Green Crowned Brilliant

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

There are so many species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica that trying to put the proper name to them can be a challenge. I believe I have named this one correctly but if not let me know !!!!!!!
It was marvelous photographing the hummingbirds and the place called the cataracts de Toro was just awesome. One of my most memorable moments on our recent trip to Costa Rica. Hope you enjoy.

Nikon D3
Nikon 500 mm F4
ISO 400
1/100, F16
manual

All comments are most appreciated. Thanks !!

[Nancy A Elwood]

WOW Judy lynn!! The BG, sharpness and composition are wonderful!! A stunner.

[Greg Basco]

Hi, Judy Lynn. Looks good to me. I might clone the extra catchlights in the eye (always a PP step for multi-flash hummingbirds) but I love the pose you caught here. FYI, the flower is Centropogon, a native cloud forest flower in the bellflower (Campanulaceae) family.

Glad you had a good time that day with Monica!

Cheers,
Greg

[stuart wanuck]

lovely capture but where is the quetsel?

[Tom Graham]

Love it.
Tech specs confuse me, 1/100, f16. That would not give sharp HBIF. Flash(s) used, yes?
Tom

[Troy Lim]

Judy, bravo. Love the shot. How many flashes did you use?

[arash_hazeghi]

so beautiful Judy!!!

[Steve Canuel]

Great timing on the pose. Looks like he's sizing up where to start on that flower.

[Markus Jais]

Judy, this is spectacular. Absolutely fantastic shot!

Markus

[Adrian David]

WOW!!!
That's all I can say...
The techs are confuzing me too...1/100 at F16, and so sharp HBIF??? I am missing something here...

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Hi, Many thanks for your comments . They are most appreciated. To answer your question on the techs. This image was photographed with five strobe lights and your settings in this situation is as I posted since the five flashes going off together is what helps to freeze the action without the high shutter speed. I hope this helps. Greg Basco uses this type of set up when photographing the hummingbirds and it works well. Other people use more strobe lights such as six or seven. It was a wonderful experience !!!!!!

[Michael Pancier]

fab image Judy. Did you manually set each flash?

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Thanks Michael for your comments, :) Each strobe is set up manually but there is a device that you use on your camera that sets all five strobes off together. We had a Costa Rican gal named Monica that set all the strobes up and got them working with this special device that was used instated of the flash on my camera. The strobes are placed strategically so the light appears on all sides at the same instant. Hope this helps.

judylynn

[Stu Bowie]

Super hovering posture Judy, and just love the iridesence on the HB. Overall, the image is nice and sharp.

[Greg Basco]

Hi, Judy. I hope you don't mind but I just wanted to address Michael's question.

Michael, yes, each flash is set manually and in manual power mode. Monica works with me, and I taught her to use 1/16th power so I think that's what she was using the day I had her work with Judy. The flashes are tripped by the Canon ST-E2 transmitter, which works just fine on a Nikon body to trip the Canon flashes in the setup, as long as the flashes are in manual mode. The shutter speed of 1/100 rather than the sync speed of say 1/200 is necessary for Nikon because I've discovered that there is a slight delay in communication between the Canon transmitter and Nikon bodies. At shutter speeds faster than 1/100, the shutter apparently has closed by the time the flashes are triggered but at 1/100 or slower, they sync up fine. And 1/100 is just fine; since no ambient light enters the exposure, the actual exposure time is the duration of the flashes, which at 1/16th power is somewhere around 1/15000th of a second. So, Adrian, that's why you can freeze hummingbird wings at 1/100th of a second!

I hope this helps.

In any case, Judy is right that I use fewer flashes in my setup, and this how I taught Monica. I've found that using fewer flashes but placing them strategically gives a nice, natural look to the images. And Judy caught a great pose with this image!

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[John Blumenkamp]

Fantastic image Judy! Love the wing position and overall pose/position.

[Danny Laredo]

Excellent capture Judy.

[denise ippolito]

Judy, I don't know how I missed this one but WOW! Very nice details and the composition is fantastic. Perfect little pose!!:)

[Harshad Barve]

wow , this is just too good , big time congrats
TFS