.htm

This is where I was going to blend seamlessly into the background. By 
comparison my camouflage suit was positively gaudy. For all
the birds I was going to fool I may as well have been practicing the 
trombone:
http://www.geebeephoto.com/2008/Temp_02.htm

I decided to wander around for a while to let the sun get rid of my 
camouflage antidote
http://www.geebeephoto.com/2008/Temp_03.htm

After an hour wandering about conditions had improved:
http://www.geebeephoto.com/2008/Temp_04.htm

Bird photography is almost impossible. Previously I had never been able to 
get close enough, now they were practically perching on
my hat. Some were so close, 4ft or so, that I dare not move to lift the 
camera to my eye and when they were far enough away for me
to risk moving there always seemed to be something partially obscuring the 
bird:
http://www.geebeephoto.com/2008/Temp_05.htm


The best pictures are in my head and are the times that they were so close 
that I dare not move because I could almost reach out
and touch them. It was magical and could well be habit forming. This wren is 
the best I got for several hours in stealth mode:
http://www.geebeephoto.com/2008/08063.htm



--Graham
http://www.geebeephoto.com





Replies: Reply from clive.moss at gmail.com (Clive Moss) ([Leica] The best laid plans etc)
Reply from henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff) ([Leica] The best laid plans etc)