Afternoon Snooze

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Greetings. First time I've seen a hummer snoozing before... allowing me to move a chair to stand on for a better composition and try a few different exposure settings ;-).



D4 300f/2.8 + TC20EIII (600mm) f/6.3 1/1000 ISO3200 Manual HH
No boost in pp (!), Lab curves for color/contrast, nr, sharpening

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Michael,

Interesting picture you probably know my thoughts they are directed at the background and a comment on exposure. Regarding background it is busy and distracting so what can we do:

First, lets realize just how important it is,..I might argue that the background is as important as the subject. When you see winning photos the background is usually muted and non distracting - so it is CRITICAL!

Options here are to use a wider aperture (e.g.. f/4) to reduce the focus behind the subject - use a telephoto lens and isolate the subject - move around and work the scene until the background compliments the image. Keep at it the image has a good story but needs better control of the frame. Regarding exposure the whites have a few hot spots consider a faster aperture (check the histogram) - thanks and keep em coming.

[Jeannean Ryman]

I got to see one snoozing this past summer at my feeder, except it did a full back tilt of the head. I was expecting to hear faint snoring noises coming from it at any minute! Very nice capture. Jeff's advice about backgrounds is so true. Sometimes, you don't have much choice, but when you do, try and move around to get the cleanest background possible. I sometimes get excited by the subject and forget about the background, but I'm getting better at remembering...most of the time.