Costa's Hummingbird
Taken this week at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, Arizona.
I waited and waited for him to perch on a lower branch, but with no luck. He is about 2 feet higher than my 6 foot frame for this shot, so the head angle is not ideal. I also think that the branch is a little hot as it bends towards the viewer.
Exif: 1/1000 sec, f5.6, ISO 200, 420mm, Manual Mode, Center Weighted Metering.
Nikon D100, Nikon 300mm f4 AFS ED with 1.4 x TC
I think you did well with the exposure overall (good detail in the blacks) and the sharpness is good. The gradation of colors in the BG is nice. I would like to see some cropped off the bottom and then some canvas added to the right side. The branch being too light can easily be fixed as well.
Nice image.
Sharp with good details and the background is very beautiful. Right hand side does seem too tight so more space there would be nice. Agree with your self-comment, but birds are not always cooperative.
Wow! Superb details on this one. Love the background too.
Thanks so much for the feedback everyone.
Great shot, Alex! I like the BG colors! I agree that maybe it could stand a bit taken off the bottom. Are you sure he's a Costa's and not an Anna's?
I thought he was a Costa's, but could be wrong - my wife tells me that I tend to be wrong about a lot of things!! I will compare both now and see what I can ascertain. Thanks Ian for spotting this.Originally Posted by Ian Cassell
EDIT: I have just compared the 2 with an online identifier.. the Costa's has a longer gorget than appears in this image, and the Anna's has the speckled chest that this one has. So my conclusion is that this must be an Anna's Hummingbird. Sorry for the misidentification, and thanks Ian for picking up on that.
Last edited by alexgwoodruff; 10-31-2010 at 12:21 AM.
What a beautiful hummingbird image, Alex. I agree with the others on their suggestions. One thing to keep in mind with cropping is to leave enough room / overlap that you can place a bit of the image into a mat board and still have room around the subject. For that reason I'd also like to see more to the right (just a sliver more). When cropping from the bottom, try to get it where the leaves on the branch are either "all in" or "all out". Right now the bottom two leaves are half represented and that tends to make them look incomplete and, in some cases, drags the viewer's eyes right out of the frame. If you have to do a little cloning to get a clean frame line it's usually worth it.
Thanks Julie for those tips. I will certainly keep those in mind for my next submission.
I think I may need to rethink my cropping ratio - at the moment I tend to crop 3:2, but in this case it may not work (because I am too tight on the right and am too extended towards the bottom of the frame). I wonder whether a landscape orientation might have worked better - for some reason I really like portrait orentations with birds... but I am fast learning that others do not share my preference!!;)
Alex, I like portrait orientation as well for avian in many cases and when you have an upright perch and a thin bird it works great - and that's what you have here. All I'm saying is give him a little more room on the right so his tail isn't so darn close to the edge of the frame and maybe a tiny bit more room in front of his face on the other side.
One thing to remember is aspect ratios and standard photograph sizes are GUIDELINES. I never crop to one particular aspect ratio or size - I always find what works best for the individual photograph. Cropping is a huge part of composition and learning how much negative space to leave in or take out is very important to giving a customer (or yourself) a pleasing photograph.
Thanks for the follow up Julie - all these tips are being stored away ready to use in the future :)
Love the background and the nice details here. Agree with suggestions above re: composition. Well done.
I was in Phoenix last April and someone suggested shooting at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert--what a great little location! I will be sure to return there next time I visit Phoenix.
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Thanks for the feedback Gary. You are right about the Riparian Preserve, it is a real gem of a place. The birds are quite comfortable with human presence allowing you to get really close. It very quickly became my favourite place to shoot.
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