I actually had bluebirds this year! But didn't do much about photographing them. I was surprised, but extremely pleased to see that they had a second clutch this summer. (They can have up to three). But about 4 days before the blue challenge was announced something got the eggs.
I wasn't sure that they would come back for mealworms. And actually, I got everything but bluebirds for awhile. I had carolina wrens that had babies nearby. They would grab a full mouthful and fly off somewhere. There weren't many mealworms left when the bluebirds did stop by! They only came twice over the four days that I played with the setup. I started out simple:
And then had to slowly get things set and get the birds used to it. The deck table got moved in front of the railing. The bottle was too tall, so my sewing machine cover was put on the railing as a backdrop holder.
Carolina wrens ate the mealworms. Squirrels ate the blueberries. It was starting to look like I was going to have to have a "blue interrupted" shot since the bluebirds weren't appearing.
Voila!! They came! Only stayed about 10 minutes, but long enough to at least get a shot.
In the meantime, I had been playing with flash to get the lighting right.
And then the flash stopped communicating with the camera! So had to dial up the ISO and cross my fingers.
I'm still waiting for the perfect still life to appear so I can do this better. I just suck at arranging things. I need a still life expert from DPC to come and set up a still life and I'll provide the bird and the patience (this was about 10+ hours of waiting).
Thanks for the comments and even a fav!
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Thanks for the explanation of the process, your diligence was rewarded.
This was a 7 for me and would have been higher but for that lable on the wine bottle. It is the source of the brightest whites and the greatest contrasts in the image (and letters always pull the eye), but it doesn't contribute to the overalll image at all. Had you turned the bottle so the lable's impact was diminished (or better yet soaked it off) the bird and the flower would have had their rightful place as the magnets to the eye. With the subtle reflections on the bottle and the blueberries in harmony.
PS..spraying the bottle with artist's fixative, or hairspray will diffuse reflections giving blurry highlights and lines instead of crisp reflections of whatever is behind the photographer.
I thought it was a stuffed bird, and only gave it a 7, but seeing as you kicked our arse's with this shot, it could only be from you and not stuffed. Well done indeed!!! xox
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