Capturing Hummers

[bob williams]

Thanks Ahab.

Denise, here are a few shots of my setup:

[Scott Stephen]

Thanks Ahab.

Denise, here are a few shots of my setup:

Grat pictures. Pretty wild setup; like a tiny photo studio built around a hummingbird lure. Do the little guys ever burst into flames from the big close flash?

[bob williams]

Grat pictures. Pretty wild setup; like a tiny photo studio built around a hummingbird lure.

Never thought about it that way, but that is exactly what it is

Do the little guys ever burst into flames from the big close flash?

Usually, no more than just a little singe. Surprisingly, at 1/32, the flash isn't that bad, even with 5 lights.

[Scott Stephen]

I know there are a lot of posts here on this, but what is the range of speeds at which you think natural light hummer shots can work? I have some at 1/1250 that work, but some that don't, depending on the light. Much more than that, and I am pushing the ISO on my T3i. Also the DOF, since at 2.8 it is very tricky to catch something that little.

[bob williams]

I know there are a lot of posts here on this, but what is the range of speeds at which you think natural light hummer shots can work? I have some at 1/1250 that work, but some that don't, depending on the light. Much more than that, and I am pushing the ISO on my T3i. Also the DOF, since at 2.8 it is very tricky to catch something that little.

Scott---Your right, 2.8 yields very thin depth of field and doesn't leave much manuevering room for the hummer. Try bumping your aperature to around 9.0. This will sharpen your background a little, but if you can put some distance between the background and the bird it should keep the background fairly soft and appealing.

At any DSLR shutter speeds your going to get wingblur except when the birds wings are at the very top or the very bottom of thier stroke. The only way to "freeze" the wings is with flash. So...With natural light, don't get to caught up in wing blur, and just pay attention to the birds body and what it takes to freeze that motion when hovering---in this case 1250-2000 should work pretty well as long as you have enough light. You can even get decent shots at 500-1000 if your patient and take lots of shots.


Good luck,

[bob williams]

Haven't had much luck the last couple of weeks, but I did manage to get a few, this afternoon----Not as good as I had hoped for, but a couple of interesting shots:

Flash failure, so add a vignette and call it art





































Left Turn Clyde:






































This one (Below) proved two things two me: 1. When you place your key light on the same linear plane as your lens, it does help to light the colorful gorget as I have read. It also tends to yield a very flat (head-on) light--which I don't care for---decisions, decisions?





































and one more, just for fun

[Joel Eade]

Haven't had much luck the last couple of weeks, but I did manage to get a few, this afternoon----Not as good as I had hoped for, but a couple of interesting shots:

Flash failure, so add a vignette and call it art

Left Turn Clyde:

This one (Below) proved two things two me: 1. When you place your key light on the same linear plane as your lens, it does help to light the colorful gorget as I have read. It also tends to yield a very flat (head-on) light--which I don't care for---decisions, decisions?

and one more, just for fun

Looks like a very productive day in the studio. The silhouette is sweet ..... maybe you could make a business card or logo from it ..... it is very unique and graphic.

The other shots are quite nice too and I will have to disagree with you ... the one with the gorget nicely illuminated does NOT look flat to me at all, in fact the way it is separated from the BG it looks more 3D than the other ones to me

I think one thing is certain, your planning and construction efforts over the winter are paying off nicely already!