Bertie turned 5 in August. Yes, I know itâs now September â I have no excuse, other than Iâve been chocka with cold for nearly 3 weeks and too miserable to post anything.
The Bertster had a lovely birthday and received more cards than I ever do on my special day! Our neighbour bought him a new toy, whose eyes and squeak lasted all of half a day before they were ruthlessly killed. His beloved Nannie & Granda also bought him a toy (largely ignored in favour of the squeak-less, eyeless one it has to be said) and an entire box of pig ears which should keep him going all winter. Another neighbour also put a Bonio through the letterbox and he spent a happy half hour licking crumbs out of the Coir front-door mat (Bertie that is, not the neighbour). I took him on two of his favourite walks and as an added bonus gave him a raw Chicken Wing for lunch and an arm-breaking tummy rub for tea. As days go, for a dog, Bertâs was just about perfect. I canât believe heâs now five though and a proper grown-up dog. Doesnât seem two seconds since I got him, still in adolescent mode really at 2½ â weâve come a long way the two of us.
I really feel weâve turned a corner on Bertieâs fear of other dogs, even ones he was previously really nervous of. Over the past month weâve come across a dozen dogs and Iâve been so proud of Bertâs behaviour I could burst. I always put him on-lead when I see another dog approaching, even if the other dogâs owner leaves theirs to wander freely. I ask if itâs OK for Bert to say hello to their dog, and in most instances they say itâs fine. If the other dog is on-lead, I keep Bert on-lead. If the other dog is off-lead I feel itâs unfair to keep Bertie tethered, so I let him off. Bert heads straight for the other dogâs bum for a good old whiff, and they in turn seem to want to sniff Bertâs willy! On several occasions with off-lead dogs Bert has then wanted to play and chase â sometimes the other dog has been willing, other times theyâve just wanted him to bog off. If I can see the other dog isnât interested Iâll call Bert back over and, love him, heâs been really good at coming back to me when called (this would never have happened even 12 months ago as he would have been far too excited to hear me).
Heâs even coped brilliantly with two potentially explosive situations: one where he was on-lead and a huge off-lead black Lab (his most feared breed) came hurtling towards us barking its head off (with owner in useless pursuit, blowing a whistle the Lab simply ignored). I did actually pick Bertie up out of harms way, but when I realised the Lab was friendly enough I put Bert back down for a sniff, then let him off lead and they chased each other round the wood for a bit â nothing short of miraculous that Bert didnât so much as growl, and despite the Labâs obvious rudeness they ended up playing together. The other breakthrough was with the big Heinz 57 that has previously terrorized Bertie, always coming haring up to him off-lead growing its head off (the owner doesnât give a toss that this is really threatening behaviour!). Iâve protected Bert from this dogâs advances by placing myself between them as the dog approaches, and little by little have introduced them to each other in a controlled way. The dog now approaches Bert without growling, and Iâm happy to let Bertie off-lead to go and sniff him. Iâm not saying theyâre ever going to be friends but at least thereâs been a cease-fire in hostilities and my heart isnât in my boots every time we see the damned mutt.
Lots of people lately have commented on how well Bertie is looking. Heâs slim, toned, alert and his coat is wonderfully bright and glossy â Iâm obviously doing something right, though the lovely dry summer has helped as weâve exercised much more than we ever can in winter. He does, though, still seem to have intermittent problems with his front leg. If heâs been running heâs often lame in the evening and struggles to get up the stairs. It nearly always goes within 48 hours, but still itâs been a problem from the day I got him and is something Iâll chat to the vet about when he goes for his booster vaccinations in October.
His recall this summer has been as good as itâs going to get and heâll come back to me 80% of the time (though I do still lose out to very strong scents and wildlife like pheasants, deer and rabbit). He regularly checks in with me when off-lead and if he gets too far ahead will turn and make sure Iâm following. I do still treat him continuously â itâs the only way to go.
