Time for a Commercial Break

Got Cabin Fever? Looking for something to do? Go out into the backyard and do some bird photography! Off and on for the last couple of weeks that's what I have been doing. It gives me a little break and a time to think, reflect and pray. So go onto Amazon and order the Kindle addition of my book, Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography. If your spouse, partner or roommate is driving you crazy you can order the book for them. A modest gift to get them out of your hair. Have a great weekend and God bless, chris #teamcanonusa

Working an Image

Last week I set up a lichen covered fir branch in the backyard. I placed it just above a small platform feeder so that the birds would land on it when they were coming to the feeder. About twelve feet back from the feeder I set up a grayish nondescript hand painted gray background. I photographed the birds landing on the perch like that for awhile and then I added in some ferns to give it a little bit of color.Next I I changed the background to one with an off color yellow so that the Jays would stand out a little more. Following that I draped some fall colored vines over the background to really make the colors pop. With the ferns and the fall colors it looked great. It always pays as a photographer to really work an image. The birds featured are Steller's Jays and Band-tailed Pigeons. God's love and blessings to all, chris All of the above images were created with Canon EOS cameras. The last image was made with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600 mm G2 lens. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash set to -1- 2/3rds stops. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Silver Lining

The smoke from the wildfires has been really bad this past week. Normally the coastal breeze blowing off the ocean kept our air fairly clear. It stayed that way until this last week when it shifted and we awoke to a red sun and smoky skies most of the week. There was one small silver lining to the smoky air. It made for the most wonderful, diffuse, soft red light for bird photography. Some days I could photograph birds all day long. The lighting on those days just never got harsh. The downside to all of this bird photography was that I had hundreds of bird images to edit. This evening I finished editing and there were a lot of fine images to choose from. Much to my surprise the only two species of birds that came to our bird feeder for the whole week were Band-tailed Pigeons and Steller's Jays. I selected four of each from the final edit. Enjoy the images and God bless, chris All of the images were created with a Canon EOS Rebel T1i and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Simple Images

These Steller's Jay images were created using a simple set up in my front yard yesterday in Mendocino County, Northern California. The set up consisted of a moss and lichen covered oak branch clamped above a platform feeder. The background used was a 4 foot square of Masonite hardboard painted green supported by a background stand. The photography was little slow because it was late afternoon and the wind was blowing. Birds really hate that because it's harder to spot predators with all the branches moving. They were photographed with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens set to 275mm. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 5.6 at 1/80th of a sec. I was using a tripod.#TeamCanon God's love and blessings to everyone, chris

Beautiful Chickadees With an Older Camera

Yesterday I photographed Chestnut Backed Chickadees in the backyard for about half of an hour. When God sends you chickadees you photograph chickadees! I was using my newly purchased used Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Which I was using mainly to prove a point. You don't have to be using the latest and greatest camera to capture beautiful images. The Canon EOS Rebel T1i is not a top of the line Canon Camera. It is an entry level dslr camera that was made in 2009. I did something very similar back in 2014 with the "Chickadee challenge" Then someone commented to me as they were looking at one of my chickadee images that the reason I get so many good bird images is because of the big telephoto lens I use. While I will admit that a telephoto lens is a big help it has more to do with using a good bird set up and field craft to create great bird images. To prove this point I challenged myself to use some old photography equipment I had lying around to photograph some chickadees. I used an old Canon Rebel XT. This is an entry model DSLR that was made in 2005. I mounted on it a dented Canon 28-80 zoom made in 1990. To top it off I used a 2GB San Disk Card. Nothing top of the line here. This is all ancient stuff by modern digital standards.While there is some truth that a good camera can help it is mostly how you use what is between your ears to create beautiful images. Later I launched the "Thrifty Fifty Challenge" group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/952481531481815/. The purpose of the group is to challenge photographers to photograph sparrow sized birds with a 50mm lens and then share the uncropped images. Below are some chickadee images photographed with the Canon T1i and a modern telephoto lens the Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. God's precious love and blessings upon your day, chrisAll images were created with a Canon EOS Rebel T1I and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2,The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0, shutter speeds varied. Fill flash was provided by a Canon 550 EX flash set to minus 1-1/3 stops.#TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Something Good Down There!

