“Melody Mellinger: Bird Photography in Your Backyard”

[00:00:00] What can I do to encourage them to go exactly where I wanted them?

[00:00:04] Do I need to move the feeder or do I need to adjust the perch or, you know,

[00:00:08] I'm usually sitting there watching the birds plotting what I can do to convince

[00:00:13] them to do what I want them to do.

[00:00:22] Greetings everyone and welcome to another Camera Cafe Show Shortcuts episode,

[00:00:26] your podcast where we brew up inspiration for your photography journey.

[00:00:30] I'm your host Tom Jacob and join me here this week as we fuel your creativity behind your lens.

[00:00:37] Today we're diving into this enchanting little world what many of you out there love.

[00:00:42] Bird photography and in this episode more specific we are looking at something more

[00:00:46] close at home. How do I get those marvelous shots of these tiny visitors in my own backyard?

[00:00:53] For this I looked and I found an amazing nature and bird photographer especially for you,

[00:00:58] Melody Mellinger. Melody joins our podcast tonight from Pennsylvania in the USA to uncover a bitter

[00:01:05] secret behind our outstanding bird images and gets you up to speed with some helpful tips and tricks.

[00:01:11] From our humble beginnings with a point-and-shoot camera to mastering full-grown DSLR cameras,

[00:01:16] Melody's passion for capturing the beauty of birds in her own backyard is sure to inspire

[00:01:21] and motivate photographers of all levels so just sit back and get ready to move your

[00:01:26] photography to new heights as we uncover the secrets and joys of shooting birds in your own

[00:01:31] backyard. Let's get rolling! Welcome tonight on our podcast Melody I'm very happy to find you here

[00:01:40] on the other side. Yeah it's good to be here too Tom. How was your day today? Very good,

[00:01:46] busy but so far very good and how about yours? My day very busy. I'm happy to sit in front

[00:01:54] of the podcast because this is my relaxing moment then. All right very good. So Melody tonight we

[00:02:01] are going to talk about birds in your backyard I think it will be an amazing little short cast we

[00:02:08] are going to do. Melody tell me a bit about yourself how your photography journey started.

[00:02:15] Well it's not a whole lot to tell there, I have had an interest in photography. I would say

[00:02:21] ever since I got my first point and shoot camera as a teenager but I didn't get my first DSLR until

[00:02:29] 2015 and when I pulled that camera out of the bag and saw all the buttons on it I realized that

[00:02:37] if I was going to really master using it and all the features it had to offer I was going to

[00:02:42] have to use it a lot and really practice. So I started looking for things to photograph and

[00:02:49] there were the flowers in my garden it was spring when I got that camera and then I realized

[00:02:54] that I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to photograph butterflies and even birds and it just

[00:03:02] kind of went from there. I haven't gotten tired of the challenge of birds yet so that's still

[00:03:07] what I'm working on maybe someday I'll try something different. And what inspired you to

[00:03:12] specialize in birds photography and more in your own backyard? I think it has a lot to do with

[00:03:18] the challenge it goes along with capturing birds they're very unpredictable a little hard to work

[00:03:25] with you can't just go out and say oh there's an interesting bird I'll take a good picture of it

[00:03:29] it's not that simple so I think it's a lot the challenge and I love when you do get a good

[00:03:34] picture of a bird how you can then look at that and zoom in on the details things that you

[00:03:40] would never notice out in the wild looking at the bird. So that's the part I really love

[00:03:46] about it is getting those pictures in on the computer and really looking at that detail.

[00:03:51] And your own backyard melody how you have it set up to make your bird pictures?

[00:03:58] Okay the first thing that you're going to do if you want to set up a backyard for pictures

[00:04:03] is look for good light and so that's one of the things I'm conscious of I do move my setup

[00:04:10] around a bit I usually think of it as setting up a stage I'll put out branches near my feeders

[00:04:17] and so forth so I keep a nice feeding station and then put branches near it or sometimes I move the

[00:04:24] feeding station to where I'll have a blooming tree or bush or something that's going to be

[00:04:30] photogenic for the birds. So sometimes it moves around it's not like I have one exact setup

[00:04:36] that I work with different things for different seasons. Any particular challenges of doing this in

[00:04:43] your own backyard as opposed to going out to a nature park? Ah there can be some challenges my

[00:04:51] own yard was mostly had big trees in it initially which big trees are great for the birds they're

[00:04:59] not so great for trying to photograph the birds birds can totally disappear in them

[00:05:05] that problem I solved by planting a small crab apple tree I believe it was two years ago

[00:05:12] so now I have that's at a great spot for me to watch it has nice fine leaves in the summer it

[00:05:18] gets these beautiful pink blossoms in spring that aren't so large that they dominate the bird you

