Onegav

Today I wanted to try and get a close up photograph, with as much detail in it as I possibly could, and in as sharp focus as I possibly could.

My first thought was to try and take a shot of the gerbils again, Fred and Oliver. As you may know I’ve tried a couple of times before, but it hadn’t quite worked out.

I think they’re great subjects to try and photograph; they’re cute of course, but also they’re small, detailed and move like lightening! They don’t come to you when you call them, they do whatever they feel like, so they’re a healthy challenge I think, to try and learn some skills.

They love toilet rolls, they don’t eat them, they just rip them up in seconds. Its the best way I found today to get them to stay in an area where I could photograph them.

I got a half decent shot of the pair through the glass in the bottom of their gerbilarium, sat ontop of their little wooden house. They’re brothers, you know, and our girls named them. Oliver is Olivia’s, and Fred is Isabelle’s.

I think Livvy might be getting a bit fed up of me taking pictures of her, but its not my fault shes so pretty.

Holly suggested I take a picture of her mothers day flowers, which was a great idea, becasue they don’t rush about like gerbils, and they dont pull faces like little girls!

I tried loads of different settings, and got some results I’m happy with. I’m learning pretty quickly about the basics of my new camera, so I’m really pleased about that; already I’m feeling more in control of whats happening. Most of that was due to photographing the gerbils, thanks to the unique challenge they pose.

I stuck with it though, and managed to get some nice close up, detailed shots of them.

Learnings – I couldn’t get a good shot of the gerbils in full auto mode, I’m not sure why but I think I was just trying to take the shot too close, and the gerbils were moving too fast for the auto focus. Maybe thats not the case, and it was something I was doing wrong, but thats my current theory.

Anyway, this was great, becasue I tried a few auto settings, like portrait and sports, but in the end fully manual got me the best results. This was amazing, becasue as I’m still wading through the user manual (yes I know blokes shouldn’t read user manuals!!) and I didnt think I’d even touch the fully manual mode for months to come yet.

Its exciting times for my photography journey, and I cant quite believe the things I’ve learnt already. I know my last two or three posts havent been particularly photogenic images, but on a personal level I’m hitting goals every day, so I’m really pleased about that.

Moreover, I feel like I’ve started to develop my own style, I know how I want to capture images, and slowly, I’m learning how to capture them.

Chapter Two has just begun………..