Rainbow Starfrontlet (Ecuador)

[Glenn Bartley]

This was another one of the species of hummingbirds that I really wanted to photograph on this trip. The problem is that they live in a very restricted range in southern Ecuador and that the only reliable spot for them is very difficult to get to - especially by bus! But I was determined to try...

The other day I made my way to the entrance of the Utuana reserve and began my trek with approximately 80lbs of multiflash gear about 5-6km along the muddy trails to a location where they have feeders for these guys. When I arrived I was sweaty, muddy and tired...but happy to see plenty of these guys buzzing about. Unfortunately the sky was clear and I knew that getting a good photo inder these circumstances would be extremely difficult. You see...when doing multi-flash work too much natural light (especially direct sunlight) is a nightmare to deal with.

After a few hours...and after much fiddling with flash power settings, placement of the setup and even rigging up one of my background prints to a tree to shade the bird and flower - I finally got my shot.

And my reward...pack it all back up and lug it all back to the road to try to catch a bus before the afternoon rains set in... You gotta love nature photography :)

Camera Model: Canon EOS 50D
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec
Aperture: 9
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: On - multiflash technique
ISO: 200
Focal length: 500mm f/4 IS

[Dave Mills]

Glen, looks like your efforts were greatly rewarded. A wonderful image!!

[kevinmat]

Yes Glen, definitely worth the effort to capture a stunning image. Congrats!

[Arthur Morris]

Great bird, good story, great wing position. Good to see that you have gotten away from the BKGRs with the dark blotches. Blossoms and plant so-so. Was the branch ere the stem and mounted in place of the feeder? Did you put sugar water on the flowers? Are the flowers native? Did you carry them in?

I am puzzled by one tihng: you mention that photographing in bright sun "is a nightmare to deal with." What sort of problems have you run into? Theoretically at least, if you keep the manual settings to 2-3 stops darker than the ambient you should be fine.

Last thought: a crop from the bottom just below the small "v" of the branch would likely tighten up the COMP.

[titus.ebbecke]

Great image!!!
wonderful colours, nice pose!!

[Ramon M. Casares]

Stunnnig pose, stunning light, stunnnig BG, great composition and terrific detail, I wouldn't change a thing! Love it. Congratulaitons!

[Keith Bauer]

Fabulous image. Love the wing position and background. I would not change a thing. The composition looks spot on to me with the branch coming out of the LLC. Very nice.

[Arthur Morris]

For Keith and Ramon, I believe that the cropped repost clearly improves an already strong image. Whaddya all think?

I had to jump through a few hoops to save the black border and the signature....

[Ramon M. Casares]

Artie, I think that what your repost improves is the fact that the branch is no longer comming out from the corner, wich I usually try to avoid, I didin't see that, so although I still love it as presented, your repost also works very well.

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Glenn - Your preservance paid off. Lovely colors on the HB at a very nice HA and wing position. I also prefer the lighter BG's but still unclear why you're using f9 which cuts down your DOF. Excellent exposure and flash control.

I think both crops have their merits and i'd be happy with either in my collection. I see the logic in the repost, but personally feel it is slightly cramped vertically and for that reason perfer the original

Artie - with the multi-flash setup, the total light output measurable at the HB is a constant that only varies with the distance of the flashes to the HB (ie - if you don't move the flashes, flash output at the HB is a constant). As it gets brighter and ambient light increases, it will approach the total light output from the flashes at your optimal setup distance (ie - you can't keep the manual settings to 2-3 stops darker than the ambient). You will get ghosting/blurring of the wings +/- over exposure of the HB's.I had the same problem on a bright sunny day last month at Savegre CR.

Hope to see more - keep up the good work and safe travels
PH

[Arthur Morris]

Peter, If you work at ISO 100 in full sun, sunny 16 is 1/100 at f/16. Working at 1/200 sec at f/22 puts you two stops under the ambient. And it is rare that you have actual "full sun" in tropical areas. And, you could lose another 1/3 stop or so by adding a 25mmm extension tube. And Linda and I (especially Linda) often works at f/25 or f/29.

Please explain why the above info is incorrect. Above, you state lots of stuff that you know that I already know: "Artie - with the multi-flash setup, the total light output measurable at the HB is a constant that only varies with the distance of the flashes to the HB (ie - if you don't move the flashes, flash output at the HB is a constant). As it gets brighter and ambient light increases..."

Not sure why you are attempting to teach me what I already know.

[Dick Glover]

The information Peter is sharing may however, be educational for some of the rest of us on this forum, and is much appreciated. When there is such a large spread of knowledge from those of us who are less experienced, to those who are at the very top level, if all the comments were only directed to the experts, the rest of use would learn a lot less. Just my opinion.
Dick

[Ilija Dukovski]

Good stuff! Good photo, great discussion.
Man, I love this place...

Cheers, Ilija

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Dick,

First off, thanks for your membership support. We hope that you will be participating actively in the future.

re:

The information Peter is sharing may however, be educational for some of the rest of us on this forum, and is much appreciated.

I agree 100%. Had Peter not addressed his comments directly to me, I would not have had to work so hard at not taking them personally.

When there is such a large spread of knowledge from those of us who are less experienced, to those who are at the very top level, if all the comments were only directed to the experts, the rest of use would learn a lot less. Just my opinion.

Again, I agree 100%. Peter, however, did address his comments to me. He learned a great deal of what he knows about high speed flash humingbird photography from Linda Robbiin' great guide of which I am the co-author. He is a quick learner as now he is teaching the stuff in the guide to me!

[Kobus Tollig]

I think both is great and I learned a great deal here. Thx for that. Well done on this

[Peter Hawrylyshyn]

Artie -
There was nothing intended personally in my reply.

My afternoon experience at Savegre and the feeders at Utuana as i understand are in open exposure ( ie - direct sunlight) . Glenn has never explained his setup in detail, but what ever it is , it's obviously working.

What you quote is correct. However the baseline settings which give the optimal histogram are predetermined by how far away you set up the flashes. I'd always choose to : maximize distance between flashes and HB's, use higher f-stops to maximize DOF, and highest ISO with "acceptable" noise. Placing five 580 EX flashes as described in Linda's guide about 25-28" from the target area would allow using an ISO of 400 , 1/250 and f-stops of 18-25. Using the sunny f16 rule at ISO 400 gives f22 at 1/200 and hence the problem. To use an ISO of 100 would mean moving the flashes closer to the HB's which potentially would keep them off the set. Moral of the story - - hope for cloudy, overcast days.

[Arthur Morris]

Sorry Peter for taking it so personally. Your point about having to move the flashes closer is a good one. My experience however is that working in situations with partial bright sun has not been detrimental as I was easily able to say 2-3 stops under the ambient.

As for cloudy days, I always hope for them! Quite in contrast to the film days.