POTD 5 July 2014 - Harvest Mouse

[Mike Farley]

Taken during the British Wildlife Centre members' evening.

[davidb]

Mike

I remember seeing a mouse in your portfolio when you visited Greenwich (RPS London) earlier this year. Is the a new photo?

[Mike Farley]

Mike

I remember seeing a mouse in your portfolio when you visited Greenwich (RPS London) earlier this year. Is the a new photo?

Yes, it's new photo, taken a few weeks after the RPS London event at Greenwich. The other shot was taken a few years ago, so it is also a different mouse as they only live for around 18 months at most.

[davidb]

It's a nice photograph and should do well in the Nature Competition. I might have cropped a little more of the top to get the head on the thirds.

[Mike Farley]

It's a nice photograph and should do well in the Nature Competition. I might have cropped a little more of the top to get the head on the thirds.

Thanks. The top of the mouse's head is on the upper horizontal third and its eyes are more or less aligned on the golden ratio.

[davidc]

Are the mice tame? The reason I ask is it looks posed with black cloth behind it, are they "setup" as it were? Though the eyes do suggest open skies rather than studio lighting.

Also, the thirds/golden ratio thing was interesting. Do those "rules of composition" work when they are all amalgamated? As in, if you apply enough rules of composition to a shot surely you can find a line going through pretty much anywhere you want and say it's following a rule. Absolutely not saying that's what you've said, far from it, I've just never seen you explicitly say you've applied two rules of composition in one image and wonder "where it stops" as it were. If that makes sense.

[Mike Farley]

Are the mice tame? The reason I ask is it looks posed with black cloth behind it, are they "setup" as it were? Though the eyes do suggest open skies rather than studio lighting.

It was taken in the open, with nothing set up in the background. There were a number of people all around, so getting a clear shot was not always easy. The wheat is growing in a pot, which has been placed in a large bowl so that if the mouse comes off the stalks it cannot get away. The mouse is captive rather than tame, although this is the understudy. The original one made a couple of dashes for freedom by leaping from the wheat to the ground and had to be replaced by another which was less adventurous.

Also, the thirds/golden ratio thing was interesting. Do those "rules of composition" work when they are all amalgamated? As in, if you apply enough rules of composition to a shot surely you can find a line going through pretty much anywhere you want and say it's following a rule. Absolutely not saying that's what you've said, far from it, I've just never seen you explicitly say you've applied two rules of composition in one image and wonder "where it stops" as it were. If that makes sense.

This is a crop, but I did not consciously apply any rules when adjusting the composition. Like many of my shots, I simply went for what looked visually appealling. I did not think about the rule of thirds until davidb mentioned it, but there is no reason why techniques cannot be combined.