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Squirrel pausing for a second from climbing. Nature Photography Wildlife

Squirrel Rant

Squirrel vs Canon 5D Mark IV with the Tamron 150-600 mm G2 Lens

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. Now, that winter is here and it’s cold outside, I will have time to publish content.

Once in a while, I take the camera with me when I go hiking. While these pictures might not be anything special per se, they are special to me because at the time I’ve just purchased a new camera. As you can see in the EXIF data under the images, I’ve got a Canon 5d Mark IV. Wohooo!

The day prior I’ve done a hike in the same spot, same trail, and figure I’ll just shoot on Auto mode. O boy, big mistake, while at first glance the pictures looked great. That was not the case when I got home and transferred all the images from the card to the computer. The ISO got bumped to the max setting and the images came out super noisy.

Example of high ISO

Sad really, because I’ve got a few great shots of chipmunks. Decided to go again the following day and that’s when I got all the pictures that you see below. This time, I went all out…straight up manual mode. No way I was going to risk getting my images ruined again.

I was lucky enough to find a squirrel that enjoyed getting photographed, so took few decent shots. Usually, they don’t really “pose” they just take off as quickly as possible. This particular squirrel did just that but then stopped after it climbed in the tree and then stopped.

To end the rant, the biggest lesson out of this is not to trust your auto mode all the time and make sure you zoom in to 100% when reviewing pictures on the camera, not 50% like I did. ;p

Happy shooting and see you again in my next post.

Squirrel vertically facing down
  • Shutter speed: 1/125s
  • Aperture: ƒ/6.3
  • ISO: 2000
  • Focal length: 428mm
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Squirrel vertically facing down, but slightly tilted.
  • Shutter speed: 1/125s
  • Aperture: ƒ/6.3
  • ISO: 2000
  • Focal length: 428mm
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Squirrel pausing for a second from climbing.
  • Shutter speed: 1/125s
  • Aperture: ƒ/6.3
  • ISO: 2000
  • Focal length: 483mm
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Squirrel climbing a tree.
  • Shutter speed: 1/125s
  • Aperture: ƒ/6.3
  • ISO: 2000
  • Focal length: 483mm
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV

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Nature Photography

All about Mushrooms | Photography

Photographing mushrooms while skipping through the woods!

Mushrooms are just so cool to photograph and they look like something straight out of a fantasy tale. Most of the fungi stand out, especially the non-edible ones, in a very pleasant way. They are brightly colored and have interesting geometric characteristics. I think about them as little houses since, on occasion, they can look like little huts.

Mushrooms on the forest floor, gathered together.

  • Shutter speed: 1/500s
  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • ISO: 200
  • Focal length: 18mm
  • Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

Humid, wet and misty environment, a mushrooms favorite environment to thrive. Coincidentally, these are favorable conditions to take pictures that are underexposed and have a gloomy feel to them. Here are few examples of such photographs.

Mushrooms in the forest, bundled up together.

  • Shutter speed: 1/500s
  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • ISO: 200
  • Focal length: 18mm
  • Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

The best way to photograph a mushroom is to get as low as possible to the ground. That way you get a really nice perspective on the subject. This allows for a much softer background, which in turn makes for a greater contrast photo. Getting low can be challenging at times with most cameras since the viewfinder lays flat against the body of the device. Cameras that do have a flip or movable screen are a huge plus. They allow you to get that low angled picture much quicker and with very little effort.

Mushroom on the forest floor.

  • Shutter speed: 1/400s
  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • ISO: 200
  • Focal length: 18mm
  • Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

So go out there and find some mushrooms, take some cool pictures and share them so we can all enjoy!

Camera settings for the first image 

  • Shutter speed: 1/320s
  • Aperture: ƒ/4
  • ISO: 200
  • Focal length: 18mm
  • Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

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