Photographing birds at the feeder

Winter is on its way, days are getting shorter and colder and birds get it more difficult to find food. If you have some room in your garden, you can set up a feeding site and a hide to attract birds. This works very well and it is a great way to observe and photograph these energetic creatures.
In my own backyard I have set up my own outside bird studio. By putting out different kinds of food I try to attract a variety of birds. Peanuts attract tits and woodpeckers, seeds and rotten fruit attract finches and thrushes and Jays come to collect the acorns that I have put out. I have placed a few natural looking perches in front of my hide and I intend to make birds land on these by putting out food just next to it.
When you are thinking of building your own feeding site, make sure you pay attention to the position of the sun. Birds are most active in the morning so it is better to have the light in the good direction at that moment. My feeding site has the sun rising behind me and setting in front of me, so in the morning I can take pictures with the light in the good direction and in the evening I can experiment with back lighting.
I would encourage you to setup your own feeding site, as it is fun to observe these birds and moreover it offers some great opportunities photographing birds at close range.
More on this topic soon, when I have finished writing my article on how to build your own outside bird studio.

A beautiful day

Last saturday I went photographing Treefrogs. I had only been able to photograph them once and because they are such great little creatures, I really wanted to photograph them once again.
I left very early to be at the spot before sunset. It was a very beautiful morning. The fog created mystical landscapes and I really enjoyed the 2 hour drive towards the frogs.

After a 20 minutes walk in a very nice environment with marshes and ponds, surrounded by woods, I arrived at the Treefrog spot. It was a bit disappointing to see that there had been a lot of other visitors before me, leaving trails and dirt around.
The frogs kept me busy the whole day and once the sun had disappeared behind the trees I went home. The drive back home was also very pleasing. The sunset created a deep orange and pink sky, the perfect end of a very nice day...

Images will be added soon.