Cool Pose

[Arthur Morris]

This Collared Inca image was created at Guango Lodge, Ecuador with the Canon 400mm DO lens, a 25mm Extension Tube, and the EOS 1D MIII. Six flash set-up. ISO 400. Manual Mode: 1/300 sec. at f/25. We did most of the birds at f/22 but when this gy with his way white neck came along we stopped down 1/3 stop so that there were just a few blinkies on the neck. This to try and reveal the green on the neck (done here to some degree) and the blue on the top of the head (sorry Charlie...)

I found that the combination of the 400 DO and the MIII was far better able to track the hummers than the MIII and the 500 f/4 L IS lens. Not at all sure why...

Do know that everything that I know about high speed flash hummer photography was taught to me by Linda Robbins.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

ps to Glenn: I know that you do not like this BKGR; I love it.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This bird looks like a nightmare to expose properly and great pose indeed. There is a slight sharpening halo around the edges and between wings and chest. You seem to have had a lot of fun there. I hope to get a chance to try this sometime.

[Mike Tracy]

I will reserve comment on any minor shortcomings I might even be able to point out because this is beyond any thing I have attempted. Very well executed.

Did you think to photograph the flash arrangement to help the rest of us ?

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Artie,

Cool pose it is! I have to agree with Axel regarding the halo, he jumped before me. I would love to see this bird with a flower to balance the composition.

Thanks!

[Bill Foxworthy]

I wish I could get darks to come out like this. It is a joy to view especially after doing Kites, Vultures, Frigatebirds and Pileated's to no way look like this. I keep trying and will never give up no matter what. It is beautiful.

[Arthur Morris]

I will reserve comment on any minor shortcomings I might even be able to point out because this is beyond any thing I have attempted. Very well executed. Did you think to photograph the flash arrangement to help the rest of us ?

Hi Mike, Here is an image of one of the many set-ups that we used. Each day we tweaked the set-up one way or another and then tweaked it again and agian, all in an effort to learn something new.The amount of equipment needed and effort expended is enormous. In addition, we stood behind our lenses for 9-10 hours each day...

Linda Robbins has been working on a Comprehensive High Speed Hummingbird Guide for about five months now. It is turning out to be a far larger project than she envisioned. She should be done within a month. It will be available through BAA. In addition, she will be taking very small groups to various sites in South America.

ps: There is a ton more to making successful images than just seeing a picture of a single set-up but this should give you the general idea.

[Raymond Barlow]

excellent Artie, and thanks for all the info, you do have knowledgable friends.,

[Dan Walker]

Awsome, thanks for posting the setup, have been a bit curious about the background for a while. Cant wait for the instructional CD to become available!

Dan

[Arthur Morris]

excellent Artie, and thanks for all the info, you do have knowledgable friends.,

You are both welcome and quite right. Early on, with film, I figured out most stuff on my own--there was not a lot of good educational material around. I taught the world with the publication of The Art of Bird Photography. Then, when I belatedly switched to digital, many of the folks whom I taught became my teacher. And for that, I am extremely grateful.

[Bob Malbon]

Art, That is one "Cool Pose" - Thanksfor showing the lighting setup.Bob

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Unbelievable to see what goes on behind the scene. Many thanks for sharing Artie. Love this image and the beautiful simplicity presented here with the superb BG and the incredible pose.

[Doug Brown]

Love that pose Artie! And you did a great job with exposure too. I see a multiflash setup in my future, and I also see Linda's guide in that same future. Thanks for sharing an excellent photo and a behind-the-scenes look at what it took to capture such a nice image.

[Phil Seu]

super picture of a high contrast subject. thanks for showing the setup pic. it makes one appreciate the picture more

Phil Seu

[Mike Tracy]

Thanks for posting the set up. I can't believe the hummers even approach with these unnatural surroundings. I guess easy food is a strong attractant. The more I look at your posts from this trip the more I am mesmerized with your results.

What type flash clamps are these if you don't mind me asking and were you positioned in some sort of blind ?

[Juan Aragonés]

Arthur this is an excelent capture all around of a very difficult bird to expose. The pose is fantastic and captures very well the nature of a hummer. The BG is not the most I like and I would prefer a green colour but is for sure a good, smooth and clean BG. Thanks a lot for sharing the information about the stunning flash set-up. You will need a really big back-pack for such amount of gear. How can you put the chair into the bagpack? Canon chair?... just kidding :D
You are a “rara avis”, a rare case between photographers. You create excelent images and you have no problems to share your technicals skills with other people, and that is a great, but very rare, personal quality. It is the way to go, IMO.
I am not a big fan of flashes but is for sure that will get a copy of the guide that Linda is working on because I really enjoy to read high quality information and, considering the quality of both yours and Linda´s images, it would be a interesting reading for sure.
In 1995 I spent almost two months in Ecuador working on my PhD and i am seriously considering to come back for a week or so next year and, after looking at images like this one, I feel more motivation to travel to that amazing country once more time.

