The Camera Cafe Show
Greetings everyone and welcome to another "The Camera Cafe Show," Shortcast episode, your podcast where we brew up inspiration for your photography journey. I'm your host, Tom Jacob, and join me here as we fuel your creativity behind the lens.
Today, we're diving into that enchanting world what many of you out there love: Bird Photography, and this episode more specific, we are looking at something more closer at home: How to get those marvelous shots of these tiny visitors in my own backyard?
For this I looked and found an amazing nature and bird photographer for you: Melody Mellinger. Melody joins our podcast tonight from Pennsylvania, USA to uncover a bit her secrets behind her outstanding bird images and gets you up to speed with some helpful tip & tricks. From her humble beginnings with a point-and-shoot camera to mastering DSLRs, Melody's passion for capturing the beauty of birds in her own backyard is sure to inspire and motivate photographers of all levels.
So, sit back and get ready to move your photography to new heights as we uncover the secrets and joys of shooting birds in your own backyard. Let's get rolling!
Tom: Welcome tonight on our podcast, Melody. I'm very happy to find you here on the other side.
Melody: Yeah, it's good to be here too, Tom.
Tom: How was your day today?
Melody: Very good. Busy, but so far very good. And how about yours?
Tom: My day? Very busy. I'm, I'm happy to sit in front of the podcast because this is my relaxing moment then.
Melody: Alright, very good.
Tom: So Melody, tonight we are going to talk about birds in your backyard. I think it will be an amazing little Shortcast episode we are going to do.
Tell me a bit about yourself, how your photography journey started.
Melody: Well, it's not a whole lot to tell there. I have had an interest in photography. I would say ever since I got my first point and shoot camera as a teenager, but I didn't get my first DSLR until 2015. And when I pulled that camera out of the bag and saw all the buttons on it, I realized that if I was going to really master using it and all the features it had to offer, I was going to have to use it a lot and really practice.
So I started looking for things to photograph and there were the flowers in my garden. It was spring when I got that camera. And then I realized that I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to photograph butterflies and even birds. It just kind of went from there, I haven't gotten tired of the challenge of birds yet.
So that's still what I'm working on. Maybe someday I'll try something different.
Tom: And what inspired you to specialize in bird photography and more in your own backyard?
Melody: I think it has a lot to do with the challenge. It goes along with capturing birds. They're very unpredictable, a little hard to work with. You can't just go out and say, oh, there's an interesting bird, I'll take a good picture of it. It's not that simple.
So, it's a lot the challenge and I love when you do get a good picture of a bird, how you can then look at that and zoom in on the details, things that you would never notice out in the wild looking at the bird.
So that's the part I really love about it is getting those pictures in on the computer and really looking at that detail.
Tom: And your own backyard Melody, how you have it set up to make your bird pictures?
Melody: Okay, um, the first thing that you're going to do if you want to set up a backyard for pictures is look for good light. And so that's one of the things I’m conscious of I do move my setup around a bit. I usually think of it as setting up a stage. I’ll put out branches near my feeders, and so forth, so I keep a nice feeding station, and then put branches near it or sometimes I move the feeding station to where I’ll have a blooming tree or bush or something that's going to be photogenic for the birds. So sometimes it moves around.
It's not like I have one exact setup that I work with, different things for different seasons.
Tom: Are there any particular challenges of doing this in your own backyard as opposed to going out to a nature park?
Melody: Yes, there can be some challenges. My own yard had big trees in it initially, which big trees are great for the birds. They're not so great for trying to photograph the birds. Birds can totally disappear in them. That problem I solved by planting a small crab apple tree, I believe it was two years ago.
It’s at a great spot for me to watch. It has nice, fine leaves in the summer, it gets these beautiful pink blossoms in the spring that so large that they dominate the bird. You know, they're nice and small, birds can sit in between them. The bird still is the subject of your photo, not the flowers. And then when we get into fall and winter, it gets these really great little red apples that the birds like to come eat. Plus they look nice on photos. So sometimes you have to plant things in your yard to attract the birds and, and things that will look good in photos.
