Green Thorntail

[Jim Crosswell]

This was taken last year in Costa Rica at my friends place. All C&Cs are appreciated.

Canon 30D
100-400L IS
275mm
ISO 400
f/7.1
1/1000s
Fill Flash

[Doug Brown]

I've always wanted to get a good image of one of these guys in a multiple flash setup, but they tend to avoid mine. :p Great eye contact and good sharpness. Love the iridescence. The wing blur is nice, but I wish the tail feathers were sharp; no hope of that in natural light with a single flash though. I might crop a bit off the right of the frame.

[Jim Crosswell]

I've always wanted to get a good image of one of these guys in a multiple flash setup, but they tend to avoid mine. :p Great eye contact and good sharpness. Love the iridescence. The wing blur is nice, but I wish the tail feathers were sharp; no hope of that in natural light with a single flash though. I might crop a bit off the right of the frame.

The Green Thorntail will fly around my head and look inside the lens hood sometimes. Here is a repost with some taken off the right. Thanks for your comment.

[Alfredo Fernández]

I really like the second image, sharpness & exposure is perfect, wish for the tail to be also in focus.
one thing was not completly clear, how many flashes did you use?

[Jim Crosswell]

I really like the second image, sharpness & exposure is perfect, wish for the tail to be also in focus.
one thing was not completly clear, how many flashes did you use?

It was only one flash. The BG is natural as well. Thanks for your comments.

[Stu Bowie]

Tack sharp Jim, and just love the green iridescence. I like the flight angle, and your repost works well.

[Greg Basco]

Jim, really nice job with the natural light and fill-flash. Although I love to do multiple flash for hummingbirds and appreciate the many benefits of that approach, this just shows that you can do well without the whole setup too, particularly for flight shots like this. I see Doug's point about the tail but I'll have to differ and say that, to me, it's sharp where it counts. Congrats on a nice image of a really cool hummingbird!

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[James Salywoda]

Beautifull Shot! gorgeous colors and light well done Jim.

[Chris Baker]

Echo the above, I too like the wing blur. Great bird, what colouration.

[adrian dancy]

Utterly delightful....the bird is sharp where it counts.