His barking still gets on my last nerve and the only thing that shuts him up is his spray collar â just having that on does the trick, I donât actually have to use it!   For me personally, the yapping is the only downside to Schnauzer ownership and I have to admit there are times I want to tear out his vocal chords!! But other than that I wouldnât swap him for the world -  he is the bestest friend a girl could ever have and the love I feel for him goes beyond unconditional.
Another dog blogger wrote a very good piece recently on the impact of Dog Attacks. It contained several scenarios and I commented on the following two:
- Someone she knew had their dog attacked quite violently by another dog who had escaped from a garden.
- The problem of friendly dogs who âjust want to say hiâ but who invade your dogâs personal space, often resulting in a scrap.
Another follower of her blog responded to my comment in a way which I thought was harsh and made me feel quite defensive and upset. Let me explain.
1. Scenario One: dog escapes garden. Whilst I feel terribly for the person whose dog was viciously attacked by another dog who had escaped, I stated in my comments to the Post that I could see both sides as Bert had been both the escapee, and been attacked by dogs whoâd escaped or were off-lead.
A few months after I first adopted Bertie we were both sitting in the garden, Bert on my knee, sunbathing. We were relaxed and I had my eyes closed. As we were lying there dozing, a man walked past our garden on the opposite side of the road with a bitch in heat. Bert shot off my knee, scaled our garden wall (which I had no idea he could do, heâd never even attempted it before), ran across the road and shoved his nose up the bitchâs bum. I was mortified, and the bitchâs owner was understandably not amused. I apologized and went to get Bert. No physical harm done, although Bert could have been run over crossing the road, though I do know the dogâs owner was probably terrified as my dog raced up to his and Iâm not belittling the psychological effects this kind of incident has on the dog being bounded up to â as a human being Iâd be petrified if a total stranger came hurtling up to me and invaded my personal space.
My comment was that this was a pure accident (the dictionary definition of an accident is: any event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or cause). I thought my garden was escape proof, the incident could not have been foreseen and was not intentional. After this happened I took 2 actions: Bert was castrated which has definitely curbed his interest in female dogs, plus I planted some very prickly bushes in front of the wall so that Bert can no longer get near it.
Was I at fault for this âattackâ on the bitch though? Both the Blog Post writer and the other commentator said yes. I say no. It would be lovely to live in a perfect world where no accidents ever happened, but is that really realistic? Had Bert viciously attacked the bitch and caused her harm I would have been beside myself, would have taken the bitch to the vet myself and paid for any treatment. But I still think it would have been an accident, and accidents happen.
The other times Bert has escaped from our garden were through no fault of mine either. I have a sign on my gate saying in very large letters âPlease close the gate, pets aroundâ. But do visitors or delivery men always shut the gate? Er, no. And yes, Bertie has seized his chance on two occasions to get out. Luckily Iâve always been around and heâs never gotten more than 10 feet away, but if he had would that have been my fault? Iâm taking all reasonable precautions (which is actually a legal term used in Court) to ensure that my gate is shut and, short of never letting Bert out in the garden which is ridiculous in his own home, Iâm not sure what else I can reasonably do. Though the commentator said the gate being left open was my fault too.
Bert has also been on the receiving end of an escapee. We were walking up the village, Bert on-lead, when zooming across the road came a Collie. I know the dog, itâs always chained up outside a farm (poor thing) and it had obviously slipped its collar. I could see Bert was petrified, so I jumped off my mobility scooter and stood firmly between the Collie and Bert, telling the dog to âshoo, get away!â. It didnât help and the dog kept circling us to try and get to Bertie. Itâs a terrifying situation to be in, and I had no idea what to do. If I picked Bert up would the dog go for me too? Thank God I remembered I had a water spray in my scooter basket (donât ask why, itâs a long story!) and I was able to shoo the dog off by spraying it. I did then pick Bertie up and sit him on my knee, but the bloody dog trailed us menacingly all the way home.