That's something always to keep in mind is what's going to look good along with the bird in your photo.
Tom: And do you think that by doing this in your own yard, it's easier to anticipate their behavior than being maybe outside?
Melody: It might actually be simply because I have the benefit of being able to watch them a lot. The crab apple tree I mentioned is actually planted where I can view it from my kitchen window, so I'm observing the birds and their behavior in that tree on a regular basis, even if I'm not out with my camera.
The more you observe the birds, the better you are predicting what their behavior is going to be, and knowing where they're going to land and how you might be able to get that shot.
Tom: And I was thinking for people, or photographers, that have domestic animals like cats , are there any precautions to take?
Melody: Yeah, that is one of the challenges in my yard. We're in a farming community and so cats roaming free is just a thing we have to deal with. They serve their purpose, with rodent patrol and all, but yeah, they can be an issue with the birds.
I mostly put my feeders on what I call the shepherd's hooks, you know, your wrought iron hooks that you can drive into the ground and it holds the feeder a few feet above the ground. Most of my feeders are on tall shepherd's hooks so the cats cannot reach the birds, and the cats cannot climb the shepherd's hooks.
If you do choose to hang your feeders from a tree, do so on thin branches that get small enough so that the cats couldn't go out on those branches. So yeah, it is something to keep in mind.
Now I do try to move my feeders around to get the birds to land on the tree on specific perches sometimes. And I will move feeders down where the bird wouldn't necessarily be safe if I left that feeder there all the time. But if I'm going to be sitting out and watching, and I really want the bird to land on a specific branch, I'll move the feeder to a location that will encourage the bird to go there. But then when I'm ready to take my camera and go back inside, the feeder has to go back up into a safe place.
Also, it is surprising how good the birds are at looking out for themselves. Oftentimes, I'll realize the birds have all disappeared, and then I start looking, and oh sure, over there in some corner was a cat lurking too far away to harm the birds at that point.
So, birds do a good job of looking out for themselves, but I try to do my part with that as well. I do not want the cats getting my birds.
Tom: I also have some cats at home and I'm pretty sure that the birds seen my cat before I saw before I see them.
Melody: Yes they do!
Tom: Melody, let's go a bit to the gear question that people always like. What equipment are you using nowadays?
Melody: Okay, at this point, I'm using a Canon 5D Mark IV with a 100 to 400mm zoom lens, with now in just the last couple of months the addition of a 1.4 times extender as well. So that's giving me an effective focal length of, I believe, 516mm. So yeah, focal length is important. Birds are hard to get close to.
You do need a bit of reach with your lens. Other than that, no special gear, just some good focal length.
Tom: What would you say for, it depends on the garden of course, but to make pictures of birds in your garden, what would be the minimum focal length you need?
Melody: I probably wouldn't want to be out with much less than 400mm. I did start, some of my very first bird photographs, were on a crop frame camera with a 250mm lens. So, you know, being crop frame, you are getting a little more reach there. It would have been slightly less than what I have now with the extender on the full frame.
It depends on the body you're using of course whether you're a crop or full frame, but you should have an effective focal length of at least 400mm if you're wanting to photograph anything small. You're talking larger birds, ducks, geese, etc, you can handle a shorter focal length and still get nice shots, but songbirds are pretty small, you need a bit of reach.
Tom: We all saw your, and still see of course, your amazing bird pictures on your social media. You've got any camera settings you can share with us maybe?
Melody: Sure, it's just that camera settings are always kind of a balancing act. I like to keep an aperture that's fairly wide open so that you get the nice soft backgrounds, but you also want enough of the bird in focus to get really good detail. So, even that's a little bit of a balancing act, choosing your aperture.
And then the next important thing is your shutter speed, if you're trying to photograph some of the really small birds that move very quickly.
Obviously, you need a high shutter speed. I like to have at least a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second if I’m hand holding, and it's better if it's higher. I do use a monopod some of the time to help with the weight of the camera, as my whole rig weighs a little over six pounds, so that gets pretty heavy pretty quickly.
