Another hummingbird

[Diane Miller]

Canon 5D Mk III, 600II + 1.4x III, ISO 125, f/14, 1/125 sec but main light was two flashes on bird and one on an a printed BG. The point of two flashes is to get more light with lower power, thus a faster effective SS, and to get more modeling and to fill shadows. I didn't note the flash power but it was either 1/8 or 1/16, giving a flash duration of about 1/3700 to 1/6000 sec. I dropped the rosemary in from a separate shot, hung on the feeder, shot with the same lights. I need a couple more flashes to really freeze the wings.

Cropped to 65% of full frame. Minimal tonal adjustment in LR and into PS to drop in the flower.

I've been shooting them with the 7D Mk II also and it does a better job of grabbing and holding focus. So far I haven't gotten one with as pleasing a pose, though.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely image Dianne. Beautiful colors, perfect background, excellent feather detail. Interesting that before logging on here I was surfing the internet for places to photograph birds in Florida and I found a article you wrote for Adorama Camera... Adorama Photographs America: Birding in South Florida. Good Reading.

[Warren Spreng]

Fantastic!

[keith mitchell]

Diane my jaw dropped when I saw this superb piece of work, reading how you managed to get this makes me realise how little I know about photography.

Keith.

[dankearl]

Now we're talking Hummingbird photos that have interest.........
Very well done.

[Marina Scarr]

This is my favorite shot that you have ever posted, Diane!!! Love the colors, the pose and the artistic feel!!!

[Robert Kimbrell]

That's a beauty Diane, I love the way you can see through the translucent wings, just a super image, keep having fun with it.

[Tiago Caravana]

Perfect! All the technical aspects are very very good. I like also the eye contact, the birds pose and the beak that we can see through the wings transparency 👍

[Grace Scalzo]

The bird is absolutely wonderful with a graceful pose and that beak shining through the wing is full of interest. I've never worked with flash like this and only about 1/2 understand it, but your result speaks for itself. Now please don't think I'm nuts, but rosemary grows with an upright habit and to see it pointing down messes up my head a bit. (I'm probably the only one on the forum who notices this, so take it with a grain of salt).

[Nikhil Patwardhan]

Beautiful composition and execution. Just one gripe: the rosemary is a bit too bright for me, my eyes gravitate to it and distract me from appreciating the subtle feather detail all over the bird. I would either darken the flowers a bit or lower their contrast.

[David Salem]

Absolutely your best post to date and one of the best hummer shots I have seen in a while. Awesome Diane!! You might want to print that one.
Oh, and by the way, they are in full production and I have gotten many canvases over the last few months. They look great.

[Diane Miller]

Lovely image Dianne. Beautiful colors, perfect background, excellent feather detail. Interesting that before logging on here I was surfing the internet for places to photograph birds in Florida and I found a article you wrote for Adorama Camera... Adorama Photographs America: Birding in South Florida. Good Reading.

Thanks, Joseph, but YOU should have written it!!

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, everyone!

Nikhil, the rosemary was a little closer to the flash than the birds, so it recorded too hot. I recovered it as much as was practical but it doesn't look right. Will try to refine it next time I set up. The flashes are so close that an inch fore or aft changes the exposure significantly.

Grace, this rosemary cascades down over a retaining wall, and was fastened to the perch in the orientation it grew. Some branches do grow more upright, though. I'm not a botanist, but I don't think it's the culinary rosemary -- it's quite woody; maybe a country cousin.

[arash_hazeghi]

Well done Diane, this one is a lot better and more interesting than the ones with a plain sky BG. the wings in full down stroke and covering parts of the beak give him a unique pose and takes it to the top. sharp with good details. My only suggestion would be to use a more uniform BG, possibly with gradation of the same color. you could tone down the highlights on the flowers a tad

TFS, excellent image

[Randy Stout]

Grace:

This makes me want to work on hummers again! After seeing all the glorious tropical hummers, I had given up on our sole species, but you have inspired me to have another go. Can't give much higher praise than that!

