"Donn Thorson" wrote in message
...

As usual your pictures are outstanding! I am still curious on how you get
those magnificent images.


Thanks Donn. Basically I set up a "camera trap". I can and do shoot them
with a hand held camera sometimes but not all the time. Most of what you
see involves placing my camera on a stationary tripod which I've positioned
in front of some bait (a feeder).

I've been discussing my technique with Wendy in this newsgroup and I thought
perhaps you'd seen that. Here's what I told her the other day:

"I set up my tripod around a foot or so from where I want the bird to be.
Then I zone focus to a point in the air that is directly in front of the
feeder and then lock out the autofocus feature so that it won't shift from
that setting."

In the next paragraph I told her: "I got rid of my feeder that had a ring
around it for the birds to perch on. As long as they can sit on the other
side away from you or your camera they'll do it everytime. So I took
control of that situation by providing a feeder that only has one spout ---
one place for the bird to get its reward. That assures that it will always
"pose" where I want it to pose."


Then I stand or sit a few feet away and wait. It's like fishing. You bait
your hook and throw the line out and you sit back and wait for a bite. Or
in my case I've "baited" my camera trap with the feeder --- now all I've got
to do is sit back and wait for the bird to bite (by flying into my
pre-focused zone) and when it gets there it's just a question of me snapping
its portrait using a little infra-red remote control device I've got to
control my camera.
--
Pat Durkin

email: t o b a c c o h a t e r 1 @ y a h o o . c o m