by Tarantola, Kathy

Patience is key! I set up this shot with the camera zoomed out and rested on a railing which was close enough and high enough to get this image straight on. The female bird came back to feed her fledgling numerous times, but I was patient and kept shooting until mama turned her head just right and the fledgling’s mouth was wide open. I used the camera with the flash turned off, so that I wouldn’t startle the birds, and framed the birdhouse to the right to give the image a good balance. Keeping the subject to the left tends to lead the viewer’s eye into the shot, since we read left to right.