Here is a repost... please, let me have your thoughts about it

[Robert Amoruso]

Artie,

Excellent image and thanks for showing the set-up. At NANPA, Linda told me I should come with her sometime to do this and I would like to take her up on that.

Juan,

You did a nice job opening up the colors on the body.

[Mike Lentz]

Somebody's getting their Hummingbird fix on these days! :D I like the pose on this one!

[Arthur Morris]

You are a “rara avis”, a rare case between photographers. You create excelent images and you have no problems to share your technicals skills with other people, and that is a great, but very rare, personal quality. It is the way to go, IMO.

I am not a big fan of flashes but is for sure that will get a copy of the guide that Linda is working on because I really enjoy to read high quality information and, considering the quality of both yours and Linda´s images, it would be a interesting reading for sure. In 1995 I spent almost two months in Ecuador working on my PhD and i am seriously considering to come back for a week or so next year and, after looking at images like this one, I feel more motivation to travel to that amazing country once more time.

Here is a repost... please, let me have your thoughts about it

Hi Juan, Thanks for your kind words. I am as proud of what I have done educationally with photography as I am of the quality of my images and the breadth of my coverage. I have been blessed since leaving teaching in 1993 and enjoy giving back whatever I can. That I have found a way to do this profitably is also a great blessing.

Yes, Ecuador is an amazing country even if you do not get to the Galapagos.

Though I do not (and most folks find this amazing) have a good eye for detail, your repost seems to offer more detail in the blacks and greens (without having turned them muddy).

#1: Am I correct?

#2: If yes, please share your techinique.

[Blake Shadle]

I really like the pose and composition on this one, Artie. I was impressed by the amount of detail before Juan's repost... and now I just can't stop staring at this image. Major improvement. You'll have to share your trick, Juan :D

[Raymond Barlow]

Count me in for a copy too., and wow Juan, great job! You guys really help make this a great forum, and getting better all the time.

[Juan Aragonés]

Arthur, Blake and Raymond it will be a pleasure to share with all of you my method for processing this image but I have no time right now. I am not english fluent and I prefer to prepare some screen captures to help me to fully illustrate my process. It is very simple when you are wathching at the computer screen but it seems complex when explained without the support of images. I will try to do it tonight :)

[Bob Ettinger]

Artie,

While the effort might have been high, the results are worth it. Excellent job.

[Juan Aragonés]

I have been working on a tutorial about my processing for the hummingbird image of Arthur and I am going to try to post some screen-captures of the process and try to explain the basic steps.
The steps described here are part of my basic process method and I use it, with some variations, for most of my images (sharpening, noise reduction, color correction, etc). In some images the process is very simply and I only need a few steps (noise reduction, sharpening and levels adjustments, in example) and I need to create just a small number of layers. In other images I create up to 15 layers but I only do that to images that need a serious work and that are good enough to spend the time. I am not good at PS since I have been using it since about one year or so. Previously, I used Corel Photopaint and, instead of the fact that PS is far better, I learned a lot of interesting things in Photopaint that now I apply to PS (I miss some interesting features of PP). First of all I should say that I am a bird painter and I have been using canvas, oils, acrylics, watercolors and brushes since I was a child so I try to apply my experience on that field to PS. In other words, I treat my images in PS in the same way I do with my paintings and that is the reason why my method for PS processing may seems strange, odd or different to the one many of you use.
Once that is said lets go to work. The work here is on a very small jpge and at this size, the noise is less apparent than in higher sizes so some of the effects that I apply here may not work properly in the original file. In a difficult exposure like this one I use to open two versions of the raw file one for the whites and a nother copy for the blacks.

1. Selection
My first step is to made a selection, with the magic wand or whatever the method of your choice, to separate the BG from the main subject. The image of Arthur has a very clean BG so I need just a few strokes of the magic wand tool but in images with more complex BG the process should be hard.

2. Duplicate layers
I made, at least, two duplicate layers. The first one, I rename “Main subject” and the second one I rename “BG # (feature)”.

3. Delete selected areas (but not the selection!) and creating a layer structure
In the “main subject layer” y delete the BG while in the “BG # (feature)” I delete the humming bird, then I rename the layer “BG 1 (noise)”. Usually, I apply noise reduction in this layer while the sharpening is applied in the main layer or the “main subject layer”. (Please, note that in this image I did not apply gaussian blur, noise reduction, or sharpening because it was not necessary). This way, now I have the following layers: the original file or “Background layer”, the “main subject layer” and the “BG 1 (noise)”. In example, here I created a copy of the “BG 1 (noise)” layer and rename it “BG 2 (color)” on which I made some color variations on the BG.

