My beak is stuck

[Mack Hicks]

Juvenille blackchin, I think

D300 Nikon 500 f/4 AFS

ISO 800, 1/1000 f/4

multiple flashes, SB900 master, SB600, Lumopro Slave, all 1/32 on manual

[Desmond Chan]

Ok, I'll take a crack at this :)

The back of the hummer is showing good details as far as I can tell. The tail looks great, too. I'm totally ok with the blurred wings as this give a better sense of motion than with them 100% frozen, in my opinion. I also like the colors, but I'm partial to green anyway :).

I do prefer this image to be a bit brighter and I think it could be fixed with a bit of Levels adjustment. Perhaps some eye job could help, too, to show the eye of the hummer better. Then it's the head angle, or more specifically, if it is better to have the bird facing more towards your side or as is. I'd say the former would be better in general. Lately, I have a feeling that, like many other things, there're exceptions to that, so perhaps it depends on what you want to say with your photo or if the viewers like it :D

It also looks like a littler bit of noise reduction could help here. If this were mine, I would crop a bit, too. Not too tight, I do like to see the environment aka habitat, but just feel that as is there's extra room that can be do without.

My two cents :)

Oh, that lighter color patch to the left of the lower flower, what is that?

[Lance Peters]

Hi - agree with desmonds fine critique and would add the issue with the angle you were shooting at here is also a matter of the near wing obscuring some of the face - the wing is blurred enough to make it not too noticeable - but had it not been as blurred you would have had the face obscured by the wing.
Point of focus maybe on the back area instead of the eye.

Linda Robbins has a excellent book on hummer photograhy.

[Christopher Miller]

Hi Mack, Looks to me like your settings were pretty good since you got good details on the hummingbird's body and tail. As Desmond and Lance pointed out, biggest problem is the angle. I also think that the BG is a little on the busy side. Keep trying and hopefully you'll get some real good ones!

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent critiques and will second the motion on Linda's book !!! A must for hummers !!!

Not sure how the flashes were set but most of the light seems to be ambient?

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Mack,
I like the capture...agree with the techs. and fine advise given...I would also suggest on running a low level pass of noise reduction in the background...:cool: