Dad said about a mouse nesting in the rockery, so I decided to try my luck at enticing it out with some cashew nuts. Seems to have worked!



Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) by Chris_Moody, on Flickr


Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) by Chris_Moody, on Flickr

It seems it got a bit full after that, as I went and tried to use a close-up filter with another crushed nut to get even closer, but I think it was in a nut-induced coma in its little nest.

Twas iso 800 Additionally it was near 7pm when I took them, so it was daylight, but hardly bright, and the camera was 18" from a crevice in the corner of my garden, so lighting...wasnt that hot!

I took some at 200, they looked the same bar less noise, and the mouse being nothing but a blur. I didnt know how many times Id be able to get it to come out so decided to whack the iso up to 800 to make sure I could get it unblurred. They were taken with the 17-85mm lens which isnt that fast. Theres always another day to try again with the 50mm prime, close up filters and lower ISO

Yeah, it was pretty classic skipping through them on the camera & adobe bridge. The sequence went something like:

Nothing
A nose and whiskers sticking out of the darkness
The nose and whiskers slowly take the form of a head
The head becomes a body
several seconds of nothing as the mouse sits there weighing up what must be the mouse-awesomeness of cashew nuts vs the risk
It inches closer
LUNGE
Photo of a blur and possibly a tail as it disappears into the darkness

Ill try again if the weather is good tomorrow. I had it set up with the close up filters so that I could have got a few good shots of its head in focus without the fact I was cheating (nuts) visible. But it didnt show its head again for 20 mins so I gave up as light was fading. Ill try it on ISO 200-400 with a fast aperture/shutter if I can.

Failing that I can just edit the image in PS to remove the noise from the "crevice", as thats the only really noticeable bit (to me at least!).

Try using a small pile of fragments rather than whole nuts. Then it cant just grab and run.

Worth doing every day as it will get more used to you.

Whats your setup to trigger the shutter? Great shots, bodes well for future wildlife photography.

One of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350377900317

Its not as clean as the IR remote on the 400D, as it involves connecting something to the hotshoe and then plugging the wire into the remote port on the side, but it does have a 100m range which doesnt require LOS to work!

Try using a small pile of fragments rather than whole nuts. Then it cant just grab and run.

Worth doing every day as it will get more used to you.

Yeah, I crushed 1 nut into 4 big pieces, I didnt actually expect it to work so I didnt have the camera set up when it took the 1st piece, but I was ready for the next 3. It seemed pretty tame as it is, as at one point I was adjusting the iso on the camera and it was quite happily sat under the rock waiting for me to bugger off. I might try breaking it up some more. Ideally Id do it mid-day, but I think it only worked as it was getting on in the day, these guys are primarily nocturnal so early morning or evening is my best bet I think.

Some good shots there mate, had a similar one in my garden around by the bin, saw it scurry behind so shot in to the house and grabbed the camera with a 300mm lens and laid of the floor waiting for it to come out again:

Didnt use it in this case but also have this remote, its multi use, can be used as a shutter release and also a flash slave..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Wireless-remote-Flash-trigger-Canon-550D-500D-450D-400D-/170516942683?pt=UK_Photography_StudioEquipment_RL


Garden Mouse by entityxenon, on Flickr

Used the standard 75-300 http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-75-300mm-f-4-5.6-III-USM-Lens-Review.aspx

So nothing special, probably cropped a 1/3 off the width, getting rid of that one though, now I have the 200mm L lens, the way I work it out is that the new lens is better quality and even without the extra bit of zoom I can crop and still have better quality

The 300mm really isnt good for macro, but judging by the macro you do at the moment with the compact, its better than anything I have that says it can do macro.

Hadnt thought about that, for mine I was at least a couple of meters away