Berillyne Hummingird

[Lorant Voros]

I can't go out taking pictures nowadays due to some work I have to arrange. However, I couldn't resist and set up my gear focused on the feeder and try to take some new photos of my friends that visit me every day. Here is one taken in the concrete jungle of Mexico City. Luckily it is rainy season, so I have a little green as BG. Thanks for visiting...CC always welcome.

1DMKIII
500mm f:4
ISO640
F:6.3
1/3200
Flash: On
Tripod

[Ilija Dukovski]

Wow, that is some iridescence. Great image.
In principle you could run more NR in BG but don't mind as is too.
The eye has flash feature, I'd eliminate at least the top catch-light.
I love the tongue and the flight pose. Some eye contact, Great bird!
I love the image!

[Ramon M. Casares]

Great sharpnes in the chest and head, nice pose and BG and good light and colors, I am not crazy about the sqaure crop though, comp doesn't work for me and I would suggest to remove the two lower catchlights.
COngratulaitons!

[Brian Barcelos]

Lorant, very nice image and love the colors. agree with already made critiques. I might cut from the top and add some canvas on the right. Congrats.

Brian

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Szia Lóránt

I am not as keen on the square crop myself. Ilija covered pretty much everything I wanted to say. Awesome colors man! :)

[Mark Dumbleton]

Have to agree here with Ramon regarding the square crop. Feel the BG could do with some NR, and also agree on removing the lower catchlight. Love the pose of the bird, the head angle and the slight blur in the wings! Well done!

[Stu Bowie]

I really like the iridescence, lovely colours, and this is sharp where it counts. Very well timed to capture the protruding tongue.

[Ryan Lambert]

Super image, excellent colors displayed and very sharp, I would do some selective NR on the BG though and comp already mentioned, congrats on a well captured image...

[Kiran Poonacha]

Great image, loved the focus and Pose.. congrats..you could try a diffrent crop though.

[Erich Stevens]

Lorant,

I really like this. It's sharp, you got eye contact, great detail, tongue is a big big plus, and a nice soft contrasting BG. Try a horizontal comp and give that right wing some room to sweep back into. Excellent work!

[Lorant Voros]

Thank you guys for the goon honest comments. I will try to improve the image by doing the above said modifications.

[Greg Basco]

Lorant, I have to agree with the others regarding the square crop. And I would do some NR on the background. My other concern would be the multiple catchlights. You can clone them out but trying to capture the photo with only one catchlight to start is IMHO a worthy goal for hummingbirds (or any photo for that matter).

That said, the soft lighting, the pose, and the slight wing blur all look very nice to my eye. It's amazing how much this species looks like the rufous-tailed hummingbird that visits my house in Costa Rica.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Lorant Voros]

Ok, here is a repost. I tried to add some canvas on the right and do some NR on the BG. I also removed the extra catchlight. My Photoshop skills require some improvement; this is what I can do with my current knowledge. What do you guys think?

[Ramon M. Casares]

Way better! Now comp works beautifully for me. Congratulations again!

[Ilija Dukovski]

Even better, great feel with the smoother BG, comp improved too.
I would try a version with bit lower catch light if you can shift it in PS,
or just leave the center one. You might keep better eye contact that way IMO.
Congratulations!

[Stephen Earle]

The repost is just great. Congrats on this fine image.

[Arthur Morris]

I was fine with the SQ crop perhaps with a bit off the top, but the repost is stunning with the addition of more pop and the almost black BKGR that you added. Amazing that the wings are so blurred at 1/2000.

Is the BKGR a natural one?

[Lorant Voros]

Hello Artie,

Nice to have you back.

BG is natural. I live in Mexico City on the top floor. Outside of our pace apartment is the roof of the building that is under us. BG is a tree that rises higher than our top floor combined with the far buildings on the right. The feeder was cloned out from the right side. I used a little segment of the BG, multiplied it and evened it out a bit for the photo. Than ran selective NR on the BG.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Lorant. It sounds as if you have a good situation. I figured that there was a feeder in the ORIG. I have done some hummer photography myself (albeit with high speed flash).

[Lorant Voros]

Artie...I made a mistake. I checked on my EXIF...it was 1/3200 and f:6.3 (I corrected it above
). So it is actually even more amazing to have blur at the top of the wing. I love these little birds...

[Kobus Tollig]

REpost is super. Great work here. GReat colour exposure and pose. WEll done

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the corrected info Lorant. You need a high speed mutliple flash set-up to freeze those litte bugger's wings.

[Morkel Erasmus]

jip repost is better. what a beautiful capture! and blurred @ 1/3200!!! yikes!
super colours and iridescence. I especially like the head angle, eye and tongue.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Fabulous repost Lóránt!

[Simon Bennett]

Wonderful image, especially the repost.