Daily Archives: March 14, 2021

Nature Phonography: Bluebirds and dancing elephants.

Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Someone said, and I read it somewhere, one time, a long time ago… “It is not that the elephant dances well, it is that the elephant dances at all.” I thought it was Mark Twain, but I can not find the reference using Google this morning…in fact I can not find the quotation at all…and I am beginning to think I may have made it up. 🙂 This photo brings the quotation to mind. It might not be all that great, as photos of bluebirds go. I certainly have much better ones. But then, when you consider that it was taken with an iPhone SE 2020, it is actually kind of amazing. I keep practicing with the iPhone and the Sirui 400mm lens mounted on the Moment thin case, and I am getting better. Of course holding the phone and lens steady enough for a decent photo is the hard part. It helps to use an app like ProShot, which allows you to create custom presets with higher shutter speeds. This shot was at 1/500 of a second, with auto ISO for correct exposure (ISO 50). I have also been experimenting with a “camera grip” on the phone. It is just a plastic clamp thing with a grip like small camera, and a bluetooth shutter button on the top right under your trigger finger. It makes phone photography much more comfortable and increases your chances of holding the phone still enough. There are a few on Amazon…variations on the design. I bought this one because it has the cold shoe for mounting a mic or light. The bluetooth release is a little finicky, but when it is working, it makes the phone very “camera like”. And it makes shots like this one with the Sirui 400mm possible at 1/500th, hand held. So you see, the elephant can dance.