Ruby Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)

[Ben Harris]

D60 - 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR
300mm | f/5.6 | 1/10th | ISO 400 | +1 EV
Original Size

Personal Critique.

Noisy. I was shooting late in the day, about an hour from sunset in the shade. I feel the noise is not a major issue. Tried to reduce it, but the image got pretty soft using the noise reducer that I have for GIMP. I decided that the noise was better than being soft.

This is heavily cropped. The image here represents about 1/3 of the original frame. Looking at this version (which was reduced on imageshack because BPNs size requirements don't really fit flickr sizes well) it seems very soft. The original is better, in my opinion. It could stand to get a little more sharpening, I think.

I was about 8-10 feet away from the perch he was on. He is defending a feeder I have set up. He will drink then fly up to this branch. If any other hummers come around, he chases them off. It's entertaining to watch.

I'm disappointed that I didn't get any of his red breast. I'll continue to work on that in the coming days.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the composition and eye contact and agree with your self critique. I would sharpen the bird more and run NR only on the BG, the biggest problem with the image is the OOF branch in the foreground.

[Ben Harris]

I...the biggest problem with the image is the OOF branch in the foreground.

And there's no way to crop it where the crop works for comp and gets rid of the branch at the same time. There was another branch 6" above him that would have been great to shoot at him on, but no, he picked this one. :)

[Joe Senzatimore]

Your self critique is right on Ben. These can be real difficult to shoot , but when it works , it's all worth it.:)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Ben, good job on your self critique!

As well as the OOF branch that Axel mentions, I feel the overexposed areas of the BG detract from the image alot. Since this is a setup I would chose a more even BG to serve as a backdrop to your subject - as well as some selective pruning to rid of those pesky branches that creep into the frame;). Good news is that it seems to me that this guy is a regular...plenty of photo ops surely to come for you.

The image is indeed suffering from the heavy crop, and this can magnify the noise when present. The important thing when applying NR is to do so to the BG only - this is where a good post-processing program such as PS comes in handy.

Keep it up, Ben...things will only improve with time and practice!

[Ben Harris]

Ben, good job on your self critique!

The image is indeed suffering from the heavy crop, and this can magnify the noise when present. The important thing when applying NR is to do so to the BG only - this is where a good post-processing program such as PS comes in handy.

I have picked a very expensive hobby. I can not justify spending the money on CS3/4/5. GIMP isn't awful, but it's definitely five to ten years behind PS. Heck, I can't even afford to buy a calibration setup for my monitor.

I look at a lot of lens pr0n and realize I need to go back to school so I can get a better job so I can afford toys because sure as heck I'm not going to be paying for new gear with photos having looked around here a little. :)