Snack for later (Anna's Hummingbird)

[pat lillich]

gonna have to work to catch up with Gus....

Alan noticed a new male at the feeders, with a really beautiful gorget so we set up a few flashes just to try to see if we could get a picture. Didn't bother to do a backlight - so ended up with the black background which i know isn't desireable, and didn't get the gorget lit - but thought this one was beautiful anyway... I think he picked up an ant on the feeder.

nikon d300, sigma 300-800 f5.6 with extension tubes, iso 200, sb-900 flash on camera with 2 slaved flashes, manual exposure 1/250 sec at f/10

added a little canvas on the left - and minimal unsharp mask on the head.

[Charles Daigle]

I dunno why a black background is undesirable, but I think it is an amazing image. Sharp, and great stop action. All I would like is even a little more space on the left, but not an image killer.

[pat lillich]

hey Charles, thanks - I always struggle with crops. I tried your suggestion, and i do like it better too.

[Gus Hallgren]

Love it, Pat, good color & clarity. A real winner, well done.

Way to go, Young Lady!

Gus

[annmpacheco]

this looks amazingly sharp, really like it . thanks, ann

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Pat,
No problems for me with the BG either!!!....although you may want to consider a strobe on that. I'm a tight crop guy.....so the OP works for me. Very nicely done overall!!!

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Pat,

Greetings. Really like this one, good show! If it were mine, I would move the catch light to above the horizon in the eye and light up the gorget using post-processing. I think if you play around a bit with Lab mode curves you could light up the gorget quite a bit...

Looks good as it is, though...

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Julie Kenward]

Such a gorgeous image! I really like the shutter speed/flash settings - they captured a beautiful wing motion and the pose couldn't be better. I would have loved to have seen this in natural light but I think this makes for a dramatic image as is. Agree with Michael about the LAB colors - I bet you could get even more pop out of them.

[Brian Kent]

I'm in agreement - I think the black back drop makes for a dramatic photo. Good work and bravo!!!

[pat lillich]

thanks guys - I like the black background on this too - it makes for a simple, kind of elegant photo which i love - but at the same time - i know it isn't a true capture of the moment, because actually it was about 3pm and diffuse light --- ( :p and since i struggle with backgrounds, it feels just a little like cheating ) which comes down to that whole question of do I want to capture a record of the moment, or make a beautiful image....

Michael and Julie, if I pull this into LAB in CS5, would you suggest making a selection of the gorget then doing a curves adjustment to try to increase the color?

thanks again!

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Michael and Julie, if I pull this into LAB in CS5, would you suggest making a selection of the gorget then doing a curves adjustment to try to increase the color?

Pat,

Greetings. Here is a screen shot of an idea of what curves might work for the b and a channels. The image shows the curves as an adjustment layer masked just for the head (see the tiny mask on the right for the head, I just paint the mask white), but the body greens could stand a boost, too, to your taste.



Hope this makes sense...

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Julie Kenward]

What Michael said...hahaha! Works for me!

[Gus Hallgren]

Wish I had Michael's smarts. This is a one method in Hue/Saturation & clean up with Clone.

Not saying it's anything near perfect, and, really, if I don't get the gorget, I go on to the next one.

Need to have it facing the light or the flash from the front.

FWIW

Gus

[pat lillich]

oh man, that was fun!!! thanks guys - applying the change, and then toggling the adjustment on and off was like watching him come alive... our Anna's here aren't quite as vibrant as yours are Gus - so i went for a slightly lesser effect, but its still gorgeous. hmmmmm - maybe a little too much on the green. going to have to go out and watch him again to see what is right.

thanks again!!

[Julie Kenward]

Awesome adjustment, Pat!