On a personal and illusive quest to get close enough to these fast moving birds in the wild with great light and capture some good action. This turned out okay, but I'd really like to get closer to capture their radiant colors and peak action. Would like to try flash or some source of fill light, but haven't gotten there yet. Exposure details: Three of a kind --1/800 sec, f/8, ISO800, tripod mounted 5DMII w/ 400 mm f/5.6. The bird only takes up 1 MP of the cropped 5 MP image. Curves and some saturation and sharpening. Any suggestions on getting closer in a natural environment and lighting a natural environment are appreciated.
Hi Chris - IMHO you need to get the light source behind you - so sun at your back - this will give you even illumination on your subject.
Patience is going to be the key unless your are in a position to have staged setup somewhere were the birds frequent and then you could use multiple flash units.
I would also recommend a hide might be the only way you will get closer without a longer lens.
hey Chris, agree with Lance that the sun at your back will give you more even light on the bird - but this lighting gave you a really nice effect - you could see if you can lighten the eye itself up just a little, so it shows a little more? it may be dark enough that its too noisy to do that. The other thing you might try is cloning that large out of focus leaf in the front out of the picture - it may be pulling your eye away from the hummer. Neat picture- post more soon!
we've had Anna's take over our yard (7 feeders and counting) and they fly in our faces and yell at us if they don't approve of what we are doing - so that is one way to get closer --- but there are several at a nearby park and by being more aware of them, have found that they are often near by- just didn't notice them before we got interested in them.
Do you have a tc? I've gotten reasonable pics of the hummers at the park with a 300mm + 1.4 tc
Thank you for the pointers. This bird was using this branch for his calling platform. The unfortunate thing is that the area is marked "sensitive", except for a boardwalk so I could not go around to the right side w/ sun to my back. I guess there is a need for a "perfect storm" in of variables in order to get a humming bird.
Hi Pat,
Good point about the OOF leaf, I was so focused on the bird I didn't see the leaf. I could burn it in to tone it down. B/c of the side lighting, I am not sure if lightening the eye will look natural, but I'll try it out.
The 1.4 TC on the 400 f/5.6 will lose AF. I do have an Extension Tube EF25 II, so I can get as close as about 8 feet ( rather than 12.5). I am kind of on the fence about the 1.4 TC since it will lose AF and some image quality.
Sincerely,
Chris
Last edited by Chris Korman; 02-14-2011 at 02:06 PM.
Hi Chris. Valient attempt, but the real fault here is the lighting. If you can get around his other side with the sun behind you, you don't always need flash for these guys.
As for the 1.4X, you are correct that you will lose AF with your 400. On the other hand, there are many situations where I have been able to use my 1.4x or my 2x with my 400 and have been happy I own them. The IQ loss is not very much. This is with the 400 and the Sigma 1.4x
Anna banana bo bana be bi bo Anna's Humming Bird
