Male eastern blue bird

Male eastern blue bird

I captured this male eastern blue bird on 35 mm film in my parents’ yard, sometime in the late 1990s.

The largest lens I had was 200 mm — I couldn’t get close enough with the camera to take a photo of this bird. However, I was able to use his habits and technology to capture him. This eastern blue bird landed then flew off of a tomato stake in the yard, over and over again. Since I knew exactly where it would be, I just needed the camera to help me get the photo.

I set the camera up on the tripod, close to the stake. The camera was set in the focus-priority shutter release mode and manually focused. Focus-priority mode allows the camera to take a photo only when the subject is in focus. I manually focused just above the tomato stake. When the blue bird landed on the stake it was in focus, and the camera could therefore take a photo.

Of course, the thing that really makes this a money shot is that he has captured a spider. But not just a spider, a spider with an egg sack!

See the original on Flickr.