I set up the wildlife camera for a second go at photographing the pigs overnight but from a different position . This is early evening before it gets too dark:
The pigs are having a last munch around before they settle down for the evening. Although the camera has switched to night-time infra-red mode, there is still enough available light to swamp the IR lamps.
10 minutes later and it is getting dark enough to just make out the illumination from the infra-red lamps. Here we see one of the pigs having a good scratch – they did this several times during the evening!
It is interesting to see how the camera is responding to the changing light levels. The aperture appears to be at its maximum F3.2 and the shutter speed is 1/30sec. However it seems to be controlling the exposure by changing the ISO (sensitivity to light). The first photo is ISO1575, the second ISO3543 – more than double (1 stop).
Now it is fully dark; but still one of the pigs likes to come out for another scratch:
Distinct now is the full illumination by the infra-red lamps. As they are well spaced out, the camera is working hard to record the image: the sensitivity of the sensor is now ISO5118. A lot of noise is visible along with some banding in the darker areas.
It is now early morning but still dark, the pigs are now up and about:
They continue to nose about looking for something to eat.They appear to spend all this time moving over the pen with their snouts in the ground. It is still dark and the camera continues to expose at ISO5118.
Later on the camera has switched back to colour mode as there is sufficient light for it:
In colour you can see the effect of the rain – quite a bit of mud but not yet a quagmire – we haven’t had as much rain as some parts of the country.
The sensor sensitivity has dropped down to ISO1125 but you can see the limitations of its quality – the backs of the pigs have burnt out to white – this normally happens on a bright sunny day but this was a dull, overcast day.
In the next photo, I have come to feed them – the feeding ‘station’ is at the far end of the run:
They each have a bowl of feed although they tend to squabble and swap over. Although it is just 30 minutes later, the sensor sensitivity has dropped to ISO225.
Below I show 2 views of the camera and IR lights:
This is the scene from the camera end.
And this is from the side:
It does look somewhat muddy!