I am going to be travelling to Ecuador next month and I'll be in the Tandayapa/Mindo area, for among other things, hummingbirds.... As noted in the interesting thread regarding "which came first, the birder or the photographer", the birding for me comes first (most of the time ;)) To that effect, I will NOT be travelling with a multi-flash setup. And to be perfectly honest, I am not all that fond of the totally frozen-in-space hummingbird shots that seem to be prevalent now. I prefer more naturalistic settings and the look of motion. But, I would like to try and capture some in-flight images...I'll have lots of feeder opportunities...very likely in poor light (or even rain!)
So, with that in mind, what would be your tips/suggestions for what I should strive for with a single on-camera flash? Or should I just resign myself to capturing only perched hummers (which isn't such a bad thing when there is so much variety :)
My equipment will be:
Nikon D300 (capable of cleanish high-ISO)
SB-800DX flash
Nikon 200-400VR F4 (with extension tube if necessary)
I'm sure this question may be of interest to others as well....not all of us can, or want to, travel with five flashes. When I retire to Arizona someday I will try the five flash thing :D