[00:05:24] know they're nice and small birds can sit in between them and the bird still is the subject

[00:05:30] of your photo not the flowers now when we get into fall and winter it gets these really great

[00:05:35] little red apples that the birds like to come eat plus they look nice on photos so yeah sometimes you

[00:05:42] have to plant things in your yard to attract the birds and and things that will look good in

[00:05:48] photos that's something always to keep in mind is what's going to look good along with the bird

[00:05:54] in your photo and do you think that by doing this in your own yard it's easier to

[00:06:02] to anticipate their behavior than being maybe outside it might actually be simply because

[00:06:10] I have the benefit of being able to watch them a lot the crab apple tree I mentioned is actually

[00:06:16] planted where I can view it from my kitchen window so I'm observing the birds and their

[00:06:21] behavior in that tree on a regular basis even if I'm not out with my camera the more you observe

[00:06:28] the birds the better you are predicting what their behavior is going to be and knowing where

[00:06:33] they're going to land and how you might be able to get that shot and I was thinking for people

[00:06:39] or photographers that have domestic animals like cats there are any precautions to take

[00:06:46] yeah that is one of the challenges in my yard we're in a farming community and so

[00:06:51] cats roaming free is just a thing we have to deal with they serve their purpose with rodent

[00:06:57] patrol and all but yeah they can be an issue with the birds I mostly put my feeders on what

[00:07:03] I call it the shepherd's hooks you know your wrought iron hooks that you can drive into

[00:07:07] the ground and it holds the feeder a few feet above the ground I keep most of my feeders on

[00:07:13] tall shepherd's hooks so the cats cannot reach the birds the cats cannot climb the shepherd's hooks

[00:07:19] if you do choose to hang your feeders from a tree put them out on branches that get small enough

[00:07:25] that the cats couldn't go out on those branches so yeah it is something to keep in mind now

[00:07:32] I do try to move my feeders around to get the birds to land on specific purchase sometimes

[00:07:39] and I will move feeders down where the bird wouldn't necessarily be safe if I left that feeder there

[00:07:47] all the time but if I'm going to be sitting out and watching and I really want the bird to

[00:07:50] land on a specific branch I'll move the feeder to a location that will encourage the bird to go

[00:07:56] there but then when I'm ready to take my camera and go back inside the feeder has to go back

[00:08:01] up into a safe place also it is surprising how good the birds are at looking out for themselves

[00:08:08] oftentimes I'll realize the birds have all disappeared and then I start looking and

[00:08:12] oh sure over there in some corner was a cat lurking too far away to harm the birds at that point so

[00:08:19] the birds do a good job of looking out for themselves but I try to do my part with that

[00:08:24] as well I do not want the cats getting my birds I also have some cats at home and I'm pretty

[00:08:30] sure that the birds seen my cats before I saw before I see them yes they usually do

[00:08:36] melody let's go a bit to the gear question that people always like what equipment are you using

[00:08:42] nowadays okay at this point I'm using a canon 5d mark 4 with a 100 to 400 millimeter zoom lens

[00:08:53] width now in just the last couple of months the addition of a 1.4 times extender as well

[00:08:59] so that's giving me an effective focal length of I believe 560 millimeters so yeah focal length is

[00:09:06] important birds are hard to get close to you do need a bit of reach with your lens other than

[00:09:13] that no special gear just some good focal length what would you say for it depends the garden

[00:09:19] of course but to make pictures of birds in your own garden what would be the minimum focal length

[00:09:24] you need I probably wouldn't want to be out with much less than 400 millimeter I did start some of my

[00:09:32] very first bird photographs were on a crop frame camera with a 250 millimeter lens so you know being

[00:09:41] crop frame you are getting a little more reach there it would have been slightly less than

[00:09:47] what I have now with the extender on the full frame so it depends on the body you're using

[00:09:54] of course whether you're a crop or full frame but you should have an effective focal length of at

[00:09:58] least 400 millimeters if you're wanting to photograph anything small you're talking larger birds

[00:10:04] ducks geese etc you can handle a shorter focal length and still get nice shots but songbirds are

[00:10:10] pretty small you need a bit of reach we all saw your own still see of course your amazing

[00:10:17] bird pictures your social media you've got any camera settings you can share with us maybe

[00:10:24] sure it camera settings are always kind of a balancing act I like to keep an aperture that's

[00:10:31] fairly wide open so that you get the nice soft backgrounds but you also want enough of the

[00:10:39] bird in focus to get really good detail so even that's a little bit of a balancing act choosing

[00:10:46] your aperture and then the next important thing is your shutter speed if you're trying to photograph

[00:10:53] some of the really small birds that move very quickly obviously you need a high shutter speed

