Anna's Hummingbird

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Folks;

Photographed this little male Anna's Hummingbird at first light in my garden yesterday. To get an idea how bright it was, I had to set the eV at -1.00 to get rid of the blinkies on the branch above it, and there still was a slight trace of blinkies on the feeder tube. I also think I should have used 11 AF target points instead of my usual 5 to get the bottom of the tail in focus.

Comments & redos always welcome

Olympus E-3, Zuiko ED 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD @ 400 mm equiv
AP: F/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 100, -1.00 eV, CWA, sRGB, AWB

[Ian Cassell]

This is beautiful, Gus. If I get the irridescent head, the rest of the bird doesn't look good and vice-versa. You nailed both! The BG is very nice and you managed to get a catchlight in both eyes. It's very centered, but that doesn't bother me. The OOF tail doesn't hurt it as my eye is drawn to the head. The wing blur is just-right (I don't like the "frozen wing" look of some multi-flash setups). I like this one a lot.

[Cheryl Flory]

agree with the positive comments above! great capture. I might crop some off of the top. On my monitor the feathers beneath the feet look like their is something "funky" going on. over sharpened?? don't know.

[Julie Kenward]

Another beauty, Gus! Here's a trick to try on the blinkies near the magenta head area:

Use the eye dropper tool to grab a sample of the dark magenta area. Now switch to a soft brush set at 15-25% opacity and lightly paint over those hot white spots. This will leave a little bit of a wash of color and help them blend in to the regular magenta a bit more. Use a light touch and magnify the area so you only paint where you need to.

Outstanding image. There is a loss of detail in those tail feathers and I agree with Cheryl that the ones near the feet feel a little oversharpened but overall its a beauty of an image. You're getting quite a collection!

[Sid Overbey]

A beautiful shot that really captures the movement of the bird. The iridescence of the throat are great.