Male Calliope Hummingbird in Flight

[Jim Neiger]

Lac Le Juene, BC, Canada - 1D4, 500mm, 1/2500, F4.5, ISO 800, hand held, manual exposure, natural light, medium crop

This image was made during the Flight School Goes Loony workshop in British Columbia this past June. Several species of hummingbirds were frequent visitors to the feeders outside the clubhouse of a nearby golf course. Our hosts at the golf course allowed us to reposition the feeders so that we could get good natural lighting and sweet bgs. It took the hummingbirds only a few seconds to adapt to feeding at the new location. They were so tame I could hold up the feeder in front of my face and watch them feed from only a few inches away. The male Calliope was my favorite of the bunch.

[dave blackwell]

hi jim as a newbe to the site i am amazed at the photography on this site this is superb ,i think i am well out of my league here but hope i can pick up some tips :)

[Ofer Levy]

Nice pose! Belly and tail look sharper than head and beak. I guess f4.5 didn't let you get enough depth of field in here.

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Jim,

Very nice, I like it! I especially like that it was captured with natural light. It always amazes me that even at 1/2500 of a sec. that there is that much blurring. The colors and feather patterns are lovely. Perhaps a touch of selective sharpening of the head would bring it more in line with the body? Thanks for sharing.

[Deborah Hanson]

Only get Rubies where I'm at. Very jealous to say the least.
Nice catch with natural light - it seems that even with the higher shutter speeds the wings can only be caught every so often. Love the hint of the hummer feet.
Agree with comment about the selective sharpening on head if possible.

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

Good tech discussion above, and I do agree about the sharpening. I really appreciate the use of natural light. Even though I really admire the multi flash creations, I love it best with natural light. Tongue sticking out is cute.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Killer bird and wing position. Sweet BKGR. I think that the head sharpness issue (which is a minor one to me--some selective sharpening there would be great) is a result of the bird being angled slightly away from you. All in all, spectacular.

[Art Kornienko]

Sweet detail and bg for sure, wish the head was as sharp as the body, but very hard to do.