Getting closer to nature
As part of my plans to get some frame fulling wildlife shots, I have rummaged through the shed to find Tim’s shooting hide, after eventually managing to free it from its hiding place and giving it an airing on the washing line, I packed it up, along with an old exercise mat and headed out for the evening.
My plan is to use this hide to conceal myself and then cross everything that nature will come to me, that’s the plan at least, let’s just hope it works!
My spot for today, is very close by (thankfully as this bag with the net and mat in is actually pretty heavy!), and my subject of choice is rabbits, as they are in abundance in this area. My plan is to head up the hill a way, so I will be upwind, but also the light will be behind me and light up my subjects.
The rabbits here hang out in the ferns and bracken and then venture down into the field, the image I would like is at eye (ish) level with one, but having got up here, I have already hit my first hurdle in the form of the little outlier nettles, ferns and weeds blocking a clear path for me to shoot through. After a bit of searching with the camera out, I find what I think will work and get set up.
To start with, I am laying on my front, but after an hour with not much in the way of sightings, I sit up and that is when I started to get some nice images as I can actually see the rabbits!
As I am sitting up now, I can slowly edge closer to the rabbits when they are not looking, and I eventually get an AMAZING (subjective I know) image of one of the rabbits sitting in the ferns with the evening sun on it ♥️
I hung around a for another hour or so, trying to get some more close encounters, but that wasn’t to be, I was also starting to suffer from a server case of indigestion from laying downhill earlier in the evening and so headed home to curl up on the sofa as it was the only way to ease the cramping I was getting.
As my excursion was cut a bit short, and the weather was still dry, I headed back the following evening to see if I could get any more images. I left the mat at home, but still took the camo net with me. This time I chose to sit below where the rabbits were yesterday as the wind had changed direction and also the rabbits were more towards this side of the field and I could lean myself up against a tree.
There were already rabbits higher up in the field, so this was a good sign. I sat and waited and got some nice clips of the rabbits, but even at 600mm (when shooting 50 fps on the A7iv it is in crop mode so makes the 400mm 600mm) they were still far away.
After lots of waiting, one rabbit appeared below me and was so close! I was able to get some really nice footage and images of it as it grazed on the grass. The one thing that would have made these images better, would have been if the rabbit was facing into the light, as it would have lit up its face rather that its butt! But I am really happy with these images, It hung around for a while and ventured further out into the field where I was able to get some more images.
Eventually a dog walker came past, and the rabbit fled into the woods, this was then followed by some cyclists coming down through the woods a little while later, so I took that as my cue to leave.
I had an amazing time with the rabbits, and I am so glad I made the decision to go again to get some more images.