After seeing some lovely hummer shots posted recently I figured I should give it a try. Unfortunately I couldn't persuade this Ruby-throat to visit the flowers I hung in the backyard, but I did catch him flying away from my feeder into the afternoon sun. Faster shutter speed might have stopped the wings, but I was already creating some noise with the relatively high ISO. You've gotta love those tiny feet. C&C appreciated.
Bill, I'm not the strongest avian critquer there ever was but I see things I like and don't like about this one. I do think the head/body and feet are wonderfully frozen and sharp. The amount of noise in the wings and BG though do detract from the overall quality of the image IMO. I believe a surface blur on just the BG and would bring down some additional noise (in PS it's filter/blur/surface blur; start with a radius of 7-10 and a threshold of around 15 and see what you think) but I'm not sure how to get a good fix on the wing.
When I tried to photograph these little hummers I went for a lower ISO/slower ss combo thinking the wings look okay with a bit of motion and as long as I got the head/body frozen it would still be an interesting image. Being able to slow these guys down without a muliple triggered flash set up is tough - I think you're definitely headed in the right direction, though!
Hi Bill - agree with Jules - the lack of detail under the wing makes it look sort of strange - the noise seems to be making my eyes think that the wing should be sharp - if that makes any sense. (Know that the wing is blurred due to the motion)
Have done well with a good pose - HA and there is some good detail in the body.
Noise is the issue - did you run any NR??
Thanks Jules and Lance. Yes, the noise does bother me, and perhaps a lower ISO might have helped, allowing for some motion blur in the wing. I ran a heavy dose of NR on the background, so I'm surprised there is noise there; and I ran Topaz DeNoise 5.0 on the wing, set to reduce noise while retaining whatever detail there was. It didn't help that some of the bird was in sunlight and some in shade (the wing) which resulted in uneven exposure and probably added to the noise in the shady areas. Thanks for the advice.
Bill- I'm amazed that 1/1600s stopped the wings as much as it did. I agree I think the lack of detail under the wing is likely due to some motion blur and the noise. If the light had been softer you would have been able to bring up the exposure in the shadows (and still not blow the highlights) which would have produced less noise. Or a fill flash would have worked. Anyway you caught the wing angle just right for me and the BG is nice and plain and non-distracting.
Bill, love the hummers, good advise given. The noise is the biggest think for me. Using flash to stop action is neat but takes some understanding of the setup.
Ruby in flight
