Delicate touch

[Dan Busby]

​Another of my hummingbird shots from the Glenn Bartley workshop in Ecuador. When this Sword-billed Hummingbird popped out of the woods it was a real WOW moment. The long bill really stands out. The main problem was that at our multi-flash setup there was not enough screen real estate to include the flower, beak and bird in the same frame. So I took shots separately of the flower and bird. In PP I added canvas to the left and top of the bird frame. I then did a selection of the flower in the other frame and combined it with the bird. I had never done something like this before so it was a real learning experience. I hope the results are not too obvious! Either way, all C&C welcome and appreciated.

BTW, it was raining and those are water drops on the bill.

Canon 1D Mark IV, 300mm f/4L +1.4x, ISO:200, f/6.3@1/250, Manual, AI Servo AF, evaluative, Gitzo 3530LS, leveling head, Jobu HD2 Gimbal. PP: as above, levels, desat on flower, Topaz InFocus.

[Mital Patel]

marvelous image dan. wonder how they manage with such longer than body size beak :). excellent expo and superb freeze

[Jack Breakfast]

The bird looks INCREDIBLE. Why do the pink flowers look so...unreal? Something I'm missing, probably. What a bird! Amazing!

[Pieter de Waal]

Beautiful bird with that amazing long bill. Action nicely captured and good PP work on the flower, not noticeable at all.

[Jim Crosswell]

Beautiful image Dan! I like the long bill with tongue sticking out, composition and complimentary BG. Was it difficult and time consuming doing the PP you described?

[Dan Busby]

Beautiful image Dan! I like the long bill with tongue sticking out, composition and complimentary BG. Was it difficult and time consuming doing the PP you described?
Hi Jim. This was my first time doing this type of process but it probably took less than a half hour. Doing a proper selection of the flower took the most time - had to get the fringes using refine edge. But because the flower was shot in exactly the same light, setup and time as the bird I didn't have much trouble blending the background colours. So, it wasn't that difficult - just the concern that it might be overly obvious.

[gail bisson]

Dan,
This is spectacular. The pose, the little tongue, the excellent PP work. 10 out of 10 from me,
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Another great image from Ecuador, Dan.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice BG details and pose, I think it needs a bit more room in the LRC

[Marina Scarr]

Dan, this is truly a stunning image! The pose of the HB is spectacular. You did a great job with your PP. Lovely light and Bg. I would give it a bit more room all around if you have it...which I am assuming you do b/c it's 2 frames.

[Dan Busby]

Dan, this is truly a stunning image! The pose of the HB is spectacular. You did a great job with your PP. Lovely light and Bg. I would give it a bit more room all around if you have it...which I am assuming you do b/c it's 2 frames. Thanks Marina. The problem is that I don't have more room. But I could add canvas to create more. The image is really just the one frame with canvas added to left and top so that the flower insert could be made. Since I added canvas to the left and top I guess I could also add some more to the bottom and right to give it a bit more room. May give that a try - tomorrow ....

[Frank Schauf]

A great dynamic image, congratulations.

[Geir Jensen]

Wow , this is a killer:bg3:

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, that is one amazingly long bill, and the slight hint of the tongue is priceless. Lovely iridescence captured on the HB, sharp, and overall, excellent pp work. I agree about adding to the bottom, and would liked to have a little more space on the left of the leaf on the LHS. Still an outstanding image.

[Peter Dexter]

Wonderfull sharp image and very impressive post processing to get the flower and the bird together. The flash has produced an effect you wouldn't see in real life because in most light it appears to be a pretty dark bird. That crazy beak is adapted to allow him to feed from Pasaflora species. He comes to my feeder occaisionaly but can't land to feed, beak's too long!