Other than that, then of course, I balance that with the ISO of whatever it has to be to keep the shutter speed where it needs to be. I try to keep the ISO as low as possible of course, to avoid noise, you can lose feather detail very quickly if your image is noisy. It's kind of a juggling act. Keep your shutter speed high enough to freeze the action and keep the bird acceptably sharp. And then balance aperture and ISO needed.
Tom: And I understand that when you're sitting in your garden, you're using a hide?
Melody: Most of the time, yes, I have a small pop-up blind. It's basically a chair with a canopy that pulls completely over it and then a window that you open.
Usually when I sit in there, the birds know I'm there. I'm quite sure they do, but if you have a barrier between you and them, they're much more comfortable. If you have bushes and things that you can kind of just sit back between break up your outline, that is sometimes good enough. Sometimes I will simply go sit between my rose bushes just right out in the open on a small stool and you sit there for 10 to 15 minutes, the birds will come back. However, they're much quicker to fly away than with slight movement, where when you're in the hide, you can move a little bit more, adjusting your camera's position, and they're not going to immediately fly off.
And then, of course, sometimes I just use my house for a blind, too. Open a window and take pictures from inside. Works great.
Tom: So the hide actually is not always in the same place. You just move it around. You move your hide around depending the kind of pictures you want to take or the kind of bird you want to photograph.
Melody: Yes, I can move the hide around for wherever I want to be. I move the hide as needed for wherever I want to be taking pictures. The birds will sometimes not come right away when I set the blind up. You might need to set it up and just let it sit for a day until they get used to it. If it has been in the yard at a spot already, I can often move it to somewhere else and start using it directly.
The birds will come back within a few minutes, but if it hasn't been out for a while, they might stay away for a day or two until they get used to it again.
So, you know, if you put up a brand new hide don't get discouraged if birds don't come right away. It just might need to adjust to the idea of it in your yard.
Tom: Now, looking at your pictures, you know that in photography, most of the time composition is very important. You have a certain composition, like say in your style…You have it up in front the idea, or you just wait where the bird moves and then change your composition?
Melody: When I set up my stage for the birds, whether it's a branch on a living bush or whether I have cut one and placed it near my feeding station, I usually have an idea of what I really would like the birds to do. If they come and land somewhere close, I'm probably going to take a picture of them, whether or not it was my ideal positioning for them and sometimes I'm pretty happy with what I get even if they didn't land exactly where I wanted them
But if they didn't land where I really wanted them, then I'm usually trying to figure out what can I do to encourage them to go exactly where I wanted them. Do I need to move the feeder, or do I need to adjust the perch or you know? I'm usually sitting there watching the birds plotting what I can do to convince them to do what I want them to do.
Tom: And I think in your genre of photography, I think patience is also a virtue.
Melody: Sometimes, yes, it takes a lot of patience. Somehow birds just don't always do what I want them to. They do not sit still long, when that you usually only have a second or two to get the shot. If they do land where you wanted them to, you need to get the shot immediately.
So, it's really important to know your gear. Because you cannot fumble for settings at the last minute when a bird lands on the perch where you wanted it. You need to know your gear and be able to get the shot immediately.
Tom: You've got any memorable moment, you remember, you say: I waited so long and in the end, yes, I got this nice shot?
Melody: Yes, actually there is one. I have a photo that if you look back through my social media, I took it in early 2020. So it's back through a little ways now on my Instagram.
I had observed the behavior with the eastern bluebirds. Over the years of watching them that in the spring when during breeding season the male will take seeds or worms or insects whatever food and offer it to the female in their courting ritual. And that was the behavior I really wanted to capture. But it would happen very quickly and either one bird or the other wasn't in a good position. But one day there in early 2020, I was watching birds from my house that time, just from an open window, tt had a lilac which has purple flowers on it in the branch holder. And sure enough, they actually did that behavior right there in front of my camera on the lilac branch. I have the male feeding the female some worms. So, that was a shot I was really thrilled to finally get. And I haven't managed to replicate it again, either.
