Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

[Caleb Royer]

I took this photo at my grandma's house.
She loves to watch Hummingbirds at her bird feeder.
I was about 3 or 4 feet away.

Weather: clear
Date: unknown
Camera: Canon 40D
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal Length: 400mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/2000sec
ISO: 800
Flash: non
Tripod: used

Comments and Critiques Much Appreciated:)

[Fabs Forns]

Well, very nice pose. Fill flash would have given you two advantages, freezing of the action and a much needed catch light and illumination of the eye. There seems to be some posterization of the BG on the upper right and I wish you'd add canvas to the bottom.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Fabs has got it pretty much covered. Good news is that you could always go back and try to improve on this one. If and when you do, ask grandma if you can place the feeder in a more advantageous light angle for some time while you photograph ;-)

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

All major points covered. You managed to capture a fine little bird here. Now get back out and implement some of the tips from Fabs and Daniel and see some more results. I look forward to it indeed. Very well done thus far! :)

[Duane Noblick]

A little dark on my monitor as others have stated but for me I like seeing blur in the wings of these hard to capture birds...gives the viewer the sense that the bird is actually doing something rather then just posing for the camera.

[Arthur Morris]

Yes, a nice pose and fill flash would have helped. But many folks here are simply not aware of how much can be done with the basic image optimization tools in Photoshop. I spent about 8 minutes on the repost doing tons of stuff. Most importantly, this image had a huge red cast. I used Quick Masks to brighten the face and eye, corrected the color cast as best as I could, sharpened the face and body feathers with a contrast mask, and added canvas below (was a bit sloppy down there with so few pixels to work with....) Also the basics: Curves, Levels (some of the whties are blown), and Hue/Sat. Also did a linear burn on the whites but it cannot help the over-exposed pixels....

Now here's the best news, if you have Photoshop CS2 or beyond, you can learn all of the techniques that I use on a daily basis from our Digital Basics File (PDF) that we send via e-mail after we get your $20 :) :):)

ps: If you are not Caleb, I wish that I had the time to rework every image posted on BPN but I simply do not. Digital Basics can help everyone.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: Folks also need to take advantage of the many great threads in Eductional Resources. They are 100% free. For staters, the one on saving the whites should be mandatory reading for all: http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=21309

[Caleb Royer]

Thank you every one for the tips and especially MR. Morris for the re-edit.

[Caleb Royer]

Yes, a nice pose and fill flash would have helped. But many folks here are simply not aware of how much can be done with the basic image optimization tools in Photoshop. I spent about 8 minutes on the repost doing tons of stuff. Most importantly, this image had a huge red cast. I used Quick Masks to brighten the face and eye, corrected the color cast as best as I could, sharpened the face and body feathers with a contrast mask, and added canvas below (was a bit sloppy down there with so few pixels to work with....) Also the basics: Curves, Levels (some of the whties are blown), and Hue/Sat. Also did a linear burn on the whites but it cannot help the over-exposed pixels....

Now here's the best news, if you have Photoshop CS2 or beyond, you can learn all of the techniques that I use on a daily basis from our Digital Basics File (PDF) that we send via e-mail after we get your $20 :) :):)

ps: If you are not Caleb, I wish that I had the time to rework every image posted on BPN but I simply do not. Digital Basics can help everyone.

I have not received any e-mail about Photoshop.

Thanks
Caleb