We had some late-night visitors in our front yard late on New Year’s Day. As I waked past the kitchen window on my way to bed, I noticed a shadowy figure in the snow. At first I thought it was a large dog, but quickly realized it was a deer. I called my wife to come for a look, figuring that they would quickly scamper off. Instead, they moved closer to the house to some barberry bushes about 15 feet from the kitchen window.
Even with the full moon, it was hard to see more than just a silhouette. I grabbed the closest camera (a Canon G10) and tried to grab a photo through the window. But, it just wasn’t up to the challenge. The on-camera flash caused too much glare, and the full moon didn’t provide enough light without the strobe.
I assumed they’d take off after the first flash, but they completely ignored it and just kept munching on our shrubs. Realizing I had more time, I retrieved my “big” camera and set it up to trigger a flash remotely. Then we could hold the flash up to one window and take the pictures through a different one to light the deer and avoid glare. The biggest challenge was to focus – auto focus doesn’t work in the dark. So, I had to focus as best I could, then check the photo on the LCD, and adjust the focus manually.
Sights like this are a big part of why we like living in the country. A few days ago, we had two foxes playing in the woods just beyond our driveway, and birds and squirrels are everywhere. As Deb said, we’ll never walk past that kitchen window again without looking out to see who’s looking back.