Cheers

Randy

[Eric Dienesch]

Hello and wow..
a really sweet photo.. smooth lights and sharpness

[Miguel Palaviccini]

It's almost like you were able to conform the hummingbird to fit the background. I quite like it. The translucent wings are great, allowing you to see the beak.

A bit too much of a 'flash' look on the flowers, but you could certainly fix that in post.

[Arthur Morris]

Fantastic!

Hi Warren, Hi and welcome to BPN. Thanks for your membership support. If you like or love and image, please take a minute to expand on your comment and let us know why. We work very hard here to avoid becoming a "great shot" forum and we need your help.

Sort of like this:

"This is a fine image. Love the pretty darned natural look of the flash, the two tone angled BKGR, and the peek-a-boo pose."

Where? What species?

[Peter Seidel]

Gorgeous. The ability to get the light just right to be able to see nicely through his left wing, but maintain sharpness / clarity in the beak is really outstanding. The added Rosemary is a good idea though to my eye perhaps a bit too sharp / plastic looking. I think it may be better if the vegetation was a bit less exposed to keep the eye on the bird, but not a big change by any means. Looks like the Male Annas we get here as well (San Diego). Also seeing some Rufous and Black-chinned but most at the feeder are Annas. I've been on a bit of a sabbatical but looking forward to getting back at it. My lighting technique is nowhere near this - this is nice inspiration.

Pete

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, everyone! Artie, if the where and what species was for me, I think it's a male Anna's (male)but I'm very new to birds. Santa Rosa, CA -- 60 mi NW of San Francisco.

The rosemary was overexposed due to proximity to the flashes and has been salvaged about as much as it can be without darkening the BG, which needs to blend with the BG in the bird shot. It already looks like a cutout, which is isn't.

This is a project in progress.

[Peter Seidel]

Hi Diane - yes, it's a male Anna's Humminbird. Under different lighting, and from the front, you would see more of the red/pink on top of his head as well. The female only has that coloring in a small patch on her throat / gorget. Some people confuse these with Broad-Tailed or Ruby-throated hummingbirds which look similar. Unlike the male Annas though, the male Broad-tailed and male Ruby-throated males do not have the red/pink on top of their heads, only in the throat. When I lived in the Bay Area I never saw a hummingbird that wasn't an Annas. In Southern Cal, I've seen Annas, Black-Chinned and Rufous.

Pete

Thanks, everyone! Artie, if the where and what species was for me, I think it's a male Anna's (male)but I'm very new to birds. Santa Rosa, CA -- 60 mi NW of San Francisco.

The rosemary was overexposed due to proximity to the flashes and has been salvaged about as much as it can be without darkening the BG, which needs to blend with the BG in the bird shot. It already looks like a cutout, which is isn't.

This is a project in progress.

[Aidan Briggs]

My favorite part of the image is being able to see the bill through the wings. Great flash and pp work. It feels a little tight to me, but I know most people like it that way.

If you are doing set ups with flowers, try some salvias or penstemons. You can fill them with a little sugar water to make the hummer stay on a particular flower for longer.

Looking forward to more hummer shots!

[Frank Schauf]

Perfect comp and light, nice work, Diane.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Wonderful work Diane, superb IQ, image well framed and presented. Tack sharp and I like that bit of blur at the tip of the wings, suggests movement. You captured the beautiful features of this little bird so well, congratulations!

Kind regards,

[Dumay de Boulle]

WOW!!! I love it, amazing detail and I love the pose of the wings and the fact you can see the beak through them.

[Marc Mol]

Great use of flash & BG setup, the pose and wing position enabling the see-thru feeding bill suits nicely Diane. I prefer a small amount of wing blur with hummer images anyway
TFS

[Karl Egressy]

Much improvement compared to the first one, that comes from the nice background and the introduction of the flower. Great work, Diane.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, everyone! Much appreciated! These little guys are fun to shoot.