Steller's Jay on Guitar from the, Music to My Ears Series. I keep a notebook beside my desk in the studio for image ideas. I rough sketch ideas as they come to me and put them in the book for future photoshoots. This image is part of a series I have been working on. The first step was to choose a back drop color. I chose a light brown batik fabric and hung it up roughly twelve feet behind where I was going to set up the perch and feeder. Next I set up a wooden step ladder. I wrapped a small back packing guitar in a towel and clamped it to the ladder. I filled up a single port bird feeder and also clamped it to the ladder so that it would be close to the guitar neck and still out of the frame. I then set up the photoblind eight feet from it. After setting up my tripod and camera I looked through the camera and composed the image as to where I thought the birds would land. The following morning I was up early close to sunrise. The birds started coming into the feeder immediately. I chose an F stop of f 8.0 to allow the background to be out of focus and the bird and guitar to be in focus. I photographed Steller's Jays, Black -headed Grosbeaks and of course some squirrels. My favorite image was of a Steller's Jay. I loved the contrast between the red guitar neck and the bright blues of the jays plumage. God's light and love to all, chris. #shotoncanon
