Picture taken last Sunday morning with a Canon 5D DSLR, Canon 17-40mm zoom lens @ 40mm, 0.9 Neutral Density filter (reduces light by 3 stops), ISO50, shutter speed = 4 seconds. Manfrotto tripod fitted with a pistol grip head also used.

I was driving along the coast road this morning when I spotted this fox snuffling something in a field. I pulled in and sneaked back. This picture was taken when the fox was looking directly at me (I was behind a wall but my head and shoulders were visible to him) – he had heard the click of the camera shutter but he couldn’t quite make out what he was looking at. Of course, a herd of bullocks at the far side of the field had ‘made’ me almost as soon as I approached, so in terms of cunning, it was a case of : Cattle > John > Fox – at least I was ahead of the fox.

The picture looks a bit grainy because it was taken at 5.15 am and the expected sunshine of sunrise was hidden behind a blanket of all-too-familiar Galway cloud [it was taken with a Canon 5D set to ISO 1250]. Even now, it is very overcast in the city – so much for the heatwave.

The great thing about a modern digital camera is the ability to capture things that one can hardly see with the naked eye. The picture above was a grab shot, taken just before the clouds obscured the moon completely. I t was taken as I was driving out of Spiddal back towards Galway city. I saw only the moon in my rearview mirror and pulled over. Only after I got out of the car  could I see the faint outline of the fishermen [and I only noticed them because I could hear their voices ]. The picture was taken at ISO1000 with a 100-400mm zoom with a Canon 5D DSLR. The settings were f6.3 and 1/20th of a second. I lost a few seconds setting up the tripod but I wouldn’t have got the shot without it. I used Lightroom 3 to clean up the grain a little (but not much).