Green Hermit

[Bill Holsten]

This has become my favorite Costa Rican hummingbird because of its acrobatic flight behavior and graceful poses. Photographed last month in Costa Rican cloud forest on workshop with Greg Basco and Doug Brown. Sugar water was injected into the flower and the bird was lit via multi-flash. I desaturated and darkened the flower a bit to reduce competition with the bird.

1D IV, 150mm, 1/200", f/18, ISO 320, tripod

[arash_hazeghi]

nice pose and setting. The colors look a bit over-saturated and overall a bit too contrasty here. The red channel is blown which can happen with flash too easy. lowering exp. and cooling the image will help recover it

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[Bill Dix]

Striking hummer, and even more striking flower. Although you desaturated it, I think some further desaturation, along the lines reposted by Arash, help the image.

[Greg Basco]

Bill, good to see this one here. This is always a tough flower for a setup in terms of holding the red. I generally would work that color or area in post. I remember this setup, and I know we were going for some drama, but it looks a little contrasty as presented above. If you wanted to send me the RAW file (www.wetransfer.com), I'd be happy to take a look at it and give you my take. I'm sure Doug would as well.

Cheers,
Greg

[Daniel Cadieux]

Wicked pose and setup!! Some additional processing TLC as per the previous critiquers would bring this up some notches.

[Bill Holsten]

I've come to the conclusion that I am a slow learner with respect to saturation and contrast. I went back to Lightroom and reprocessed this image from the ground up, paying particular attention to toning down the reds and yellows on the flower. Have I gone far enough? Thanks very much for the constructive criticism.

[gail bisson]

Hi Bill, The repost is excellent. Addresses the saturation and contrast issues.
Love the long curved beak and cocked tail.
I am wishing the ends of the leaves were visible on the bottom of the frame,
Gail

[Greg Basco]

Bill, this looks worlds better. I think it was well worth the time to go back and re-process. Congrats on a great image!

Cheers,
Greg