Capturing Hummers

[bob williams]

Cool idea ... they make gold ones too ... maybe you could get one with interchangeable linings?

A small umbrella isn't too expensive either....I'll be expecting some shots this Saturday

Well, I tried the umbrella method this morning, but no keepers, here were the problems I encountered:

1. Even though I Ganged 3 lights on the umbrella, I just couldn't seem to get enough light on the bird to really light him up
2. Since I had to use my vivitar flashes on the background, I re-encountered my ghosting problem again. After a little research I realized there was a significant duration difference between the canon speedlights and the vivitar even when set at the same power levels.
3. Working with an 48 inch umbrella that close to 3 inch subject is a real pain and yielded poor results.
4. I took the white lining off of my umbrella to expose the silver backing, But I am not sure this is the right silver lining for the effect I was looking for.

I do plan to try this again, But I think a small, silver lined softbox would be better for this job which I now have on my B&H wish list. This should be easier to manage, easier to direct the light and should have the correct reflective surface that I am looking for---of course, I have been wrong before.

For now, I have had pretty good luck with two or three lights on the bird and two on the background, so I will stick to that for now.

I am still set up and ready to shoot for the remainder of the day, so hopefully I'll get some decent shots worth posting.

Until then, Happy shooting

Bob

[Joel Eade]

Oh well, good try anyway.

I have nice soft light this morning but have to drive to Nashville for my nephew's wedding

[Scott Stephen]

Thanks Ahab.

Denise, here are a few shots of my setup:

Attachment 941Attachment 943Attachment 942

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!

[Dave Throgmartin]

Awesome silhouette picture Bob!

Dave

[conropl]

The silhouette is sweet ..... maybe you could make a business card or logo from it ..... it is very unique and graphic.

+1

... 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 agree with this as well. It seemed to have more seperation to the BG, and the edges of the bird are very well defined.