White-throated Hummingbird III

[Ramon M. Casares]

Hi everybody, I am sorry I wans't able to participate at all this past week but I've been bussy bussy bussy, wich is good if I ever want to own a 500mm :p
Created at Los Pecanes Inn, located on the Felicaria river in the second section of the Paraná Delta, (Buenos Aires, Argentina) an area designated as Biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO.
Well, while I am still working with the Chimango at home, I would like to share with you this Hummingbird from arround a month ago and I like although I would've prefered a better wing position and a tad more DOF to get the whole bill sharp. Hope you like it, enjoy.

1/800Seg.
F5.0
+2/3
ISO 1000
MarkII
300mm f4
No flash
RAW

[Paul Kusmin]

That's a beauty Ramon, love the creamy BG and nice detail overall.
Wing position is my only nit although I personally would have been happy had I taken this shot.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great comeback image brother.. loved the pose, details, the blurred wimgs add great value to the frame and BG work well with the colours.. Congrats..

[Hugh J McLaughlin]

Self criticism is spot on, but still a good image. Is the BG natural??

[Ramon M. Casares]

Self criticism is spot on, but still a good image. Is the BG natural??

Hi Hugh, yes the BG is all natural, just a bunch of dead leaves and grass, it was auttum here when I took this shot. :)

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I guess it's a good thing to be busy once in a while. :) I like the details, angle, exposure control and BG. The wing position of the near wing is not ideal but I don't think you can control this well without an elaborate flash setup.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Very good, love the BG, excellent eye contact and detail, great sharpnes.
I actually don't mind blurred wings in Hummers. It adds a feel of motion.
Just personal taste and oppinion.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Killer pose,bg and beautiful colors/composition!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Nice shot, well done. I might reduce the saturation in the upper half color scheme, for a more natural look. Its all feel anyway, just my 2 cents.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Nice shot, well done. I might reduce the saturation in the upper half color scheme, for a more natural look. Its all feel anyway, just my 2 cents.

Jeff, I apreciate your 2 cents :) , I agree that it feels a bit oversaturated, but lately I tend to like my images to be just a tad more saturated than usual, that's all, but as I said, I agree that it could be desaturated a little bit. Thanks!

[David Hemmings]

Overall, a very pleasing image, minor nits mentiones. The details in the eye/head and neck are great with some superb colors. The bird itself does not seem over saturated to me.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Ramon,

I admire your work and I appreciate the professionalism in your response to my input, thank you.

I hope you get the 500MM soon.

[Steve Canuel]

Very nice Ramon. Excellent job on the detail and colors in the green.

[Matt Lerer]

Hi Ramon,

Absolutely stunning image and your backgrounds have been incredible. Great capture!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Toda una belleza!

Wonderful image Ramon. Love the white gorget and BG. Congrats.

[ChasMcRae]

The background is surreal and makes the bird pop out.
Great image and especially with no flash set up.
I assume this was at a hummer feeded ?

[Ramon M. Casares]

The background is surreal and makes the bird pop out.
Great image and especially with no flash set up.
I assume this was at a hummer feeded ?

Yes Charles, I forgot to say that, sorry :o

[Stu Bowie]

Although not familiar with hummers, I feel the colours in this look natural, and not oversaturated at all. Super angle, well placed in your comp, and that BG is simply amazing. Well captured Ramon.

[Jay Gould]

Mate, I think you posted this image as a "teaser" ;) after recommending that Jackie and I go there when we are in Buenas Aires. :D

Lovely image; we will :) we will :):)

[Dave Barnes]

Super capture Ramon. I would love a try at these guys, but we dont get them here.
Colours and comp are great, I would not desaturate it, I think the vivid colours work well here.

[Stephen Earle]

I think this is a great image despite your self crit Ramon. To me the wing blur adds.

[Glenn Bartley]

Very nice! I like the blur in the wings. I find the BG to kind of overwhelm the bird here. But it is a great shot!

[Mike Veltri]

Beautiful shot Ramon

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

All I can say is congratulations Ramon. Self critique is hard, but right. Well done!

[Arthur Morris]

I love the image as presented. Though I would have preferred the wings in the full downstroke position, I do wish that this were mine. As you say, congratulations. What was the background? Was the feeder in the original frame?

[Ramon M. Casares]

I love the image as presented. Though I would have preferred the wings in the full downstroke position, I do wish that this were mine. As you say, congratulations. What was the background? Was the feeder in the original frame?

Thanks Artie, the red from the upper BG are a bunch of fallen leaves and the yellowish at the bottom is grass, it was auttum here when I took this shot, and also, yes, there was a Hummingbird feeder and more than 100 of these little guys comming and going, note really easy to isolate one, but after a while a decided to change the feeder location and it worked :)

Thank you all very much for the comments, critiques and suggestions.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW and thanks for the info. You missed the intent of one of my questions: did you remove the feeder from this image or was the bird well away from the feeder?

[Ramon M. Casares]

I am sorry Artie, an honest mistake :) Yes I removed a tiny little tip of the feedeer shoiwng in the left of the frame.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Ramon. Just curious.

[Jasper Doest]

The clarity, colors and depth in this photograph are amazing!

[Linda Robbins]

Very nice image Ramon! I think your self-critique was on target... Wish you had a multiple flash set-up for this lovely hummingbird. Good head angle and framing, and I like the background. Here I think a bit of flish would have brightened the bird, especially the face.

[Juan Aragonés]

Superb exposure job here Ramón ang capturing the action. Fantastic Bg and amazingly sharp details. I absolutelly love the balance between the orange Bg and the green bird. I wish for a different left wing´s position but, man, this image is just amazing.