Did I blame the Farmer for this incident? Of course not. He had no idea his dog had gotten loose. I didnât even report the incident to him, because I know how Farmers treat their dogs and to be honest I didnât want the dog to be hit as punishment (hours after the event the poor dog would have no idea why he was being beaten). Iâve lived here for 10 years and that is the only time this dog has ever been loose, so it was obviously sheer accident. If the dog had succeeded in attacking Bert and had hurt him of course I would have got the Farmer involved, but I still wouldnât have blamed him for it â it wasnât deliberate and wasnât intentional. The Farmer thought the dog was securely chained up and indeed he has been from that day to this.
We live in a blame culture which is just getting out of hand. It must be lovely to be perfect as all these commentators obviously are, but me Iâm just a normal human being doing my best to get along in the world. I will make mistakes. My dog will make mistakes. There will be accidents. Itâs called life.
2. Scenario Two: rude & harmful dog behaviour. Again, Iâve been on both sides of this coin. I was walking Bertie on-lead and we were approached on the opposite side of the road by a lady from our village with her off-lead black Labrador. Bertie, for once, was golden and virtually ignored the other dog and just carried on walking and sniffing the grass. The Lab was trotting along beautifully next to its owner, but as we drew alongside one another he shot across the road, growling and bit Bert on the tail! Totally unprovoked and I was so shocked I couldnât even react. The owner immediately called the dog, who went straight to her, and apologised. In this instance I actually did blame the owner, because there are signs all over our village which state that you must have your dog on a lead within 30 metres of a public road and she was clearly in breach of that. This little incident made Bertie scared of black dogs for an entire year afterwards and it took months of training and work to get him back to being even half-way OK around other dogs. I still hate that bloody owner for putting my dog, and me, through this and if her dog is that unpredictable it should never be off-lead or at least wear a muzzle if it is.
On the other side of the coin I can tell Bertie was under-socialized as a puppy by his previous owners and he has all the social graces of a bull in a china shop. The Blog Post contained a link to an excellent article on rude dogs (of which Bertie is one) which explains the problem.
Bert gets very excited when he sees other members of his own species. Iâve spent 2 years trying to train him into behaving more appropriately and have gotten no-where. He âjust wants to say hiâ to every dog he meets. I always try to have him on-lead when around other dogs, and I *always* ask the owner if itâs OK for Bertie to approach their dog. If they say no, I respect that, and Bert is dragged away (and he does have to be dragged because heâs straining to get near the dog!). I take him to a dog friendly café every week to help with socialization and have done for the past 2½ years. We approach other tables with dogs, I ask if Bert can say hello, the dogs get to sniff each other then Bert settles down next to me and is golden. If, however, thereâs a dog Iâm told not to approach Bert remains hyper-excited and vigilant towards the un-greeted dog :-/ I get him to sit and do the âwatch meâ command, enticing him with bits of veggie sausage off my plate, but as soon as heâs had his treat heâs back to being obsessed with the dog heâs not been allowed to say hello to. I have a dog who is excited by other dogs â I manage it the best I can, itâs not like I ignore the fact and do nothing about it, but is the situation perfect? No. If youâve got a beautifully behaved and socialized dog youâve had from a puppy who has no emotional issues good on you â weâre not all that fortunate.
As anyone who follows my blog knows, Bertieâs recall has never been brilliant. Iâve worked damned hard at it and tried every suggestion known to man and, whilst itâs loads better than it used to be and he now regularly checks-in with me when off lead and doesnât wander off, itâs never going to be good. And it totally falls apart when we encounter other dogs because Bert âjust wants to say hiâ. Bearing this in mind his off-lead walks are confined to remote areas at weird times of the day when I can almost guarantee there will be no other dogs around. Note the word âalmostâ, because occasionally we will come across other people walking their dogs off-lead (who probably have the same idea as me that theyâll be alone).
