When it comes to attracting birds into camera range, nothing is more effective than water. Only a limited number of species come to feeders to eat seed, fruit and nectar, but all birds come to water to bath and drink. Using water for bird photography can be especially powerful if you happen to live in the drier climates of the west or near a good migrant trap. (migrant traps are locations where birds congregate during migration to rest and feed).

In animal photography, the subject’s eyes must be in focus. If they’re not, most professional wildlife photographers will tell us that we’ve missed the shot. Why? Because when we look at a picture of an animal (or person) our eyes go to the subject’s eyes first. If they’re soft, we have to strain our eyes to try to get them into focus, a frustrating and impossible task.

I consider myself lucky to be a morning person because as a nature photographer I have to get up early to photograph the birds, mammals and landscapes that I love and catch that early morning light to create a beautiful image. I remember working on my second book, "Birds of Prey in the American West," where I had to shoot raptors in the morning and owls at night. I put in long days and nights to capture some of the most difficult to photograph bird species and I had only one nesting season to finish the book. It took me about four days to get used to shooting at night because normally my body shuts down like a bird that goes to roost when the sun goes down; that adjustment was not an easy one. It's too bad I didn't have a Photo Trap back then to work on owls at night flying into their nest sites. It was always a surprise to see what kind of food they would bring in to feed their young.

On the last day of our six week high-speed flash hummingbird photography shoots in southern Arizona, I shot 20 gigabytes of these marvelous birds in flight. We were leaving the next day for the three day drive back home to Pennsylvania, and I was busy packing the truck with the assorted flashes, Bogen supports and Mary's cooking paraphernalia. I knew this packing would occupy most of my day but the temptation of getting just one more great shot, one more unique pose, was too much for me to ignore. With that hope I kept one of our hummer sets going while I did my Rubik's Cube puzzle of packing the truck.