Hummer with lights

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Hi all-
I need some help on this one. I have been trying to shoot feeding Hummingbirds in my backyard with speed light set up. I had two lights and a controller on the camera. The lights were a Nikon SB600 on one side and a SB900 on the other the 600 was on the left side of head of the bird and set at -1/3, the SB900, which was on the right and the back of the bird while feeding was set at -2/3. The controller was a SB800 on the camera. Both speed lights were placed at the level of the bird and about 14 to 18 inches from where the bird was feeding. The BG was some trees in the distance and colored green. I thought the results were ok, but the BG went black as will happen using TTL. How can I modify the background so as get a little more pleasing color? Any other suggestions having to do with lighting, speed of shutter, etc would be greatly appreciated. Some of the other images that I took at these settings cased ghosting of the wings and sometimes the tail. What am I doing that is wrong. I thought surely the setup would freeze the bird, especially the wings. Shooting info below:
Nikon D32009:08:29 17:17:30
600mm
600mm (in 35mm film)
1/250 sec, f/16
Mode: Manual
Metering: Spot
ISO: 200
White balance: Shade
Flash: On
File size: 8,993KB
Image size: 1348 x 961
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Color profile: sRGB

[Lorant Voros]

I am not the best person to give you advice. I use only one flash for these kind of hummer images with the Better Beamer. I try to have the sun directly behind me and use a late hour but with good amount of sunlight to have a clearer BG.

As far as this image goes I like the set up and the composition. However, the image appears over-sharpened. I'd also remove one of the catch-lights from the eye. I really like the pose and the colors. Thanks for posting and congratulations.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Wheeler, I do like the angle to the bird and the gorget. At the very least, you need a flash on the BKGR. Since hummers feed only during the day, the black backgrounds do not look at all natural. My best suggestion is to get a copy of Linda Robbins' Guide to High Speed Flash Hummingbird Photography (on CD only) here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/ca....aspx?catid=33. Your approach is totally wrong here. I could write a book about it but Linda already has. By setting the flashes to -1/3 stop in ETTL, you will always have blurred wings. The trick, as Linda explains perfectly in the book, is to use low manual power settings.... And I am sure that she would suggest at least a few more flashes.

ps: The image is overflashed and the REDs are way over-SAT-ed.

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Thanks Artie, I'll order Linda's book and learn all about it.

[Greg Basco]

Wheeler, I agree that this one looks overflashed and oversharpened but you got a nice pose and composition for your first attempt. While dark BGs can work for tropical hummingbirds (IMHO!), I agree with Arthur that the dark BG looks out of sorts for this one. Having a better balance between the light on the subject and the BG would help to avoid the overflashed look. Also, since you are working with a limited number of lights, I would try moving them off axis more so you don't get such a direct flash look. For this type of approach, I would try setting your main/frontal light off axis to your right and then the second off axis and behind the bird to your left (I know it sounds counterintuitive but I would give it a try!). You may still need an additional flash for the BG, as Arthur suggested, but I believe that this will help give you better light on the bird itself.

Oh, and I definitely would put these flashes in manual mode so that they fire at the same duration. There may be a slight difference in flash duration between the SB-600 and SB-900 given their different power outputs but in my experience it shouldn't be enough to cause problems.

Good luck!
Greg Basco

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie, I'll order Linda's book and learn all about it.

Good plan and thanks.