It’s all about time. One of my favourite "powers" of photography is its ability to stop time – to reveal what otherwise would be invisible to the naked eye. It’s easy to see the beauty of wings on big birds like hawks or herons and such. When they’re launching, landing, or simply gliding past, they appear to move in slow motion and give you plenty of time to appreciate their elegant design and movement. But the small guys are so fast you can never see what’s happening. They dart about and give you no opportunity to appreciate the subtle flexing and fans, the graceful lines, and the delicate translucency of their feathers – unless you freeze-frame it. The challenge is that they are too fast to track and take off with too little warning. My technique involved a little dose of skill and a large helping of luck: I set up about 18 feet from the birdfeeder area - as close as I can focus using my 600mm lens. When a bird lands, I aim and focus, favouring a composition in the direction I’m guessing they’ll launch, then immediately begin rapid firing until the bird takes off. - Most times they get the jump on me and I have empty frames. - Some times they never launch and I end up with way too many perch pictures. - Other times I catch the action but they fly out of my narrow range of focus. This time I got lucky.
