Action photography refers to the taking of photographs of moving objects, typically at sports events. Action photography requires a camera shutter speed of at least 1/500 of a second, any slower and the action will be blurred. This implies the use of faster photographic film, generally recommended is 400 ASA or faster film, but this is low resolution and grainy, particularly when photographs are enlarged to A4 size or larger. Modern cameras often try to over rule the photographer with low light warnings, and refuse to operate if the camera believes the light is too low for the shutter speed. A method of avoiding this is to load the camera with 200 or 400 ASA film, but set the camera to a faster film speed, often double that actually loaded. Photographs may be slightly under exposed, but can be lightened after processing.
A long lens is essential for photographing sporting events. 500 mm or even 600 mm being ideal, but 300 mm will often suffice, and the lens needs to be of at least reasonable quality and aperture size, certainly no worse than F5. Camera bodies are least significant. But if using auto focus it can be found that cheaper cameras are too slow to auto focus, and quick manual focusing particularly with a long lens is a highly skilled craft. Research Action Photography
Ancient lights is a legal term for light enjoyed for 20 years or more through a defined aperture (such as a window) in a building. Under the Prescription Act (1832) the owner of the building has a right to such light, which may not thereafter be obstructed. Before the passing of this Act it was very difficult to obtain rights to any light, as the common law recognises no natural right to light. Research Ancient Lights
Ascidia (named from the Greek, askos, a wine-skin) is a name given to the Sea-squirts or main section of the Tunicata, a class of animals of low grade, resembling a double-necked bottle, of a leathery or gristly nature, found at low-water mark on the sea-beach, and dredged from deep water attached to stones, shells, and fixed objects. One of the prominent openings admits the food and the water required in respiration, the other is the excretory aperture. A single ganglion represents the nervous system, placed between the two apertures. Male and female reproductive organs exist in each ascidian. They pass through peculiar phases of development, the young ascidian appearing like a tadpole-body. They may be single or simple, social or compound. In social ascidians the peduncles of a number of individuals are united into a common tubular stem, with a partial common circulation of blood. In these animals early evolutionists saw a link between the Mollusca and the Vertebrata. Research Ascidia
Brachiopoda is a group or class of mollusc-like animals, so named from the development of a long spirally-coiled, fringed appendage or arm on either side of the mouth serving as respiratory organs. They are bivalves, and in this respect they resemble the Lamellibranchiata. They have no proper power of locomotion, and remain fixed to submarine bodies, in some cases by a peduncle passing through an aperture at the 'beak'. They are widely diffused, and in the fossil state are interesting to the geologist by enabling him to identify certain strata. Research Brachiopoda
Cerithium are a genus of gastropod molluscs. The shell is turreted and many- whorled with a small aperture, and anterior and posterior canals, the latter being the less distinctive of the two. The numerous species are widely distributed, but the most typical are tropical. Research Cerithium
The Cowrie or Cowry (Cyproea) is a marine gastropod mollusc with an oval shell which in some species is the size of a hen's egg. In all species the spirepresent in the young shell is concealed in the adult, and the outer lip of the shell is thickened and inflected, so that the aperture becomes long and narrow. Research Cowrie
Distoma is a genus of trematode or suctorial parasitical worms or flukes, inhabiting various parts in different animals. Distoma hepaticum, or common liverfluke, inhabits the gall-bladder or ducts of the liver in sheep, and is the cause of the disease known as the rot. They have also been discovered in man (though rarely), the horse, the pig, the rabbit, birds, etc. In form it is ovate, flattened, and presents two suckers (whence the name), of which the anterior is perforated by the aperture of the mouth. A branched water-vascular system is present. All the animals of this genuspresent the phenomenon known as 'alternation of generation'. Research Distoma
The echidna, spiny anteater or porcupineanteater is two genera of egg-laying, burrowing, nocturnal mammals of the family Tachyglossidae. They have no teeth, but a long extensile tongue. The echidna in size and general appearance resemble a large hedgehog, excepting that the spines are longer, and the muzzle is protracted and slender, with a small aperture at the extremity for the protraction of the long flexible tongue.
The Echidna feed on insects, which it catches by protruding its long sticky tongue. It is nearly allied to the Ornithorhynchus, the two forming a peculiar class of animals, having in their structure some peculiarities at once of mammals, birds, and reptiles. In 1884 it was found, that, as Geoffrey St Hilaire had suspected, the echidna and ornithorhynchus, although essentially mammals, were yet oviparous, producing their young from eggs.
The Hornbills (Bucerotidoe) are a remarkable group of birds found in southern Asia and Africa. They are akin to the Toucans and Kingfishers. The hornbills are remarkable for the size of their bill and a horny protuberance which surmounts the bill.The rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) is almost the size of a turkey, of a black colour, except on the lower part of the belly and tip of the tail, which are white. It has a sharp-pointed, slightly-curved bill, about 25 cm long, and furnished at the base of the upper mandible with an immense appendage in the form of an inverted horn. The skeleton though bulky is very light, being permeated with air to an unusual degree. During incubation the female is plastered up in the hollow of a tree and fed by the male through a small aperture left for the purpose. The hornbills are of arboreal habit, and feed on fruits; but in captivity they take small reptiles, and the Abyssinian species even attacks snakes. Research Hornbills
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Action Photography
