Birding for the right picture

Birding for the right picture can be time consuming, but the rewards last a life time. I was on the hunt to capture a humming bird...fast little buggers. To capture one you have to wait patiently for that one moment it comes into your lens. Here's what you need to do to be successful at this mission:

1. Sit and watch the flight patterns and feeding areas. Pick the spot most frequent with birds.
2. Tripod with your lens pointing where you expect to take your shot.
3. Place your lens in the manual mode to include focus. Practice what settings you want for shaded areas or sunny. Take several pictures to figure this out.
4. Focus on an object the exact distance you expect your shot to be.
5. Wait patiently...if you need to refocus on the bird it's easy to adjust with your hand. You can use a remote control to snap the picture.

Using auto focus is hard because the bird moves around too fast and your lens doesn't have the time to adjust to the movement. Check out my picture!

Good luck and happy hunting!