North America's smallest hummingbird

[Bruce Enns]

I took this photo of 'our' resident Calliope Hummingbird male last year, when he was king of the hill. In the early morning he would perch on a dead branch on a dwarf apple tree and guard his territory. This was taken in the morning with slightly warm, but reasonably bright light...the background was our still heavily shaded backyard. Canon Rebel XT with 100-400 L IS and 1.4x II Canon extender, effective 35mm focal length = 896mm, manual focus, manual exposure, ISO 800, 1/250s, f/11, handheld with BushHawk.

Cheers!
Bruce

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the details, eye contact an BG and would give it a bit more room and run some NR on the BG. Thanks for sharing!

[Doug Brown]

Like the pose and perch Bruce! Feather detail is nice too. There is a halo around the top part of the bird, and also on the breast. I'd like to see a little more room as well. Thanks for posting!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

What a beautiful little bird with lovely color and detail as well as good eye contact. I agree a little more canvas on the bottom would strengthen this image. thanks for sharing.

[Bruce Enns]

Thanks for taking the time to look and comment Axel, Doug and Judy Lynn. Doug, thanks for pointing out the sloppy brush work...I'm still puzzled over where it came from, but it's very definitely there...I'm going to have to stop working so late.

Cheers!
Bruce

[Glenda Simmons]

Being so knew to photoshop editing, I just don't see these little flaws that others do...I do see a beautiful bird, nicely exposed with sharp detail. love that eye contact. To have this bird as a resident bird would be a grand enough feat for me! But I can't complain since I have resident Bluebirds.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Nice looking bird with great pose,colors and bg!