Closer

So there I was thinking "Oh no, not more shots of the same boar" when I remembered my 24-105 in the bag. I figured what the heck, lets try something different. Knowing mothers inquisitive nature, I think she knows about humans and food, and her non-aggressive attitude towards me (so far) I got on the floor with my angle finder and waited. Did not take long before she vanished into the trees with her clan, only to re-appear alone in front of me. I have noticed whenever she investigates anything new the babies get chased into the trees. If they try to wander out for a look she chases them back again. 

It took her a while but eventually she came close enough for some 24mm shots, on my 7D. Not the best, a CPL might have helped, but I am pretty sure that is as close as I want her to get for now, after all with my hat on I probably look like a super jumbo acorn!

7D, 24-105 IS L, 400 ISO

Small stuff

Sometimes I like a background so much I will take anything that happens along. Autumn trees give wonderful opportunities for this, so I did just that the other day. Was just another great tit but I liked the surrounding.

7D, 500 f4, 1.4TC, ISO800

I have also, after much umming and ahhing, registered http://www.natureimmortal.com/. I intend to stop using sites like Smugmug as design-wise they are highly inflexible and rather impersonal. 

The family

Early Friday morning I once again had the pleasure of my second family. Mother appeared, as usual, from the left. The mini boars arrived too from the left, but further off down the clearing. This time of course I had 500mm + to play with (and test). The sun came out, was quite early so no bad thing, and testing could at last commence with ISO200 rather than taking pictures of noise. I had fun for a few minutes until mother retreated to the right looking for food.

7D, 500mm f4, ISO200

Public access

In Germany nature is public access, unless in a Nature Protected area. Many areas are privately owned, but still open to the public. This is great, means I can plonk myself down wherever I will and take pictures. But this also means anybody else can disturb my peace, should they so wish. So it was on Saturday. On Friday evening after a long day trying to shoot jays I moved off to a grassy clearing where I had already witnessed red and fallow deer grazing. Evening came and eventually I was rewared, all be it from a distance, with a pair of hinds and their offspring. Brilliant. Tomorrow I will choose a better hiding place!

Saturday here was a warm, mild November day. The sun was out, which meant the walkers, cyclists and joggers were out in force. Mostly this is fine, I can hide myself off the beaten track. After another hard day, really hard, with the jays (and mosquitos) I set off for an evening at the grassy clearing. Except somebody had decided upon this exact spot for a picnic and a game of badmington. I moved on, dejected, knowing that we all have a right to enjoy nature (although I do not count playing badmington as appreciating your surroundings).

Maybe

Sometimes, when the plan has gone horribly wrong for five hours, it can all of a sudden nearly go right. You can nearly get the invisaged shot, the smooth background, the right perch and the right pose. I would have liked more eye contact but I like the inquisitive look. I guess I am nearly there on my quest for the perfect jay shot ;)
I had to use a touch of flash, really not enough light, but maybe I need more....a reflector, a diffusor? What I need is more time to experiment, not sit and do the same thing week in, week out.

7D, ISO800, fill flash, 500 f4

Planning is everything...not!

So I had four days free, mother-in-law visit, what to do? So, fours days in the forest with the 500 f4 IS? No brainer! I had planned on getting better shots of jays and baby boar, if they played nicely. Planned being the operative word.
So you set yourself up on a quiet stretch of path where you know the jays will arrive and pick up scraps from wandering forest visitors. Arrive they do some, forty meters up the path. After a few hours of waiting for them to work their way down to you, and they nearly do but get full bellies before reaching you, you wander off dispondent. Waiting a further two hours in another spot brings you nothing and thoughts of taking up golf enter your head (but not for long!) ;)

Eventually moving to another known spot where a previous feeding of nuts and seeds (in a hole in the tree) should bring something. Hmmm, great tits and nuthatches, oh good.

All of a sudden a great spotted woodpecker arrives and has a mooch around. At last, ACTION! The day got better from then on but I still did not get the shot of a jay I was really after. Something for weekend perhaps? :)

7D, 500 f4, 1.4TC, 800ISO f5.6