Page 24 - Backyard Bird Photography: How to Attract Birds to Your Home and Create Beautiful Photographs

golden Mexican marigold, and it worked. Was that luck or a matter of preparation?

Perhaps a combination, but I like to think that the harder I work, the luckier I get. On
another occasion, while shooting from the blind inside my house, I took a photograph of
the Hooded Oriole as he perched on the arm attachment to the feeder pole, just before he
dropped down onto the feeder. This was a good opportunity to get a portrait of the entire
bird.

The canyon side of the yard also worked very well for photographing the Black-chinned

Hummingbird and Allen’s Hummingbird with the Mexican marigold in the background.
At the same time, if the hummingbird flew over to the Mexican sage flowers right next to
the feeder, I could change the settings on the camera and try to capture one of the
hummingbirds while it was feeding at the Mexican sage. It was very productive to use both
the feeder and the flowers alternately during the same afternoon.

Allen’s Hummingbird at Mexican sage

Black-chinned Hummingbird female and Mexican marigold
The setup for hummingbird photography in the main area of my garden is rather
simple. I place my camera about six feet away from the feeder (as close as the Canon 100–
400mm lens will focus), positioning the tripod on the patio or on the flat stones in the
flowerbed area of the garden, and not on the soil, so the legs will be stable. I have also used

flat pieces of wood on which to place the tripod legs so they don’t sink into the ground.
With this setup, I can change the location of the feeder hole by turning the top portion of