Bert goes completely taut when he sees another dog. I know the signs and I try my level best to get his lead on, but I donât always manage it. So Bert will go zooming up to the other dog or the other dog will come zooming up to us. He stops about 6 inches away and starts to sniff (yes, I know itâs rude). Sometimes the other dog will wag its tail and start to sniff back, in which case Bertâs sniffing escalates to circling and bum sniffing and the other dog reciprocates. But at times the dog being sniffed takes complete offence and goes for Bert. And Bert scraps back. Never has Bert hurt another dog in any of these altercations, which shows that heâs using bite control. And Bert has never been hurt in these altercations (which shows the other dog is also using bite control and sees Bert as more of a nuisance than an aggressor). I am terrified, however, that one of these days weâll meet a dog who is truly aggressive and my baby will be properly attacked. But short of never letting Bert off-lead Iâm not sure what the answer is.
The Blog commentators say I should always have Bertie on a long line if his re-call is poor, but that still wouldnât stop other dogs haring up to Bertie when theyâre off lead. Plus itâs totally impractical as we walk in remote areas of farm and woodland and I spend more time untangling the line from bushes and bracken than I do walking the dog! I train Bertie constantly, manage the situation best I can, and take all reasonable precautions to keep my dog from either approaching other dogs rudely or vice versa. I donât always succeed and I accept that other owners donât always succeed (as long as I can see theyâre trying, which most of them are, thatâs acceptable to me, though youâre always going to meet idiots who donât give a c**p). Like I said, Iâm not perfect and neither is my dog. The commentators dogs, and their owners, obviously are. Must be nice. Arrogant and unrealistic, but nice.
I live in a place called the Eden Valley. The name says it all, because to me itâs like living in paradise. This afternoon Bertie and I had a walk by one of the many rivers which meander through the countryside near our village. As the weather is so hot the water level was low, meaning Bert could go and splash about to his heartâs content. The footpath next to the river is shaded by woodland, until halfway along when you come to an entirely wild flowering meadow where Bert happily bounced about chasing the butterflies. But that wasnât the best bit, oh no.
I could see in the distance a whole family walking along the path towards us, 2 huge dogs running in amongst the flowers like lunatics. My heart always sinks when I see other dogs off-lead as Iâve no idea how they will react to Bert or vice versa. When Bert spotted them he assumed the attack position, crouched low, tail arched right over his back, entire body taught and ears forward. He doesnât look aggressive, but he doesnât look exactly friendly either! One of the dogs, a huge greyhound, came zooming towards us at 100 miles an hour with Bert frozen to the spot not knowing quite how to react. Then he swerved off to our side and carried on running into the grasses, with Bert in hot pursuit!! And then, joy of joys, Bertie and the dog started playing together, doing zoomies round the field and chasing each other like a pair of puppies. It was an absolute delight to watch Bert, for the first time, actually playing with another dog joyfully and with total abandon. Of course the greyhound out-ran Bert every time, so youâd spot the Bertster bouncing around the field like Tigger, head leaping out from amongst the flowers, trying to spot where the hound had fled off to. He loved every second of it, and I loved every second watching him. And coming home in the car, with us both in the front, Bertâs head out the window in the breeze, he just kept looking at me as if to say âthat was fun Mum that was, I loved it!â and if dogâs could smile he wouldâve been grinning from floppy ear to floppy ear.
My other good news for the day is that my dog walker, who had told me she would be resigning as she needed to find a job with more hours, has decided not to quit after all! Sheâs reliable, gentle, good with Bertie and very responsible so Iâm delighted sheâs going to keep on walking my furry child and I donât have to worry any more about finding someone else. The reason for her change of heart is that sheâs been trying a temporary part-time job now for 2 weeks and has realised that she simply canât fit it around looking after her very disabled son, along with her other four healthy children (sheâs also a single parent, and deserves a medal in my eyes) which is a shame for her, but great for me!
