Page 15 - Backyard Bird Photography: How to Attract Birds to Your Home and Create Beautiful Photographs

Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovering above feeder

Ruby-throated Hummingbird
The following day, I moved in to three feet away, but I discovered that I was actually too
close to get enough of the hovering hummingbird in the frame and in focus to produce a

satisfying photograph, so I moved back, first to 3¾ feet, and then back to four feet again,
which became my comfort zone for this shoot. Just after I did this, the male landed on the
feeder and began to drink. I focused, clicked, and the sound of the clicking shutter caused
the bird’s wings to rise up toward the sky. A couple of hours later, the female landed on the
feeder and I got a shot of her looking over at me from behind the hanging hook. It was
interesting to see this little bird staring at me from across a piece of manmade equipment
specially designed to provide her with food. The interface between man and nature was

certainly achieved in this photograph. A couple of hours after that, I captured the male as
he hovered above the feeder, with the pink roses in in the background.

Over the next couple of days, I continued to use the 180mm macro lens on these
hummingbirds. There is nothing quite like looking through the viewfinder from this close
range and seeing the subject of your photograph fill up the frame while he is looking at you
and trying to determine if you are a threat to him or not. It makes the resulting
photograph that much more rewarding to know that this tiny bird trusted me enough to