Geeking Out!
My kids say I'm a geek, and I'm not in a position to disagree with them.
I love my phone and my magnifying clip for getting close-up photos, like the Six-spotted Orbweaver on a Common Milkweed leaf. It means I can get up really close and from a couple of different angles. But I've been wanting to get pictures of birds for a long time, and the phone just wasn't good enough. I got a Canon Powershot SX40 through Marketplace for $100 (CDN). I have no idea if it's considered a 'good' camera by people who know about these things, but I LOVE it. I got the Tribe Oidaematophorini (Plume Moth) from about 3 meters away, just from a quick point-and-click that I didn't expect to work out, and the Teasel, which took a while to get it to focus on the right thing. I'm watching videos on YouTube to learn more, and I'm gradually getting better.
I was standing on a bridge for the Common Comfrey, thinking it was too far away to get a good photo, but by chance I saw the Two-spotted Bumble Bee and managed to get a recognizable photo from at least 10 meters away! I could see some sort of moving spot with the naked eye, but that was it.
As for getting photos of birds, the camera is great, when I can see them. I was very excited to get an awesome picture of an American Goldfinch high up in a tree. Unfortunately, my big difficulty is spotting birds. My Merlin app tells me what's there, and I can hear that something is really close, but I look around for ten minutes and just can't find it. Often, I get a glimpse of something flying away, and I realize it must have been right above my head. Well, I suppose that takes practice, too.
I've also downloaded an app called Geo Tracker on my phone, and used it with a program I found called Geo Setter, to tag my photos with the location, even though I don't have GPS on my camera. Surprisingly, my family were considerably less excited about this than I was, which is where the 'Geek' comment came from. It's not the first (or the 100th) time they've called me a geek, and I'm okay with that!
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