I think sheâs also realised that, living where we do in the middle of nowhere, the cost of petrol to and from work virtually outweighs any money you actually make (I spend £80 per month just travelling to our nearest town and back to see my aging parents). Living in the countryside may sound idyllic, and it is in many ways, but it does cost an absolute fortune and I donât think none-rural dwellers have any idea whatâs really involved or the lack of even the most basic services which the rest of the country take for granted, such as mains sewerage or having your recyclables collected (even though we pay council tax like everyone else!).
All in all, the Bertster and I are loving the hot, sunny weather and canât understand why it canât be like this for about 3 months every summer, which would make the gruelling, freezing, rainy, windy northern winters that much easier to bear!
He might look like butter wouldnât melt, but heâs tried to dislocate my hypermobile shoulders pulling me on walks, sprained my ankle when I fell over his toy Lion on the stairs and nearly given me a coronary when he came within an inch of being hit by a car running out into the road, and this week my beloved Schnauzer finally succeeded in putting me in A&E.
We live surrounded by woodland, and in the current heat-wave itâs the best place to walk Bertie as I can let him off-lead to romp about in the cool and the shade. The only downside being itâs heaving with insects and Iâm completely paranoid about being bitten by ticks which carry Lyme disease. So while the Bertster runs around happy as Larry, Iâm wearing a long sleeved t-shirt, long leggings and knee socks and trailing along after him half-dead from heat exhaustion - but at least the bugs canât bite me.
At least, thatâs what I thought until I woke up Saturday morning to this (and, yes, it really is that red!). My leg was swollen from the knee down and the inflammation was tracking up a nerve to another red, blotchy lump further up my thigh. The itching drove me insane and it was so painful I couldnât bear any weight on it. I was not a happy bunny.
Being the weekend, of course, the doctors were shut so I ended up in A&E for 2 sweaty hours where I was given a prescription for antibiotics and steroids and told to rest with my leg up for the next few days. Super. I hope the critter that treated my calf like it was an all-you-can-eat-buffet gets food poisoning and dies a long, lingering death ;-) .
Bertie loves the heat and would rather lie panting like a loonatic in the sun than be sensible and sit in the shade. The hot weather also means we can travel with the windows down in the car and he just adores to sit in his booster seat (strapped well in I hasten to add) with his head out the window, ears and beard flapping in the wind. Weâve romped in wheat fields, splashed in shallow river beds and played hide and seek in flowery meadows. To put it mildly, heâs having a blast and about as perfect a life as a dog can get.
Iâve never given Bertie bones, mostly because Iâm vegetarian and havenât set foot in the meat section of a supermarket for over 20 years. But I do feel he misses out on meaty treats, so I asked on my trusty Schnauzer forum for advice on what to buy and last week set off to my local Butchers, trying hard not to gag as I was assaulted by the smell of raw animal flesh wafting on the breeze. I was happy to discover that bones for dogs are free, and came home with a huge bag of marrowbones and animal joints of unkown origin (the car now smells like an abattoir but, strangely, Bertie doesnât seem to care!). The marrowbone went down a storm. I was a bit concerned that, as he wasnât used to raw meat, he might have a bit of a squiffy bum afterwards, but all was fine and Iâll definitely treat him with those again. Iâve also been told I can give him raw chicken wings from Tesco, so Iâll order some of those this week to put in the freezer.  Theyâre not items Iâll give him on a regular basis, as he gets all the nutrition he needs from his food, but as a special treat now and again theyâre fab and there was not a single woof for a whole hour as he licked and chomped his way through his bone â heaven .
The only fly in our otherwise perfect ointment is the fact that my dog walker has quit on me (she takes Bert out in the mornings when my joints are at their worst after being in one position all night while Iâm sleeping). Sheâs taken on a full-time job and my advert in the local paper for a replacement has so far yielded no results. Iâm not panicking too much, as I have a teenager who walks Bert at weekends and during the school holidays, but I desperately need to find someone by the start of the new term in September and if advertising hasnât done the trick I donât know what else to try. Living in a rural area we donât have professional dog walking services and, being as though I need him walked in the morning which rules out older children as theyâre at school, my options are limited. So while Bertie is having a blissful and worry-free life, his Mum isnât quite so fortunate, although he is trying to be nice, licking my leg for me and helping to spread the infection just that little bit further ;-) .
