Ruby-throated Hummingbird

[CM Prince]

Shot this one on way to feeder.



Nikon D90, 1/1250 at f / 6.3, ISO 800, 420 mm, tripod

All C&C greatly appreciated.
just trying to improve

Thanks for taken time to look

C M

[Greg Payne]

I like it. Could you lighten the shadows in the bird to bring out a bit more detail? Really nice capture.

[David Kenny]

I agree with lightening up the bird a bit. The background is nice and out of focus but seems a little strange to me. It does not seem natural how the color transitions (unless you were doing this on purpose). Also to the left 1/3rd up from the bottom it looks like you attempted to clone something out there. Possibly the feeder?

[CM Prince]

I agree with lightening up the bird a bit. The background is nice and out of focus but seems a little strange to me. It does not seem natural how the color transitions (unless you were doing this on purpose). Also to the left 1/3rd up from the bottom it looks like you attempted to clone something out there. Possibly the feeder?

I have lighting the HB.

The BG is a grass area about 60 ft. from the feed area. The top is in shade making it darker, middle is short and dryer, bottom is greener.



Thanks for the reply

C M

[Diane Miller]

Very nice catch! Not easy to shoot these guys in flight, even if hovering.

Don't know what your raw converter is but it should be possible to lighten the darkest areas while holding down (or even darkening) the lighter areas.

Whatever the strange shape along the left edge is, it should be fixed.

And you didn't embed a profile. Always convert to sRGB and embed the profile.

[Edward Arthur]

The ruby-throated males are even smaller than the females and often more skittish, so they're especially hard to catch. Impressive you were able to stop the wings without flash. Original is very good but I do prefer the re-post. (I'd clone out that shape on the left either way.) Nice work!

[CM Prince]

Hope I have help it this time.



Thanks to all for the great help.

CM

[Diane Miller]

Much improved, to my eye.

[Hazel Grant]

Caught this a bit late, after all the critiques. repost is much improved. yes, amazed that you could catch this so clearly, esp with a tripod. Lucky it flew into the right spot.

[Diane Miller]

A tripod is actually very good for situations like this -- you'll be aiming at a fairly narrow area, and the secret is to leave the head loose so you can point the camera at somewhat different angles. The tripod will still help stabilize camera motion just because it's weight is resting on a solid base, and it will minimize arm and hand fatigue. If it's a small tripod, weighting it down will help. One with a center column will often have a hook -- grab one of those horrible plastic bags from the grocery store and use it to hang something heavy.

[Diane Miller]

Of course, the thing about being able to use a tripod with the head loose (so you can move the camera a little) works when you have fairly fast shutter speeds. You can go to lower speeds than hand holding. But for the fireworks situation, with a several second exposure to get the trails, you need the head locked unless you want to go for the effect of some camera movement -- which as you saw can be very cool! And you would be best with a remote release in that situation, to minimize camera shake from your finger on the shutter button.