Tom: And what's your most favorite garden bird?
Melody: My most favorite songbird? That's a little bit hard to answer. Probably the eastern bluebird. I have them here to watch year-round. They stay here winter and summer, so that’s my favorite.
But there's a few summer visitors that are right up there with them. I'm very fond of the Baltimore Orioles. We have them for a few months each summer they're a very vivid colored, bright orange bird with a loud, pleasant song. And so, I really enjoy when they're here.
Tom: And to which place you want to travel maybe one time to capture a special bird that is on your list?
Melody: Well, right at the moment, I'm looking forward to going back to Arizona to photograph the hummingbirds there again. I was there recently and had some fun photographing hummingbirds, but we only had a few days on that trip. We are going back again in a few more weeks and I'm going to have a little more time.
So really looking forward to that right now. Hummingbirds are the challenge that has me intrigued!
Tom: One last question, Melody, since you started doing bird photography, you feel that you changed in a way leaning more to nature conservation?
Melody: Yes, I am more interested in practices that are good for the birds, I'm probably more conscious now when I am taking care of my flowers, I do have to spray my roses, etc. for insects, and I'm quicker now to read the labels and decide, oh, is this a spray I want to use in my garden or not.
Yeah, I probably think about that more now than I used to.
Tom: I think it happens to most of us that we start one photography genre and then we get really into it and then we start reading, reading, reading about it and we change for the, for the good.
Melody: Yes, absolutely.
Tom: Melody, one final tip for somebody who wants to start with Bird photography in his garden. What would be the most important aspect?
Melody: Oh, that's a little hard to decide what would be the most important aspect. Probably just spend time watching the birds for a little. Find out what birds are in your area, what even are the possibilities.
Then start putting out feeders, to attract specific birds rather than just general seed blends. I mean, it's okay to use those as well, but I feed for specific birds, like, I put out meal worms for the bluebirds. They love those so do a few other birds, but specifically the bluebirds. Thistle seed for the finches. Oranges and jelly for the Orioles. That way you'll get the birds you really want.
In our area we have trouble with the English Sparrows. They're a nuisance bird here. I know they're a lovely bird in Europe. Here they're not, they're really a problem. So, I avoid seed blends that have millet in, because the sparrows love the millet. And so, if I put that out, then there's just sparrows everywhere, and they will actually chase off the native birds. Obviously, I don't want that. So, find out what birds are in your area and attract those birds.
You have to have them first, or you have nothing to photograph. And then, go from there and just practice, watch them and practice, and learn how they behave, learn your gear and after a while it all comes together.
Tom: You see, excellent advice there. I promise one day I will give it a go, and I will send you the picture of my very first songbird I make, Melody.
Melody: Okay, very good. I hope you have success with taking some bird pictures and I hope your listeners do too.
Tom: Melody, thanks a lot for coming tonight on the podcast and give us this short talk. We will be in contact, and I hope to see many more pictures now of you.
Melody: Well, thanks for having me. I enjoyed it and I’m sure there'll be a lot more pictures for you to see!
Tom: I'm sure we will. Melody, have a good day still. And I talk to you later.
Melody: All right. Thanks, you too. Bye
Tom: Thank you. Bye.
Melody: Bye
And that wraps up another exciting Shortcast episode of "The Camera Cafe Show." I hope you enjoyed our conversation about bird photography with Melody as much as I did. If you want to find out still more about Melody, you can find that all back, together with the transcript, in our show notes.
Remember, whether you're a seasoned photographer or just starting out, there's always something new to discover, or to explore or to change in this great world of photography of ours. You never should get bored or stand still. All that is needed is a little bit of passion and I'll sure hope this episode sparked some curiosity and you can share your backyard bird pictures soon with us!
Don't forget to tune in next time for more captivating discussions and insights to fuel your creativity behind the lens. We've got such an amazing agenda with top photographers booked for next episodes!
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This is Tom Jacob, singing of for today...Until next time, keep shooting, keep sharing, and keep moving your photography. Bye!