[00:10:59] I like to have at least a shutter speed of 1 500th of a second if I'm hand holding it's

[00:11:05] better if it's higher I do use a monopod some of the time to help with the weight of the camera

[00:11:11] my whole rig weighs a little over six pounds so it gets pretty heavy pretty quickly other than that

[00:11:18] then of course I balance that with the ISO whatever it has to be to keep the shutter speed where it

[00:11:25] needs to be I try to keep the ISO as low as possible of course to avoid noise you can lose

[00:11:31] feather detail very quickly if your image is noisy so it's kind of a juggling act keep your

[00:11:36] shutter speed high enough to freeze the action and keep the bird acceptably sharp and then balance

[00:11:43] aperture and ISO as needed and I understand that when you're sitting in your garden you're using

[00:11:50] a height I suppose most of the time yes I have a small hop up blind it's basically a chair with

[00:11:59] a canopy that pulls completely over it and then a window that you open that's usually what I sit in

[00:12:06] the birds know I'm there I'm I'm quite sure they do but just if you have a barrier between you and

[00:12:12] them they're much more comfortable if you have bushes and things that you can kind of just sit back

[00:12:18] between to help break up your outline that is sometimes good enough sometimes I will simply

[00:12:24] go sit between my rose bushes just right out in the open on a small stool and you sit there for

[00:12:29] 10 to 15 minutes the birds will come back however they're much quicker to fly away than with slight

[00:12:36] movement where when you're in the hide you can move a little bit more adjusting your camera's

[00:12:42] position and they're not going to immediately fly off and then of course sometimes I just use

[00:12:47] my house for a blind to open a window and take pictures from inside works great so the height

[00:12:55] actually is not always in the same place you just move it around you move your height around

[00:13:00] depending the kind of pictures you want to take or the kind of birth you want to photograph

[00:13:06] yes I can move the hide around for wherever I want to be I move the hide as needed

[00:13:13] for wherever I want to be taking pictures the birds will sometimes not come right away when

[00:13:19] I set the blind up you might need to set it up and just let it sit for a day until they get

[00:13:24] used to it once it has been in the yard at a spot I can often move it to somewhere else and start

[00:13:31] using it the birds will come back within a few minutes but if it hasn't been out for a while

[00:13:37] they might stay away for a day or two until they get used to it again so you know a brand new

[00:13:42] hide don't get discouraged if birds don't come right away it just might need to adjust to the

[00:13:48] idea of it in your yard melody looking at your pictures you know that in photography most of the

[00:13:55] time composition is very important you have a certain composition like say in your style or

[00:14:03] you have it up in front the idea or you just wait where the bird moves and then change your

[00:14:09] composition when I set up my stage for the birds whether it's a branch on a living bush or

[00:14:16] whether I have cut one in place that near my feeding station I usually have an idea of what

[00:14:21] I really would like the birds to do but if they come and land somewhere close I'm probably going

[00:14:28] to take a picture of them whether or not it was my ideal positioning for them and sometimes I'm

[00:14:34] pretty happy with what I get even if they didn't land exactly where I wanted them but if they

[00:14:39] didn't land where I really wanted them then I'm usually trying to figure out what can I do

[00:14:44] to encourage them to go exactly where I wanted them do I need to move the feeder or do I need

[00:14:50] to adjust the perch or you know I'm usually sitting there watching the birds plotting what I can do

[00:14:55] to convince them to do what I want them to do and I think in your genre photography I think

[00:15:03] patience is also a virtue sometimes yes it takes a lot of patience somehow birds just don't always

[00:15:11] do what I want them to they do not sit still long when that you usually only have a second or two

[00:15:17] to get the shot if they do land where you wanted them to you need to get the shot immediately so

[00:15:23] it's really important to know your gear because you cannot fumble for settings at the last minute

[00:15:28] when a bird lands on the perch where you wanted it you need to know your gear and be able

[00:15:34] to get the shot immediately you've got any memorable moment you remember you say I waited

[00:15:41] so long and in the end yes I got this nice shot yes actually there is one I have a photo that if

[00:15:48] you look back through my social media I took it in early 2020 so it's back through a little ways

[00:15:54] now on my instagram I had observed the behavior with the eastern bluebirds over the years of

[00:16:00] watching them that in the spring when during breeding season the male will take seeds or worms

[00:16:07] or insects whatever food and offer it to the sea male in their courting ritual and that was the

[00:16:13] behavior I really wanted to capture but it would happen very quickly and neither one bird or the

[00:16:19] other wasn't in a good position but one day there in early 2020 I was watching birds from my

[00:16:25] house that time just from an open window I had a lilac branch which has purple flowers on it in the

