How to get a good photo of Humming birds.

First of all let me start by saying that I am not an expert or a professional photographer.  I do enjoy nature and birds and taking pictures of them.
 

My top tips to getting a good photo of hummers are:

•patience

•patience

•patience

Did I mention patience? Ok seriously it does take a lot of PATIENCE.

Seriously though here are my top 5 tips for getting a good photo of a humming bird.

1.  Get to know your birds- sit outside and allow them to get familiar with you.  Be a frequent visitor to the area where your feeder is located.  Sit on your porch, deck or in your yard often and allow them to buzz around you.  Talk to them.  I know, sounds silly but I really do this.  When I am hanging my feeders, pulling weeds or messing in my flowers and they come close I talk to them.  Last year my husband was able to video me holding my humming bird feeder while they ate right out of my hand.  

2.  Patience - Be prepared to sit and wait.  Getting a good picture of any bird requires sitting still and having some patience.  You could get lucky but normally you are not going to be able to go outside, get a good pic and be done within 5 minutes.  Try early morning, late evening or after a rain - that is when I have the biggest abundance of birds in my yard. 

 

3.  Be prepared to delete A LOT.  Last year I took literally hundreds of photos of humming birds and only ended up with 2 or 3 that I would consider great and a few others that were good.  But hey don't feel bad, even professionals have to delete.

4.  Make an inviting place for them.  Plant colorful flowers in your landscape of all varieties.  They will love them. 

5.  Keep feeders clean and filled.  Usually my hummers empty my feeders pretty quickly so they stayed washed and filled regularly but you need to remember that the sugar water nectar will sour and mold will grow inside your feeder so keep them washed up and filled with fresh nectar at least every 2 weeks, especially in warm weather.

I have read that "real photographers" find their hummers in nature and do not bait them in with feeders.  I do not have time to find them in nature and I am perfectly ok with baiting them in to get the shot.  In my opinion there is no difference in a picture taken in my yard of a hummer or one found out in the woods. 

And please don't get hung up on the type of camera you have.  Even a small camera will do if you are patient.  Oh yea, I said that word again.   I took the picture below with this simple little camera  that I carry in my purse last summer.  I don't have any great expensive camera with zoom lenses that cost more than camera itself.  I use either the one pictured below or another one similar to it that does have a little better zoom.  Both are basic point and shoot - Canon power shots. 

 

 

So there you have my top tips for taking a good photo of humming birds.  Do you take pics of nature?  Of birds?  Of humming birds?  Do you have any you would like to share?  If so, leave a comment with the link to your picture for us all to see.