After 2½ years Bertie has suddenly discovered the cat-flap which was put in the rear gate to help my (now deceased) elderly moggie get in and out of our walled garden.  For Bert itâs a form of CCTV used to spy on âintrudersâ walking past the house (the post-man, farm labourers and anyone daring enough to be exercising their dog are under particular suspicion). Surveillance is usually followed by copious amounts of barking and a sudden withdrawal of his head when the âintruderâ looks to see where the noise is coming from. For hours there is a pattern of silence, frenzied woofing and flip-flap, flip-flap, flip-flap as he dives back behind the gate for cover. I donât think the neighbours are that impressed .
Shhhh, Iâm going to say the next sentence quietly in case the Gods are listening: Bertie seems to be over his recent fear of other dogs. Weâve come across some large dogs on our recent walks and there has been no barking or fighting. My heart is still in my mouth when heâs off-lead and we come across other off-lead dogs who come haring up to Bert while he stands there rigid and looking like heâs going to attack at any second, but so far so good and each encounter ends with lots of circling and bum sniffing but no aggression. Each peaceful meet ân greet re-enforces Bertieâs response and Iâm hoping we donât come across any aggressive dogs or boisterous puppies to undermine all our efforts (which is what happened last time). I still wish he had a regular playmate, but will settle for his not being frightened by members of his own species.
Iâm thinking of going away on holiday for a few days just for a change of scenery. Obviously I want my bestest friend to come with me but I donât know where to start looking for self-catering accommodation which accepts dogs. I desperately wanted to go to Lochend Chalets near Stirling, as the cabin overlooks the Lake, itâs very tranquil, and is within a beautiful nature reserve, but they donât flippin well take dogs (why not????!). And although I live in the Lake District it would feel a bit like a busmanâs holiday staying in Cumbria, plus it gets very busy in the summer months. Iâd prefer somewhere near water, which is quiet and peaceful (which mostly rules out the sea-side), with lovely scenery and the opportunity for off-lead walks. Due to my health I canât drive huge distances, so am looking at Northumberland/North East, Yorkshire/Cheshire or Southern Scotland. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.
On the whole, Bertieâs beard is pretty clean â it flippin well should be the hours of my life I spend wiping it. Itâs never exactly what youâd call white, but itâs fairly respectable considering the amount of snuffling, licking, slavering and compost eating he undertakes on a daily, often hourly, basis.
At least it was fairly respectable until the Bertster, in his doggie wisdom, decided to go on a cow plop slurping spree and turned it a carrot ginger shade of red (heaven only knows what they feed the cows around here, itâs a wonder their insides arenât rotten!). Iâm rapidly starting to worry that the ginger is permanent and will have to actually grow out, though I suppose I could always try and lighten it with a bit of hair dye â maybe some Castings Crème Gloss no.801 âSatin Blondeâ might do the trick or a beard full of foil highlights ;-) . He could go the whole hog and have a complete make-over â a bit of purple claw polish with a blinged-up collar would be nice, and several lashings of mascara might force his wildly out of control eyebrows into some sort of order. Shame itâs not as easy to make-over his manners or social skills. No matter how suave and sophisticated he looked heâd still unceremoniously shove his nose up the first canine backside he came across and try to eat back his own lumpy vomit!!
Changing the subject entirely, we are having a nightmare time with ticks just lately. Bert canât go within ten feet of a fern without picking up one of the creepy little critters, and is averaging about 4 ticks per week. Iâve discovered they come in 2 types: small little red ticks, and humongous fat bloaty grey ticks which give me the complete heeby geebies! I take them off using my Tick Twister Tool, then drop them into the cap of the Surgical Spirit bottle which Iâve previously filled with liquid.  Then when Iâm sure theyâre well and truly deceased I chuck them down the drain outside, erggghh!!!
