another Buff-tailed Coronet

[Tom Friedel]

Canon 5D 1/100 ISO400 300mm f/4 lens, which I am selling (see my post), and switching to the 300mm f/2.8.
So I am worried I won't be able to take this photo since the min focal length is now 2.5 meters (from 1.5), and at 2.5 meters I'll have fewer pixels on the bird. I know using a camera with more MP or a smaller sensor or using a teleconverter will get me more pixels on the bird, but I am wondering if I can use an extension tube, which I have only read about. Image was taken in Acaime reserve, Colombia.

[Jim Crosswell]

Great details and head tilt on this hummer shot! I only wish the perch wasn't so bright at the broken end. Still a beauty!

[Doug Brown]

Very nice detail in your subject. Agree with Jim's comment about the perch. You can absolutely use an extension tube with the 300mm f/2.8 to enable closer focus (at the expense of distant focus).

[Aidan Briggs]

Nice flash work, exposure, and details. Assuming this was a fake BG, I would prefer a more natural green colored BG. It is OK as is though.

[Greg Basco]

Tom, nice job. The natural lighting is beautiful and the sharpness is great. I agree with Jim about the broken perch, and though I'm sure the BG is real, I would have preferred a green BG. But still, a really nice portrait of this beauty.

As Doug said, you definitely can use an extension tube with the 300 mm f2.8 lens (or any other for that matter). I use a 25 mm extension tube with my 300 2.8 all the time, and it's perfect for hummingbirds. As Doug noted, you do have to remember that you can only focus within a certain reduced distance range, so you can't focus on distant subjects with the tube.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Danny J Brown]

Beautiful, razor sharp shot with that 300F4. I own one myself and wouldn't give it up for anything. The retractable lens hood is killer. Why don't you hang on to it for float trips and close-up stuff in the summer when everything else is slow. You only live once!!

[David Thomasson]

Very nice ... the pose, the head angle, and sharp as a tack. With all that, don't
let the accidental stuff keep it from being a first-rate picture. The perch is an easy
fix. I would also mask out the bird and adjust that separately from the background.
A hint of red/magenta in the background will complement the subject's color.

[Ofer Levy]

A very nice image and an amazing repost! Well done to both of you - excellent work!

[Bryan Hix]

Wow David, nice work on the repost, love it.

[David Thomasson]

Wow David, nice work on the repost, love it.

Many thanks, Bryan.

[Kiran Poonacha]

loved the repost, great pose, details and colours here...

[Tom Friedel]

The repost is awesome. If you're not doing anything over the holidays I have a few hundred other images you could work on :) :).

Thank you for all the comments. The image was shot against a grey background, and I had to clone out some out of focus objects that looked bad. I wouldn't know how to replace with a green background because of all of the border pixels between the bird and the background.

[David Thomasson]

The repost is awesome. If you're not doing anything over the holidays I have a few hundred other images you could work on :) :).

$URE! :D:D