[00:16:31] branch holder and sure enough they actually did that behavior right there in front of my camera

[00:16:38] on the lilac branch I have the male feeding the female some worms so that was a shot I was really

[00:16:43] thrilled to finally get and I haven't managed to replicate it again either and what's your most

[00:16:50] favorite garden bird my most favorite songbird that's a little bit hard to answer probably the

[00:16:58] eastern bluebird I have them here to watch year round they stay here winter and summer so

[00:17:04] they're probably my favorite but there's a few summer visitors that are right up there with

[00:17:08] them and very fond of the baltimore orioles we have them for a few months each summer

[00:17:14] and they're a very vivid colored bright orange bird with a loud pleasant song and so I really

[00:17:19] enjoy when they are here and to which place you want to travel maybe one time to capture

[00:17:26] a special bird that is on your list well right at the moment I'm looking forward to going back

[00:17:32] to Arizona to photograph the hummingbirds there again I was there recently and had some fun

[00:17:39] photographing hummingbirds but we only had a few days on that trip we are going back again in a few

[00:17:44] more weeks and I'm going to have a little more time so really looking forward to that right now

[00:17:48] hummingbirds are the challenge that has me intrigued one last question melody since you

[00:17:56] started doing bird photography you feel that you changed in a way leaning more to nature

[00:18:05] conservation probably yes I am more interested in the practices that are good for the birds

[00:18:12] I'm probably more conscious now when I am taking care of my flowers I do have to spray my roses

[00:18:18] etc for insects and I'm much quicker now to read the labels and decide oh is this a spray I want

[00:18:24] to use in my garden or not yeah I probably think about that more now than I used to

[00:18:29] do I think it happens to most of us that we start one photography show and then we get

[00:18:36] really into it and then we start reading reading reading about it and we change for the for the

[00:18:42] good yes absolutely melody one final tip for somebody who wants to start bird photography in his

[00:18:50] garden what would be the most important aspect oh that's a little hard to decide what would

[00:18:56] be the most important probably just spend time watching the birds for a little find out what birds

[00:19:03] are in your area what even are the possibilities and then start putting out feeders to attract

[00:19:11] specific birds rather than just general seed blends mean it's okay to use those as well but

[00:19:17] I feed for specific birds I put out mealworms for the blue birds they love those so do a few

[00:19:23] other birds specifically the blue birds this will seed for the finches oranges and jelly for the orioles

[00:19:30] that way you'll get the birds you really want in our area we have trouble with the English sparrows

[00:19:36] they're a nuisance bird here I know they're a lovely bird in Europe here they're not they're

[00:19:42] really a problem so I avoid seed blends that have millet in because the sparrows love the

[00:19:48] millet and so if I put that out then there's just sparrows everywhere and they will actually

[00:19:53] chase off the native birds obviously I don't want that so yeah find out what birds are in your area

[00:20:00] attract the birds you have to have them first or you have nothing to photograph and then go from

[00:20:05] there and just practice watch them and practice and learn how they behave learn your gear and

[00:20:11] after a while to all come together you see excellent advice there I promised one day I will

[00:20:18] I will give it a go I will send you the picture of my very first songboard I will make melody

[00:20:24] okay very good I hope you have success with taking some bird pictures and I hope your listeners do

[00:20:29] too melody thanks a lot for coming tonight on the podcast forgive us this short talk we

[00:20:35] will be in contact and I hope to see many more pictures now of you well thanks for having me

[00:20:41] I enjoyed it and I'm sure there'll be a lot more pictures for you to see I'm sure we will melody

[00:20:47] have a good day still and I talk to you later all right thanks you too bye bye bye and that wraps

[00:20:56] up another exciting short-casse episode of the camera cafe show I hope you enjoyed our

[00:21:00] conversation about bird photography with melody as much as I did if you want to find out more

[00:21:05] about melody you know you can find all that back together with the transcript in our show notes

[00:21:11] just remember whether you're a seasoned photographer or just starting out there is

[00:21:15] always something new to discover or to explore or to change in this great world of photography

[00:21:20] of ours you should never get bored or stand still all you need is a little bit of passion

[00:21:25] I'm sure this episode sparked some curiosity and you can share your backyard bird pictures soon

[00:21:31] with us just don't forget to tune in next time for more captivating discussions and insights

[00:21:37] because we've got such an amazing agenda with top photographers booked for all coming episodes

[00:21:42] stay connected with us on social media for behind the scenes contents and updates

[00:21:47] and if you haven't already be sure to subscribe our channel April's potify and you never

[00:21:51] miss an episode this is Tom Jacob signing off for today until next time keep shooting

[00:21:57] keep sharing and keep moving your photography bye