Images From the Old Garden

Once summertime hits there aren't many birds to photograph where I live. My house sits in the forest on a ridge top so after awhile I run out of bird species to photograph. For more variety I go down into the old garden of a ranch house in the Little Lake Valley. The ranch sits astride a small creek with some riparian habitat on both sides. There is pasture land to the west and oak woodland to the east. With this great mixture of habitats there is a nice mix of birds to photograph.This morning I photographed White Breasted Nuthatches, House Finches and one Eurasion Collared Dove that landed on the bird feeder as I was packing up to leave. All the images were photographed with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens on a Manfrotto tripod. God's light and love to all, chrisIf you are interested in learning about photographing birds in your backyard please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". It is available at most online booksellers in both hardbound and as an Ebook. Copy and paste the following into your browser to see it on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

Waiting

Today was all about waiting for the perfect moment. I set up a hummingbird perch and feeder at eye level and climbed into my backyard photoblind. I had the image in my mind that I wanted to create and I just had to be patient. Early on the lighting was too direct and it made the background and the hummingbird way too bright. The hummingbird also kept landing with its back to me and I wanted to see the gorget all lit up. I waited and waited. I was just about to call it quits and I convinced myself to stay a little bit longer. It was a good decision to wait. A male Anna's Hummingbird landed in perfect light facing me with its gorget all a fire. I had my image. God's blessings upon your day, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens and a 20m extension tube for close focusing. AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/200th of a sec. If you want to learn more about hummingbird photography please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography". http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559 There is a chapter dedicated to hummingbird photography.

Old Garden Gate #2

It took me a long time to finish processing images from yesterday morning. There were just a lot of images that caught my eye. Here are two of my favorites. God bless, chris Both images created with a Canon 7D in AV mode on a tripod. If you are interested in learning more about this type of photography please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography", on Amazon and other online book sellers. Copy and past the following address into your browser for a look http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

On the Old Garden Gate

I have spent the past couple of mornings photographing birds on an old garden gate in my backyard in Mendocino County. Well what is supposed to be an old gate any way. The mossy wood pieces are from an old ranch cabin that burned many years ago and were tossed in a pile. I put them together with an old rusty hinge for my "Garden Gate" series. Here is the first image from that series. I just love how the bold blue of the Steller's Jay and the green moss go so well together. There will be a few more to follow as I process them. God's light and love to all, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Tamron 150-600mm lens at 173mm.Camera was on a Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod with a Bogen ballhead. Camera was set to AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/50th of a sec.If you are interested in learning more about this type of photography please check out my book, "Secrets of Backyard Bird Photography", on Amazon and other online book sellers. Copy and past the following address into your browser for a look http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

Heart of the Oak Woodland

If I could pick any bird to be the heart and soul of the Oak Woodland it would be the Oak Titmouse. These little birds are vocal robust singers and are always active. They stay as a mated pair for life, and both partners will noisily defend their home territory. These little birds have spunk and are fun to watch when they come to the feeder. They drop in grab a seed and are gone in a flash with few delays. If there is a bigger bird present at the feeder they will wait until the bigger birds back is turned and grab a seed and be gone before the bird is aware of it. Photographing them is always a challenge because they are so active. They do have one character flaw that makes them easier to photograph though. They are creatures of habit. They often will perch in the same place for a second or two before dropping down to the bird feeder. I will prefocus on that spot with my camera and wait. That is how today's image was created. May you have a blessed day, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens on a 190XPROB Manfrotto Tripod with a Bogen Ballhead. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/125th of a sec.

What Berries?

I had a fine morning photographing birds on the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley of Northern California this morning. There were just enough birds starting to come to the bird feeder to keep me busy. One really interesting House Finch flew in to visit. It had plumage that looked like it had just finished moulting as it was pretty tattered. It appeared to be partially leucistic with patches of white. It's appearance was made even more interesting by the fact that it had been feeding on berries as evidenced by the berry remnants on its bill. Enjoy the view. God's love and blessings to all, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 IS lens at 370mm. The camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 800, F 8.0 at 1/320th of a sec. the camera was supported with a Manfortto 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 heavy duty ballhead. If you are interested in learning more about bird photography please check out my book,Secrets of Backyard bird Photography on Amazon or other online book sellers. Cut and paste this address into your browser. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Backyard-Photography-Chris-Hansen/dp/1937538559

Patience Required

Late this afternoon I thought I would just set up a quick mossy perch and take a beautiful hummingbird image. The hummingbird must have had other plans. For over a half an hour the hummingbird would feed and then circle the perch looking at it. Then it would zoom off. It would return and then it would fly off and land somewhere else. I moved the perch lower. Nope it still circled it. I removed some of the moss. It almost landed and then changed its mind and zoomed off again. I trimmed more moss away. Nope! Still not interested. I grabbed a new perch with no moss on it. Yep, this one would do. It just took a bit of patience! God's love and blessings to all, chris Image created with a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400IS lens at 330mm, Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 1600, F 8.0 at 1/50th of a sec.Camera was supported with a 190 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 heavy duty ballhead.