Iâm using a spot-on tick and flee treatment every 4 weeks. In fact I used one last night before I put Bertie to bed and guess what I found today when I was brushing him? Yep, you guessed it!! The little gits are indestructible and will be the only things left alive if we ever have a Tsunami or a nuclear winter. I guess theyâre just one of the oh-so-joyful-joys of living in the countryside, alongside septic tanks and farmers in desperate need of a visit from Trinny & Susannah ;-) .
I get some nice comments about the photos on this blog and I know some of you are also into photography, so I thought Iâd do a post aboutâ¦â¦drumroll pleaseâ¦â¦..photography! For those of you not into photography, ignore all the blurb and just take a look at the pretty pictures (click on images to enlarge).
I am a rank amateur, having never even seen a DSLR camera or taken a âproperâ photo before in my life until April 2011 and my learning curve has been, not so much steep, as a Himalayan climb! It was my original plan to enrol in a photography night-class, until I learned that there arenât any (one of the joys of living in the middle of nowhere).  So I bought a couple of Photography books off Amazon to get me started (although, if Iâm honest, all they did was confuse the hell out of me as they assumed all sorts of knowledge I didnât possess). I also tried in vain to read my cameraâs manual (might as well have been written in Mandarin Chinese) and eventually just started clicking (once Iâd figured out how to actually focus the damned camera ).
My original kit consisted of:
- An Olympus E-450 entry level DSLR camera, which came with a 14-42mm lense, F3.5-5.6 (just to confuse me totally, Olympus have different measurements for their lenses to other companies, and Iâve since learned that this lens is the equivalent of a 28-84mm in other cameras) and a cable to transfer the images to my computer. This camera is now considered old and fairly obsolete, but was only introduced in 2009! Itâs called a âfour-thirds mountâ camera, which means you can use it with different types of lenses, so long as they are âfour-thirdsâ compatible.
- A very girlie small camera bag.
- A Compact Flash card, ie the digital âfilmâ (my camera takes both CF and X-D picture cards). I choose CF for a very good reason, trouble is I canât now remember what the reason was! Iâve been very happy with it though if that helps .
- A spare battery (which I never remember to take with me, which renders it fairly much useless).
Since I bought the camera in 2010 Iâve added to my kit with the following;
- AÂ lens cloth (very important to keep the viewfinders clean and clear).
- A lens blower (used to keep the lens clean).
- A 2nd hand 40-150mm 3.5-4.5 telephoto lense (equivalent to 80-300mm in other cameras).
- A 2nd hand 35mm prime macro lens, F 3.5 1:1 (equivalent to 70mm in other cameras).
- A remote shutter release.
- A copy of Photoshop Elements 11 for processing my images once theyâre on my laptop (no need to fork out for Photoshop itself, unless youâre taking up photography as a business). Best purchase ever!
- A lightweight tripod with a ball head.
Quite a lot of my kit has been bought as presents. Photography is a bit addictive and, if youâre not careful, a hobby that can empty your bank balance quicker than a robber in a mask. My next purchase, for instance, is a neutral density filter so that I can take silky smooth pictures of waterfalls (if I could only find a waterfall to photograph!).
So, onto photography basics. My camera has an auto setting, which is basically all I used for the first 2 months. It also has 12 pre-sets, which include Portraits, Sports, Landscapes and Macro. These were all I used for the first year, and the macro setting in particular gave me some fairly good results with just the standard lens:
The problem came if I wanted to enlarge the pictures up to A4 size, as the lense didnât provide a 1:1 ratio and was blurry and pixilated when blown up. I now have a dedicated Macro lens which means I can take extremely close shots and the quality is excellent.
