I said I would repost a new hummer image once i had made some changes. First off i went back to shooting at my old hummingbird spot at my house. Far too much sun and not enough shade at the new location. Second I tried shooting at ISO 400 which i have never done befiore. The result was more keepers due to better DOF but there was a lot more noise as all I have to shoot with is an older Canon 10D. I need to buy a newer camera. But alas i'm not made of money sooo..... Canon want to send me a new 50 D free?
Camera Data
Canon 10D
Canon 100 -400 IS @ 375mm
1/250 sec. @ F 16.0
ISO 400
Manfrotto Tripod 055XPROB
Bogen 3055Heavy Duty Ball head
Canon Remote Switch RS 80N3
Lighting Set up
Two AB 1600s set at 45 degrees roughly 6 inches from the humming bird. Using white shoot through umbrellas. One 36" and one 48"
Two AB 800s set at 45 degrees roughly 2 feet from a blue paper background. This was a little too underexposed as it went gray. I need to remeter this with a hand meter and open up more than a stop by moving the flashes closer.
First I would reposition the lights since you are burning the belly and not enough on the back side of the bird. For these images is does pay to have the full flash set up but I know it can get expensive. If you do have lots of sun have you thought of a large diffuser? Might produce interesting results, not sure if it would scare the birds?
Would also select the red channel and desaturate some, normally it comes out like that without help. Also might increase the shutter speed since the light is not freezing the motion.
Alfred,
Am unsure of how I could increase the shutter speed. The 10D tops out at a 250th unless I were to switch to four 580 Exs which would be a bit expensive.
Is there a way I can shoot with AB at a higher shutter speed?
Chris,
If you are using strobes powered up to 1/2 lumen burst, it should take care of the wing action,and the under exposure. Were you using floods? Also would recommend to use a hand held meter; premetering your work zone for ambient light before the shoot. If you have silver umbrellas, use them...:cool:
Gus,
I am using Alien Bee studio strobes set to a 1/16th power burst. I don't know what that converts to in Lumens. It does equate to a very fast shutter speed. I am using shoot through umbrellas for the main light and silver umbrellas (Reflected)for the lighting of the background. I have a handmeter. If I move the background lights half the distance to the background I'll gain a stop which should probably be enough.
Chris
New Hummer Post
