Humming Bird

[Luis Gonzalez Jr]

Taken today at the Los Angeles Arboretum during one of Kerry Perkins' workshops!
Taken with a Canon 7D with an 18 - 135mm @ 135mm, ISO-400, f/5.6, Shutter at 1/1600. Big crop, and some exposure and contrast work in Lightroom 3. NR in the background and sharpening on bird in Photoshop CS5.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Luis,

Nice one, did you bring a flash some fill light would really help the image. The light source is from the top or opposite lens side and the results are a head area covered in shadow. Vey important to have bright, well lit, and sharp eye in bird photography. I like the natural environment, flowers and always love the hummers in an aviary. I visited one years ago in Arizona and only brought my 400 5.6 prime - big mistake the short focal length killed me. The hummers were inches away and I could not get sufficient distance for a well focused picture - wise choice in lens.

[Luis Gonzalez Jr]

I actually did not have a flash mounted for that extra fill. Would have FOR SURE helped out in bringing out the bird more.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Luis, glad you got some nice shots that day. The 7D has a pretty nice flash built in, you could have popped it up for this shot. The dark area could be lightened in LR, but overall the image is really nice. The sharpness and color rendition are excellent. I really like the wing position and how it matches pretty closely the angle of the flowers. I would clone out the little bit of flower in the lower right corner and what looks like a butterfly egg in the upper left. Nice capture and it was nice shooting with you.