After a while, you want more control over your pictures and I wandered into the uncharted territory of A & S modes (lets leave full Manual mode, because itâs realistically only used by serious photographers). In simple terms:
A (Aperture mode, also called an F-stop) determines how blurry you want your background to be. For very blurry backgrounds use a small Aperture number eg. F:3.5 (great for shots of insects and other close-up work). A good F number for portraits is F:8 or F:11 (you get your person or animal in focus, with a fairly blurry background). And if you want all of your picture in focus use a larger Aperture number, eg. 16 - 22 (great for landscapes). The other thing to bear in mind is how far away you are from, or zoomed in on, your subject. The closer you are, the blurrier the background will naturally be. The further away, the more of your picture will be in focus. Trust me, this is all the information you need. I read a lot about how the lens works, and fractions, and lots of other information which was just confusing and IMHO unnecessary! If you choose A-mode, the camera chooses all the other settings (like Shutter speed and ISO) for you. Here is an example of a small Aperture number:
S (Shutter mode) determines how fast your lens closes and I use it for action scenes. Many people say that Aperture priority should be the most used mode, but I personally disagree. I ignored S-mode for far too long, and just kept getting blurry picture after blurry picture (especially doing photos of Bertie who doesnât stay still for 2 seconds!). I now use S-mode for all my action shots and get sharp pictures 75% of the time even when I hand-hold my camera. If you choose S-mode, the camera chooses all the other settings (like Aperture and ISO) for you. I tend to use my telephoto lens, and on a sunny day a shutter speed of 640 (on cloudy days you have to choose a slower shutter speed, say 250 to allow enough light in, though this will probably mean more of your pictures will be blurry due to camera shake). This is the result:
The other thing a photographer is supposed to worry about is ISO, or the amount of light entering the camera. If you work in either Aperture or Shutter mode, the camera selects the correct ISO for you so itâs not something I think much about. Just remember that on very dark days, or in shade, the camera will make your ISO higher which will make your photos grainy. To counter-act this, either use flash (if you are close to your subject) or a small Aperture number (which lets more light in the lens).
There are other useful settings on my camera. These include:
White balance. This has pre-set modes of sunny days, cloudy days, and indoor/flash use. I try and remember to set the mode according to the conditions, because it really does help the end result.
Focal points. I use just one focal point, the centre one, because thatâs where my eye aims. If I donât want my subject in the centre of a photo I focus on it, keep the focus button pressed half-way down to lock the focus, then move the camera so that the subject is where I want it in the frame. Press down fully and job done. Focusing is extremely hard to get right and focusing on the wrong part of your subject is the main reason any photo is blurred (well, along with hand shake!). For animals, always aim for the eyes as the main focus â it doesnât matter if the rest is blurred. I use the viewfinder, not the LCD screen, at all times â itâs just a personal choice as I find it easier to frame and focus on my subject this way.
I could start to get technical now about shooting at night, bracketing, using cable releases to get âtack sharpâ photos, using âfill flashâ, deflectors and filters but for an amateur itâs all a step too far. What I will say is that if youâre planning on doing close-up work like wildlife or flowers, you will need a Tripod. The closer you are on a subject the blurrier it gets, usually from your hand shaking, and the only way to get sharp pictures is to use a Tripod to hold the camera totally still (a cheap one with a ball head will do no matter what the âexpertsâ say!).
Most of all, just practice! Shoot the same photo using different Apertures, then change to Shutter mode and use different Shutter speeds. I still do this, as some pictures do better in A mode and some do better in S mode. When you transfer your shots to your computer, you can see in Photoshop which setting you used to get the best pictures (go to File/file info).
Anything that does go wrong with a picture can usually be put right in post-production. In Photoshop you can correct sharpness, lighting, colour. Make backgrounds blurrier, make skies bluer. At least, if you know what youâre doing you can. I think Photoshop should be taught at degree level, itâs certainly complicated enough! A class is invaluable, or try buying a copy of Photoshop For Dummies â Iâm only on Chapter 3, but am hoping to finish it before I die . Happy snapping!
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