Green-breasted mango pollinating Columnea flower

[Greg Basco]

Hi, here's a female green-breasted mango pollinating a Columnea flower, a local epiphyte in the Gesneriaceae family. I always go for pollination behavior with hummingbirds and am happy when I get just the tip of the beak in the flower. Of course the wing position was a bonus that I think made the risky vertical comp pay off. I appreciate any comments or suggestions.



Tech: Canon 20D, 75-300 mm IS lens, custom multi-strobe setup, f16, 1/200, ISO 200

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Chris van Rooyen]

Mind blowing Greg. The overall sharpness, wing position and the amazing colours on the tail just puts it over the top!

[Ramon M. Casares]

Just one of the most wonderfull hummingbirds shot I have ever seen, pose is powerfull, light is great, BG is strong and perfect, even the flower looks amazin, congratulations!

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Greg- I think your image is just superb! It is sharp. The color is spectacular and of course the wing position is perfect. All I can say id well done.

[c.w. moynihan]

Awesome shot Greg. I like the more natual green bg's...for me, I was never thrilled with the non-natural, over done ones. The wing position is great. Wish I was joining you again next year.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Just fantastic Greg - what a wonderful image - what more can I say...
Regards,
Nicki

[Mike Lentz]

I agree with what has been said, you got a winner here! My only thought is that you could tighten up that crop and take a bit off the top and a very small amount on the left side.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very cool image! I like the wing position, colors, lighting and setting. The beautiful fanned tail puts it over the top for me.

[Tony Whitehead]

This is just fantastic, Greg. Your lighting setup works well. BG and colours are great. My only comment otherwise would be the bright area on the base of the flower if this were reduced it would remove a distraction.

[Jim Fenton]

Is that this gives me something to strive for.

Superb image.

[Loukie Viljoen]

Greg superb, focus, exp, compo, what more is there to say !!!!!

[Fabs Forns]

That is one fancy tail :)
Lovely on all counts, thanks fro sharing it!

[Linda Robbins]

Beautiful in every respect....the pose is fantastic and that spread tail is magnificent. Lighting looks great. Very well captured!

[Doug Brown]

Great stuff Greg! The time and effort you've spent on multiflash photography is really paying off!

[Glenn Bartley]

Just awesome Greg. Now thats what a hummingbird BG is supposed to look like!!!

[Dan Brown]

Great work Greg! One question, with your multiflash use, did you have to remove any eye catchlights?

[Greg Basco]

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments. I think Linda and Glenn in particular know that, while a lot of fun, this type of photography is difficult and can be frustrating at times. So, it's nice when everything comes together for a successful image.

Glenn, I'm glad you like the background. I'm a fan of darkish backgrounds, and I thought it worked well for this bird's rainforest/cloud forest habitat. The background is painted fabric, by the way.

Dan, I did not have to clone out any catchlights on this one -- I just checked the RAW file to be sure. I've been able to position the lights so that I usually, though not always, get just one catchlight.

Cheers,
Greg

[James Salywoda]

All has been said. Stunning!!!!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Beautiful work Greg! Love the tail feathers and colors, great job.

[Juan Aragonés]

Terrific Greg. The artificial BG is right on, I like it a lot. Great pose of the bird and fantastic colors in the tail feathers. Congratulations

[Ondrej Prosicky]

Excellent Greg!