Ruby-Throated Hummingbird & Cattail

[Daniel Grossi]

It has been entirely too long since I've been active on BPN. That changes today. How fortunate I was to see thing young lady stealing from this cattail. I found a good area with nice perches and clean backgrounds at my favorite local spot for bird photography. I spent a good 3 hours there every morning a few times a week in May just waiting, and my patience really paid off. I have a handful of shots from there that I'm really excited to share.

Nikon D850
Nikkor 600mm f/4E + TC14E III
Induro GIT304L/GHB2

1/1600 | f/5.6 | ISO-800 | Matrix
LR/PS | 35% 3:2 Crop
Cleveland, Ohio | May 2018
Clear Sky | Hot | Sunrise + 2.5 HRS

[annmpacheco]

HI Daniel, glad to have you back on BPN... Wonderful behavior shot you captured. A few suggestions, try to shoot the hummingbird on the same plane so you will get the cattail in focus... Also, unless you intentionally wanted blurred wings, I'd suggest at least 1/3200 ss to stop the action and that ss may not be enough! I like your BG as well TFS

[Daniel Grossi]

HI Daniel, glad to have you back on BPN... Wonderful behavior shot you captured. A few suggestions, try to shoot the hummingbird on the same plane so you will get the cattail in focus... Also, unless you intentionally wanted blurred wings, I'd suggest at least 1/3200 ss to stop the action and that ss may not be enough! I like your BG as well TFS

Thanks Ann. Regarding that shutter speed, I feel like I was in between the 2 I should have been at. After the fact, I felt as though I should have shot it at like 1/500 and added some DoF and increased blur, or like you said, 1/3200 and stopped more movement. I think I got too caught up in the exposure and wasn't considering what I wanted to really do with the image.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Daniel, good points from Ann, and sharp where it counts on the HB. Well timed to have the HB ripping away at the Cattail, and yes to a killer smooth BG.

[William Dickson]

Welcome back Daniel Very nice colours throughout the image. I think I would try moving the the bird up(if you have room on the bottom), which would show more of the cattail. This would also hide the 'bald' cattail at the top, which draws my eye away from the bird. Love the bill pulling at the seeds and the HA.

Will

[David Policansky]

Nice shot, Daniel. I have spent more hours of my life photographing hummingbirds than I care to admit, and so I can tell you a couple of things that you undoubtedly know already. The first is that you can't stop the wings in mid-stroke, not even at 1/8000, although obviously everything tends to be sharper in terms of motion blur at 1/8000 than at 1/1600. The second is that at 600mm (and you were at 840 mm), if you're close enough to see the tiny bird, you can't get much depth of field. So I tend to shoot wide open to get the highest possible shutter speed at the lowest possible ISO, which is what you seem to have done. To get 1/3200 you'd have had to use ISO 1600, which is too high for my preference, but your camera and PP skills likely handle it much better. I agree with the cropping suggestion. Otherwise, I like it a lot.

[Tim Foltz]

Daniel, nice behavioral shot of this little hummer, I don't mind the wing blur since it shows motion.
The head and nesting material are nice and sharp with a nice BG.

-Tim

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice to see you posting again!

I'm OK with the blurred wing too, I just wish the cattail was more in focus. Still a pretty cool image, I don't call seeing one of a hummingbird plucking nesting material, let alone near cattails. Awesome BG! P.S. ISO 1600 should be a breeze with your camera...I'm more than comfortable with it with the "lowly" 7D2!