Hummer Hover

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 5DII
500mm f/4
Gitzo 3530LS/full Wimberley head

1/1250 sec
f/6.3
ISO 1250

Took this a couple mornings ago off my porch. I've been working on my hummer shots (ruby-throated are what we get here in central NY). Not using flash. This hummingbird was coming to my feeder, hesitated a bit in this moment due to some intense competition. I liked the sense of drama and the eye contact, as well as the whirling sense of movement in the wing blur (though I must say it's a bit hard to post this after just seeing Doug's most excellent hummingbird shot!)
Wish that I had gone with a smaller aperture, would have liked bill and top of head to be in focus. But was going for SS.
Ran NR, slight sharpening. Lightened area in LLC. Lightened some of the shadowed areas on the bird. This is perhaps a 60% crop.
Thanks for looking. C & C greatly welcomed and appreciated. I hope you like it!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Awesome shot Melissa! And well done to get it this sharp without the elaborate flash setup so often used :eek3:. I've never shot these as we don't have them natively in Africa, but can appreciate how tricky this must be.
I would have loved it if the beak was also as sharp as the eye, though it's no deal-breaker for me.

Is the BG all-natural?

[Melissa Groo]

Yes, BG all natural, Morkel. Thanks for your comments!

[Luis Villablanca]

Very nice Melissa. It's fun shooting them at the feeder. They can be really hard to get the focus on since they move so quickly.
This little guy was apparently molting since I can see some pin feathers on the face.
The image looks sharp enough to me. I like the fanned tail and the wing position.
What time of the day did you shoot it? It seems there wasn't much light available.

[Herb Houghton]

Very nice pose and sharpness Melissa. I like the sharpness and natural BGD. I would darken the light bottom right corner to even out the BGD a bit better.

[Melissa Groo]

This was at 10:30 in the morning, Luis, so it was certainly bright enough, but it's unevenly lit at that spot due to the foliage and how it's clumped.

[Doug Brown]

<embed id="application/x-exifeverywhere" type="application/x-exifeverywhere" width="0" height="0">The plumage may be a little rough, but you got the gorget just right! Love that ruby red. The bird is placed slightly too far to the right IMO. And I agree that the RLC needs to be evened out some.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks for the comments, all.
Here's a repost giving more room on right, and with LRC fixed up a bit. Hope it's an improvement.

[Luis Villablanca]

Love the repost.

[Luis Villablanca]

This was at 10:30 in the morning, Luis, so it was certainly bright enough, but it's unevenly lit at that spot due to the foliage and how it's clumped.

Too bad about the location. I wonder if it would be possible to temporarily move the feeder to a better lit place (just for a few shots).
As long as it's not too far from its current location, the hummers shouldn't have a problem finding it.

[Craig Kerr]

Excellent camera work Melissa, that back ground works beautifully.. Repost composition dose it for me :bg3: Love It !!

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great DOF and love that the wings have blur...Prefer the crop/comp in the repost!

[Stu Bowie]

Melissa, sharp where it counts, and I agree moving the HB to the left a touch more will work. I too, would love the challenge of trying to capture this species.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Great shot. I ditto on the comment about the beak but it's still very cool. I prefer the repost crop.

[Jeff Parker]

Looks plenty sharp to me. I like the background and pose of the hummer. If you want a tad smaller aperture, the 5DmII can handle ISO 1600 with ease.