Success and Failures

Whats wrong with this image?

Yep you have guessed it, There isn't a fox or Raccoon to be seen, Two nights and 10 long and cold hours sat in a hide with barely a movement and nothing to show for it except some test shots when setting the flashguns up, The image above has 3 flashguns making all the light, The snow is now patchy and pretty much gone where i put bait so for me very disappointing, I do hope we get more snow soon, But that's the 2nd time we have had snow in the last couple of weeks and both times the wildlife did a no show, You would have thought they would have turned up early and hungry but no nothing to show but an aching back, All you can do in these situations is preserver and learn, By doing that results will come-eventually, Patience is a wildlife photographers best friend, Its something i normally have very little of but i believe in myself and that what i am doing is right so in my mind its just a matter of time. I can guarantee that as soon as the snow is gone the fox and raccoon will be feeding between 6.30 and 8pm, All that time was not wasted, As we don't have many days here with snow it gave me a a chance to play with the flashguns-3 SB600's and see what settings i needed so as not to blow the whites/snow, Fox especially red fox have a couple of white patches on the end of the nose, These are very easy to blow out so good exposure is essential, I put some corn out close to the hide and the deer came both nights and fed, i like to do this for 2 reasons, firstly having other wildlife close by should reassure any other wildlife in the area and secondly if the deer stay and feed it shows that i am silent and that any odour i may give out is trapped in the hide-both very important, It also gives me something to watch whilst waiting for my target specie, I enjoy my time in the hide at night as in many ways its like being blind and although i do have light its just in front of me, My senses take over and my hearing is on constant alert for anything outside of the light, I normally hear the wildlife way before i see it, I knew that night photography would be a big part of my photography here in NC as the mammals normally like to move around when the temperatures cool off which is normally after sunset, Its another dimension and an added challenge which i am glad to take up 
When i was in Florida i spent an afternoon shooting birds in flight with the D7000, I did it to test out the AF and see if was was as good as the D300, See my next blog for the results

Dave