A teasing male Ruby-throat

Following along from the female Ruby-throated Hummingbird I posted the other day, here is the male, probably the mate of the previous bird. They have figured out that this funny looking flower with vast amounts of sugar water in it, is a pretty good resource, so they are fiercely defending the feeder.

It was cloudy and the male's gorget showed orange in parts but not the full ruby colour. I still have that to capture. Anyway, in the meantime, here he is in his splendor. I didn't realise that even the grey/white breast lights up green in certain directions. There were some nasty vines in the image that I decided to remove using Quickmask. Also did selective noise reduction of BG, plus standard processing.

40D, 500 mm f4, 1.4x tc
capture date: Monday, May 26, 2008 5:29:02 PM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 640
shutter speed: 1/250
aperture: f5.6
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern

this is really nice John in that it is not oversaturated....the narration is a plus.
All hues are repeated in the bg....a good thing :)

I like this, John. The bird is sharp, the pose and composition are good, and I like the even light with a little flash of iridescence.

A nice job John! Like the placement of the bird in the frame. I'm fascinated with the tiny feet of hummingbirds, and these are certainly tiny. I think the bird could stand some additional USM. Also I would try to tone down the perch in the LLC. Thanks for posting!

A nice soft feel to this while still capturing good sharpness and detail. I also like the subdued colors. If you had a lot of vines to remove, you did quite well. Care to show the "before" pic?
Steve

Here's the original after cropping. Thanks for all the comments.

Great capture and exposure John. I do like the soft greenish hues in the background and the bright colors on your hummer...:cool:

Excellent masking job! The soft light makes the Hummie glow, thanks for the read too :)

What a little beauty. Excellent detail and composition and I love that we are able to view the little feet so well. The soft lighting really enhances this capture. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting the before pic John. Excellent job on removing those branches.
Steve