Violet-bellied hummingbird

[Bryan Hix]

Another one from Panama in January. This hummingbird was actually very agressive and was fighting with others and I got him taking a break. I actually cloned some feathers onto his forehead because they were missing from fighting. He just looks scrappy and that's what I like about this one.

Canon 1D Mk3
Canon 600mm f/4 with 1.4TC and 25mm ET
ISO 400, 1/320 @ f/8
Av Mode, Eval -1/3
No Flash, LR2, PSE7-crop, USM, cloning, curves adj.

[Dave Leroy]

From his expression he might be asking you for a go!
Impressive photo with lovely colours and detail. HA and eye are bang on. Very nice.

[Stu Bowie]

I like the light, colours and sharpness, and overall, a super pose too.

[Ofer Levy]

Lovely photo!! Great colours, sharpness and pose.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Excellent bird position and colors. Very nice bokeh. Comp. is just what it should be. Beautiful bird and photo.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose and colors in this beautiful image!

[Luis Villablanca]

What a beautiful bird. I love the bird colors, pose and feather detail. I find the background a little distracting though. TFS.

[Randy Stout]

Bryan:

Fun capture, full of attitude.
I do agree with Luis that the BG is so vivid/bright that it competes with bird for our attention. Might be worth a try at toning down the brightness just a bit to balance the subject and BG more in favor of the subject.

Cheers

Randy

[Bryan Hix]

Here's a repost. Darkened BG and ran NR on it (noise came out more after). Darkened parts of the perch and tone down highlights on bill. Lightened shadows in the face/neck area because I should have done that anyway. I like this version best now. Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.:)