Nature Photography - Bird Landing on Feeder "Patience is a virtue", an old adage, but something I find I don't always have a lot of - I'm an instant gratification type of person. This is ok sometimes, but when trying to get good photos, patience is everything, especially when you have subjects who not only move, the move quickly. So, to get a still shot is a definite challenge.

I was in the mood one weekend to try and get a still shot of a flying bird, but wanted to get some motion in the shot as well. I actually went to the store and bought a small bird house and hung it on one of the vacant hooks in the overhang on my patio - this was my bait to draw the birds in.

The key to this particular shot was preparing myself to take a LOT of shots and figure out a way that I could stay pretty much out of view of the birds (so they would come and not be frightened away too quickly).

The Setup

Setup front viewCanon 6D Mark II, Tamron 150-600, Gimble Head Tripod Front View

The setup for this shot consisted of the following:

• Small bird house with seeds (to attract the birds)
• Canon 6D Mark II DSLR camera
  • Set to continuous shoot
  • ISO 100, 150, mm, f/5.0, 1/60 sec.
  • Preset the focus to midway up the edge of the side of the house
  • Positioned just inside my apartment door (about 10 ft from the bird house)
• Tamron 150-600mm Lens
• Sturdy Tripod with Gimbal-head
• Canon Connect on my iPhone
• Gin & Tonic
• Comfortable chair

The Shots

I set aside the afternoon to just take photos of all the birds who would visit and eat, mixed up a couple Gin & Tonics, and sat inside the door on my couch watching golf on TV and keeping attention to the patio... a lot of multi-tasking going on. As the birds would come in, I would take the shots using my Canon Connect remote.

Remember "Patience is a virtue"... this shot took a little over 4 hours, and over 300 shots to get this - ONE great shot.

Things to Remember

1. Setup ahead of time, and give yourself lots of time.
2. The slightest noise will scare the birds... so set focus ahead to avoid that noise, but be aware that your camera snaps will startle them, so you will only get a few shots before the birds fly off.
3. Review your settings because throughout the duration of your shoot, your lighting will be changing, so you will need to adjust for that.  Canon Connect works wonders for this so that you don't need to continually keep messing with the camera itself.

Good luck with your shots!!