how to photograph hummingbirds

i've got a bunch of hummingbird feeders around my house....ok, ok. my parents' house. maybe that's why i can't get a date.
back on topic. what's the best way to photograph them? in another post i'm checking about a remote shutter release. the feeders are in shade on the front porch, and the highlights would be blown out. should i make some kind of backdrop. metering the shadow scene isn't the problem. i'm just worrying about focusing. sometimes the lens will run out to infinity and can't focus, so trying to avoid that.

If you are dealing with shade you will may want to use some fill flash & meter to the background if it's brighter. As for shutter speed...

Slow shutter 1/200 sec

Those were taken with a 20D & 75-700mm like what you have.

Hand held, standing 10 or so feet away. The location helps a lot, you may want to move the feeders into better light, maybe under a tree on a low branch and sit there and wait.

Here is a previous thread with a few tips

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=374783

these birds scare me. when i've had to change the water in the feeders, they get a bit impatient, and start coming after me before i can hang them back up.

i found a feeder that looks like a hot air balloon, gonna try to set it up where it is more in the sun, cuz it is alot of shade shooting from the front porch, and they are up kind of high, probably about 9 feet from the ground( 5 feet up from the porch)
was going to post one of the photos i had shot and get some critique, but the other day my AOL messed up and have had to try and redo my software, and still can't get it to sign on, so i'm on my laptop, but it is extremely slow. only thing that sucks with living in the country is only option is slow dialup, or expensive satellite.

I found a feeder in the shade and the background just went bokeh! I stood very quietly about five feet away with my 40D on a monopod and my 100 - 400 L and just shot!

those are some awesome photos of the red hummingbird, i've seen one with a red throat, brownish/gray ones, and a few green ones. some of them are used to me, but not the camera. hopefully, i'll get the photos where i can post them online.

i hope i'm attaching these photos ok. i finally got around to resizing and doing some photoshop (didn't adjust the color cuz my monitor isn't calibrated)
the first one i know isn't great but one of my favorites so far. it was unexpected cuz i was focusing on the one drinking, and here comes this other one speeding in to defend his feeder.
i've got 37 more that i cropped and resized (some are same image just cropped differently)
please critique and give me some pointers. i'd like to find a market and try to sell some images.

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