Rufous Hummingbirds

[Charlie VanTassel]

Thanks for the comments on my last post. Here's another taken in the heat of battle.

Most of this fighting action takes place in early morning, so the light is a bit low. If I use flash, it causes the birds to react and run. So a bit of a struggle here.

I thought to remove the perch but it really is the launch point for the lower bird.

D700
500mm vr
1/1250 @f/10
iso 800
natural light
noise ninja on background only

[Rob Smith]

Lovely work Charlie IMHO. I actually like the perch as I think it tells the story. Very nicely caught

[Juan Aragonés]

Very nice action, light and BG Charlie. I would keep the perch and I agree with Rob that it helps to tells the story behind the scene. The right wing of the bird in the lower position is a bit dark to my taste and I am wondering if you can save some additional details in the RAW file from taht part of the bird.

[David Fletcher]

Excellent action. Like the wing blur Charlie and glad you kept the perch, as an important element.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Wonderful image. Sharp where it needs to be and captured at the right moment. BG is killer and really makes the subject matter stand out.

[Erich Stevens]

Excellent action. Like the wing blur Charlie and glad you kept the perch, as an important element.

I agree with David on the perch. It really "anchors" the bird in space and shows scale. Actually looks like you used FF, so evidently excellent use of available light only. Very well done!

[Dan Brown]

Great action capture David! Just sharp enough in the right places and the BG is very nice. I only wish for a little color in the gorget of the upper bird, the use of fill flash with high speed sycn might have produced this, but maybie not! Good work!

[Ramon M. Casares]

Perch works fine IMO, nice poses, light, copm, BG and colors. If something, I wouls suggest to crop from left and top.
Congratulaitons!

[Kobus Tollig]

Ditto Ramon on crop. Great poses and bg. Great shot well done

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful image, great interacting pose and good timing.. congrats..

[Glenda Simmons]

Excellant behavior image!