White-eared Hummingbird

[Tom Callahan]

Captured in Madera Canyon, AZ
Canon 40D
3 High speed flash manual mode
Sigma 70-300mm
on tripod
1/250
F/25
added flower as extraction
Felt very fortunate to capture one of these rare beauties
comments please

[Gus Cobos]

Very nice Tom,
I like the capture and action here. I would just more canvas to the left of the frame to give the wing more room, and perhaps lighten your background just a wee bit...all in all... fantastic job... I like it...:cool:

[Lana Hays]

Tom
A beautiful image of a great hummer. I think exposure, flash, and detail are all very good. I like the BG as it seems to make the hummer stand out. You might want to add more room but for hummer's and web presentation I like the tight images. Well done.

[Jim Poor]

Beautiful. Was this at the Beatty's Guest Ranch? The dark BG and bright flowers make this nice.

[Tom Callahan]

Jim,
Thanks for the comments. No, this was in Madera Canyon in AZ. I have not been to Beatty's ranch but have emailed them. They are supposed to have some of the best numbers of different species. However they are not very freindly to photograhers using any flash of any kind.

[Jim Poor]

Great catching the WEHU somewhere other than the Beatty's, last I knew, the ranch was the only location to find them reliably.

I spent a lot of time up there. Tom Beatty Sr, is definitely a unique personality. Somehow, I ended up on his good side though, and he let me pretty much have the run of the place.

I knew he didn't like the multi-flash set ups and the artificial BGs, but when I was there in 2004, "normal" flash was OK. Like I said though, he's an odd duck.

A much more photographer friendly feeding station is Ash Canyon Bed & Breakfast which is just down the road. Mary Jo is great. I've seen folks set up blinds in her yard with no trouble.

I think the record for species at Ash Canyon B&B is something like 14 different species in one day. I was lucky enough to see up to 11 in just a few hours on one of my many trips out there.