Too close for comfort

Sometimes when I’m shooting a faerie house image, lower light conditions can require a longer exposure and thus using a tripod is mandatory. But tripods don’t always fit well in tight spaces…especially if the house is fairly close to the ground. Holding the camera by hand is not optional because even one’s own heartbeat can cause a tiny shake of the camera that could result in a blurry image. So what to do? Turn the world upside down, of course!

On most medium to high end tripods, you can remove the center post of the tripod and re-insert it upside down so that the camera is hanging under the tripod. This method only works if you have a digital view-screen to see what you are shooting but most cameras have them now. The tricky part is trying to make any adjustments on your camera to your settings. It can be very hard to get to the camera when it is upside down, so make sure you have things set close to what you want before flipping it over. It takes practice to be able to shoot this way but sometimes it is the ONLY way to get the shot in low light and close to the ground if you don’t have access to a mini tripod or bean bag to hold the camera steady for the longer exposures.

I shot this image in my garden today. I had noticed that the Blue Gentian, a plant I adore, was finally entering it’s peak blooming stage. I had a house that I was saving just for this location so I set it all up to see how it would look but I had to shoot it upside-down as you can see. Because of the location, the sun was back-lighting the scene which sometimes can work nicely… but in this case, I had my doubts.  I opted to take a lot of shots just in case they turned out better than I had expected.

Once home in the studio, after reviewing all of the images I decided that I needed to come back to this location with morning lighting to see if I might be able to get a brighter, more sparkling image. This image is nice enough, but I’m going to try again the next good morning we get and see if it is possible to get something even better. I’ll keep you posted!

Last week I picked up many of the Faerie houses that were on display at the Henry Sheldon museum in Middlebury, VT. Thank you Mary Manley for all your support and guidance to make this show so much fun for all your visitors! I did leave a few houses there for an additional few weeks. If you want to get your name in for their Faerie House raffle you still have a bit of time left. Click HERE for more details.

Things are going to be very busy this week as I continue working on the 2 Faerie house sculptures I hope to have finished soon. I’m also trying to get some houses shipped off to important clients this week as well.  I’m still in the mad scramble of the home stretch of getting new images done for Amber Lotus plus getting houses ready for my private sale. The weather is shifting rapidly now and the days are much cooler and shorter than they were a mere month ago. Fall is coming and I am definitely NOT ready for it yet! I found this little reminder gift in my flowers today as I went out to change the hummingbird feeders. I still have two hummers left, juveniles I suspect, but all the adults have flown now. It’s always a bittersweet moment when I realize that the last hummers have left on their journey south.

Have a peaceful week everyone!