4. Different layers, different methods to work with
Let’s work with the “main subject” layer because here is the main problem to solve. The whites are well exposed and I do not want to touch them but I need to adjust the dark areas. In the levels adjustment window I made the corrections to my choice and I do not worry if I burn the whites. Once the correction of the dark areas is done I work with different brushes (in “delete” mode”) modifying the size, opacity and edges of the brush to delete critical areas (the whites, the border areas, etc). This is, IMO, the most creative part and is very important because if we do this correctly the effect would look very natural.
On a second copy of the “main subject” layer I rename to “subject details 1” and I work on the partial saturation of the green and blue areas on the throat and nape of the bird. I decide to increase the saturation and to adjust the levels on those areas to add life to the b/w plumaged bird. I deleted with a brush all the hummingbird but those two small areas and then I corrected to my choice. If necessary, I can create more copies of this layer to add partial sharpening or lightning to the eyes, noise reduction of a dark area, etc, etc
I created a second copy of the BG layer and rename “BG 2 (color)” to explore the possibilities of a change in the role of the BG in the overall image. I tried different color corrections on this layer and here I show and example. I additionally used a brush (in delete mode) with different sizes/edges/opacity to delete some areas in the “BG 2 (color)” layer to show the gray color in the “BG 1 (noise)”.

Key steps.
- You need a very clear idea of what is the result you can reach and you need to view the problems on your image that needs to be corrected (an excellent method to learn more about your images, BTW). Here the problem is that the dark areas do not show all the details that they hide and the strong contrast between white and black areas that made necessary to work on the blacks but saving the whites. The image is almost monochromatic (a B/W subject against a grey BG) and needs some color details (well, this is my personal choice, of course) to improve.
- Keep the “marching ants” selection up to the end of the process. If you keep the “marching ants” line of the current selection and delete the area that you are not going to work on, this method will produce results without halos from sharpening, color adjustment, levels, etc. If you keep the “marching ants” selection but do no delete the areas that you are not to work on, some PS effects (i.e. Gaussian blur) will produce unpleasant results.
- Do not forget to invert selection as much times as necessary to apply the effect to the proper area
- Do not forget to activate/desactivate the “eye” of the layers as much as needed to have a clear view of the impact that your work have on the image.
- Look for an appropriate order on the layer´s structure and, always, keep the layer for noise reduction at the top of the structure.
- Try different versions of the same image and look for the more pleasant for your eyes. It is an excellent way to improve and training your eye both for creative PS tasks and for the photographic work in the field.
- Keep on researching for more possibilities in PS

Hope this helps and I encourage you to try my method and lets other to see your results. I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and critics.
Juan

[Juan Aragonés]

Here some screen captures of the process. My english is not very good and I think that some images would help to understand my method. Hope that there is no problem for uploading several images. If so, please I appologize :)

This is a detail of a partial modification of the saturation and levels of two tiny areas of blue/green feathers on the head.

[Juan Aragonés]

Another details of the work process

[Juan Aragonés]

and here is a comparative of the results and two BG modifications.

Arthur you know that I would love to hear your comments and, please, bear in mind that this process is just my personal point of view of an excellent image :)
Here I selected an agressive manipulation of the BG colors just to show the possibilities of the proccess but I prefer an intermediate color between the original grey and this saturated green

[Arthur Morris]

Juan, Thanks for taking the time to create the tutorial. I have read through it several times but would need to open Photoshop and work along with the script to have any chance of ever understanding it. I am afraid that I will have to settle for slightly inferior images as I simply have too, too many photos to optimize. As is, I farm out a tons of images to Robert O'Toole. Actually Robert is here now working on images and saving us from many computer woes. We will work together tonight on coming up with a faster more streamlined method of getting results somewhat as good as your results.

BTW, version 2 is spectacular. Thanks again for all of your efforts. I will soon move this to Educational Resources.

[Blake Shadle]

Wow... That's awesome, Juan! Thanks for sharing. I agree this is an outstanding educational resource.

[Maxis Gamez]

Hey Juan,

What a great contribution. Thank you for sharing with us!

Excellent work!

[Juan Aragonés]

guys thanks a lot for your comments about my method. I am glad that you like it and I have to say that is a pleasure to share with all of you. I am sorry for the poor writing but my english is not good so if there is some part of the process that needs more light I would try to explain better, just let me know because I really enjoy to share information. IMO, this method has a lot of possibilities and I use it for sharpening, noise reduction, color and light control and many other things. If you are interested, in the future I will try to write on more applications of this simple method.
Arthur, it is easier than it seems, it tooks a good time to write the tutorial but in the computer I just invested a few minutes in processing the hummingbird so I encourage you to try.

Thanks again for being this site so nice :):):)

[Robert O'Toole]

I like the new BG versions Juan.

For a more speedy alternative method I would recommend using a layer mask or 2 to balance the tones in the image. I would really hesitate from recommending an extraction as I dont think many photographers have the time or even the skills to extract the subject for each image they would like to post.

For an example I used 2 layer masks, curves and about 1 minute for this version.

For the ultimate image quality I would recommend 2 or 3 blended RAW conversions or course.

[Juan Aragonés]

Great job Robert, good and fast!. The fun thing of PS is that there are lots of different ways to arrive to a nice result because is a very flexible tool and allows to develope our creative side. Of course if you are producing a lot of images you need a fast processing method.
Totally agree with you, the best way to extract all the information on this image is to work with several RAW conversion;)

[Robert O'Toole]

Thanks Juan, my way may be faster but your BG looks much better :)

Robert