hummingbird (violet sabrewing)

[Nelson Mena Alfaro]

hi everybody
i have a hummingbird feeder so this is one of the 5 species that many times comes in front of my house
its very hard to take a nice picture cause the bird is black, so i would like to hear some tips to make it better, this one is with natural light, and have lots of noise on the bird
i used
canon 40d
av mode
iso 500
f/10
1/400
canon ef 75-300 II

[PhilCook]

A bit soft sadly, but nice pose. I would suggest increase shutter speed by opening the aperture to say f6.3 or wider and possibly use of flash.....trpod essential too I think. The bird seems to be in shade so I would also suggest moving the feeding into a brighter spot, a great opportunity well worth improving upon

[gail bisson]

Welcome to BPN. You will learn a lot.
The bird is a bit soft and angled away from the viewer which hurts the image significantly.
You need to move the feeder into a sunny area and you need to expose correctly for a SS of at least 1/3200 to almost freeze the wings. This means opening up your aperture and increasing the ISO.
I am looking forward to your future attempts,
Gail

[Richard Unsworth]

Godd critique above
Try f5.6 and up your ISO will give a much sharper image
agree very difficult in shade but with sun directly behind and on bird should work a treatt
VioletSW are fantastic birds
you might consider getting A rthurs Digital Basics file which provides a large amount of information about techniques such as exposure compensation
relating directly to how to get detail on bird in different lighting conditions plus much more.
look forward to the next pic!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Nelson, welcome to BPN! Very lucky to have multiple species frequenting your feeder (as opposed to only 1 for most of us in eastern N.A.)!! Looks like you have a nice spot with a good BG (although f/10 did not give you as smooth a result you'd like). With little work you could move your feeder to a sunny spot, or adjust your settings for more SS, or use a flash to make to feathers shine. With more work you could do a multiple flash setup and use an artificial BG with nice perches and flowers to add to the scene.

[Nelson Mena Alfaro]

thank you daniel im trying to make it better, about multiflash i dont really like it
photos looks so unreal but will be nice learn how to do it
thank you

[Peter Seidel]

Hi Nelson,

I also do not (currently) use a multi-flash set up for hummingbird shots, but I agree with the others' comments - you'd definitely need to get some light on the hummingbird in this situation to bring out the detail. There are other methods besides the multiflash setup that can give nice results.

One technique you may try is with a single flash (either attached on top of the camera or on a stand nearby), and on the flash attach some kind of diffuser to soften the light. One single direct flash/speedlight directed at a hummingbird (without a diffuser) tends to produce pretty harsh lighting - that's the advantage of the multiflash setups - they really balance the lighting from all directions. For my single flash (Nikon SB-700) I attach a Gary Fong dome diffuser, which is actually designed for indoor portrait photography. This method doesn't get the same level of detail in the wing areas that you see with the multi-flash setups, but I think it's a worthwhile method (assuming you don't want to invest in 10 different speedlights and stands). It also allows you to carry the whole setup with you when you are out walking looking for areas where the hummingbirds eat (and perch)

Another simple technique, if you're in a situation where you will remain in one place (e.g. with a backyard feeder), you can set up a cheap light reflector on a chair (angle up to reflect the sunlight), and aim it at the feeding area. This takes some trial and error. It won't balance all of the light like a multiflash setup, but it will at least help light the subject from underneath and remove some of the shadows under the wings.

Pete

[Nelson Mena Alfaro]

thank you :)