I've got too many irons in the fire at the moment! I got a good chunk of work done on a book I've been working on last night so I'm feeling pretty good. It's going to be a great book. But the house is falling apart around me right now and I've got to get my office cleaned up once again along with bunch of other things. Here is a simple image for today. I picked up this lichen covered branch as I drove up our road last night coming home. This morning I put the branch up next to the bird feeder and the Chestnut Backed Chickadees loved using it when they were coming in to the bird feeder. God's blessings upon you, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Cann EF 100-400mm f 4.5/5.6 L IS USM v.1 lens. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/500th of a sec. A Canon 550 EX flash was used for fill light set to -1 and 2/3rds stops. If you haven't got the photographers in your life a present yet please check out my book, Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography on amazon and other online book sellers. This book has gotten great reviews. Check it out.It is available in harbound and as an ebook https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511985253&sr=8-1&keywords=secrets+of+backyard+bird+photography #TeamCanon

Lichen and a Splash of Color

Yesterday morning I wanted to create a simple image with a splash of color. I thought about it a little bit and grabbed a lichen covered branch and clamped it up beside the bird feeder to use as a perch for the birds to land on. For a splash of color I added a fall covered backdrop about eight feet back behind the perch. Next I went back and forth between our back bedroom and the set up adjusting things so that they looked just right when I was looking through the camera's view finder. For the camera settings I put the camera in AV mode so I could choose the F stop. I used an F stop of 8.0 so the background would be out of focus. For my ISO I set it at 800 a it was fairly cloudy out. I waited for a bit until the birds found the feeder and started using it and i could start photographing them. Three or four times I had to yell at the squirrels to chase them away as I didn't give them their own feeder. After creating over a hundred images. I went upstairs to my computer to edit them. It didn't take very long to eliminate the ones with chopped off tails and heads. After that I got rid of the ones that were way too soft or out of focus. Fairly quickly I was down to just one image. Here is my favorite from the morning a Red Breasted Nuthatch. I love how the bird's plumage matches up with the background colors. God's blessings upon your week, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens at 600mm. The camera was placed on a ground pod on our back bedroom window ledge with a Bogen 3055 heavy duty ballhead. #TeamCanon, #WithMyTamron

Pretty In Pink

Monday afternoon I created a set up using a stick erected next to the bird feeder along with some pink flowers. The birds loved it. They were coming into the bird feeder one after another for a free snack. I worked for about an hour at getting the bast angle to capture them from. Monday night after editing I picked out four of my favorites to share. Here are two images each of Chestnut Backed Chickadees and Red Breasted Nuthatches. God's love and blessings to all, chris All of these images were created with a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens. It was supported on a Manfrotto 055 XPROB Pro tripod. Fill flash was provided with a Canon 550 EX flash.The camera settings were AV mode, F8.0, The ISO varied and a shutter speed of 1/60th of a sec. was used.#TeamCanon

Brief Time With the Hummingbirds

Last night I recharged all of the batteries for my flashes. This morning I went out into the backyard and set the flashes up and photographed the hummingbirds for about half an hour.There were a lot more hummingbirds coming to the feeder. Many more than I expected. In fact I often times had to wait because there was a traffic jam of birds trying to all get to the feeder at one time. I was working on verticals and these two ended up being my favorites. I couldn't decide between the two so I posted both of them! God's precious love to all, chris Both images were created with my usual set up of a Canon 7D MkII camera and a Canon 100-400 L IS usm lens. The camera settings used were Manual mode, ISO 100, F 8.0 at 1/200th of a sec. A multi flash set up was used consisting of five Canon 540EZ flashes set to 1/16th power. #TeamCanon

Ain't No City Pigeon

The wild Band-tailed Pigeons have made their return joining the few resident Bandies that stayed through the winter. Earlier today five of them came into the bird feeder for a morning snack. I was photographing Jays and Squirrels and I could hear them calling up in the trees above me. Suddenly one was on the perch in front of me. I very slowly moved to recompose the lens and clicked the image. Then one after the other they came down from the trees. This was one of three of my favorite images. May you have a blessed weekend, chris It was photographed with a Canon 7D MkII and a Canon 100-400 IS v.1 lens. A Canon 500EX flash set at -2 stops was used for fill flash. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 5.0 at 1/250th of a sec. The camera was supported on a ground pod. #teamcanon

Snowy Day Jays

One of the things things that I love about living in the coastal range of Northern California is that we live high enough up in elevation that it snows. It doesn't snow too often and it rarely stays long enough that I ever need to shovel it. The county road crews do a great job of plowing and if I ever really do need to get out I can with four wheel drive. Just drive slow and easy and I rarely have a problem and I've never gotten stuck. Thank you Lord. Saturday night it started snowing pretty heavily. I went out in the dark and put up a mossy perch next to the bird feeder. In the morning the Steller's Jays were coming into it and loving all of that free bird seed. It snowed off and on all day. I really enjoyed getting the chance to photograph birds in the snow. By Monday morning all of the snow was melting away and today there are just scattered patches. I ended up with a lot of really nice images. After some editing I narrowed today's offering down to three images.Tomorrow I'll edit the squirrels. God bless, chris These images were all created with a Canon 7D MkII and a TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens with a Canon 550EX fill flash set to -2 stops. Camera settings varied. #teamcanon, #tamron,#takenwithmytamron, #canon

In the Garden Part II

Yesterday morning and into the afternoon I photographed the Chestnut Backed Chickadees by the garden faucet in the backyard. Many plumbers call them hose bibs though I noticed when I asked for hose bibs at the big box store in Ukiah no one seemed to know what I was asking for. Here are a couple of my favorite images from yesterday. Enjoy and God bless, chris Both images were created with a Canon 7D MkII and a Tamron 150-500 G2 lens. The camera settings used were, AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/320th and 1/400th of a sec. A Canon 500 EX flash was used for fill flash at -2 stops. #teamcanon,#tamron,#btpbirdpro

Patience Required

Yesterday the weather couldn't decide what it wanted to do. It kept shifting from sunshine to rain, snow and hail. During the breaks in the weather I set up a lichen covered twig next to the bird feeder. I should say I set it up several times because the squirrels kept breaking it off whenever I wasn't around. After each set up I watched where the birds were landing and prefocused on that spot. The chickadees are so fast there is little to no time to recompose an image. They land and then are off to the bird feeder in a flash. I sat there waiting with my finger on the shutter release. Whenever I spotted a chickadee coming in I would click the shutter as soon as it landed. This resulted in a lot of almost images but it also resulted in some really beautiful images as well. After some editing this afternoon I narrowed it down to two images. One image in a vertical composition and one in a horizontal.The horizontal image was created when it was sunny and the vertical one was done when it was cloudy. I was very happy with the results. Both images were created with a Canon 7D MkII and a Tamron 150-600 G2 lens at 329mm. The camera was supported with a Manfrotto 190 XPROB Tripod with a Manfrotto 3055 ballhead. Camera settings used AV mode,ISO 800,F 8.0 for 1/800th of a sec.for the vertical image and 1/1,000th of a sec for the horizontal one at the same settings. #TeamCanon,#tamron

Prefocus and Patience

This morning I had to take my pick up to the big city of Ukiah for the airbag to be replaced. After a quick repair I returned home and grabbed a lichen covered twig off of the deck. I placed it right beside the bird feeder. Once back inside I composed and prefocused my camera on the twig. Chickadees are really fast when they feed at my house to avoid being eaten by hawks. Because of this there is little to no time to react. You have to be ready and waiting to make the image. After about a fifteen minute wait and ten tries I had three decent images and one that I was really quite happy with. If the weather holds I may try again this afternoon. I hope that you are having a great day. God's tender love and blessings to all, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D MkII and a Tamron 150-600 G2 lens at 329mm. The camera was supported with a Manfrotto 190 PROXB Tripod with a Manfrotto 3055 ballhead. Camera settings used AV mode,ISO 800,F 8.0 for 1/250th of a sec. #TeamCanon,#tamron

It Never Fails

Looking back over the years it seems like that whenever I get to try out a new lens that it rains. Today was the first good chance to get to try out my new TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 lens. (Boy is that a mouthful to say). Sure enough it rained. I guess that it gave me a good opportunity to try the lens out in adverse conditions. I must say that it performed admirably on the Western Gray Squirrels and Chestnut Backed Chickadees. I was very pleased with the results. They were tack sharp and the focus responded instantly. My old TAMRON | SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD is up for sale after just being completely factory refurbished by Tamron USA. If it doesn't sell I plan on using it as a back up and for teaching lessons to beginning photographers. Give me a holler if you are interested in purchasing it or have questions about it. God's love and blessings to all, chrisAll of the squirrel and chickadee images were created with a canon 7D MkII and a TAMRON | SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 on a Manfrotto Tripod with a Bogen 3055 heavy duty ballhead.

Loving Those Chickadees

Yesterday I fought off the squirrels from the bird feeder while trying to photograph the Chestnut Backed Chickadees. Anyone that would have observed it would have been bent over in laughter. Here is this long pole jabbing out of a window every time a squirrel made an attempt to climb onto or get close to the bird feeder which was quite often by the way. Even I had to laugh because it seemed so ridiculous at times. Later on I made a couple of new bird feeders and drove down in the valley to a new location I scoped out. In the next few weeks a change of scenery will be good as there will hopefully be some different birds to photograph. Here are a couple of Chickadee images from yesterday afternoon. God's love and blessings to all, chris all images were created with a Canon 7DmkII on a ground pod on our back bedroom window sill. the lens used was a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800 and 1600 at F 8.0 shutter speeds varied.