Sharing a couple more images of one of my favorite birds. These were from this morning. The activity has picked up some here in the southwest but still lower than normal numbers of birds.
My usual 4 flash outdoor studio for these little marvels. 3 flashes on the hummers, one on the background.
1/200, f/16, ISO 100
Olympus EM1-X
40-150 f/2.8 with 2x converter
Is this a composite? No
Hi Keith,
Flash placement worked very well for these shots. I like the second one better, the blue in the first does not look right to me. Lighting and comp looks good. Awesome shots…Jim
Wow! I love both, with the graceful and well-lighted flower a wonderful foil for the hummer. Perfect lighting!! Well worth the trouble!
I’m partial to the first one, as the blue is a wonderful complement to the coral flower. The subdued yellow-greens in the right echo the same colors in the bird.
Both are wonderful and have great, but different strengths. The first has the wing perfectly frozen and framed in between the flowers. I’m with Diane on the blue being a great inclusion for the background. The second has the little tongue flicking out. Wow. The light you designed is really pleasing and natural looking. 1/200 sec? Is that a typo? The wing blur seems less exaggerated than it would be at that speed.
Thank you for your comments on the hummer images.
The shutter speed is not a typo. With the camera settings I used, without any flash, the entire frame would be black. All of the light is being provided by the flashes. That means that the effective shutter speed for the images are the duration of the flashes. The flashes are in manual mode at a low power. The estimated duration of the flash pulse is 1/12000 which is what enables the wings to be stopped.
Hi Keith, wonderful images - great lighting and poses. Always great to see captures of these amazing birds at such a high quality. I believe the second image is my favorite - love the tongue barely sticking out. A minor nit is the dark area in the background of the first image seems odd to me.
Nice work!
Hi Keith
Some day I am really going have to learn how to use a flash or 4. You studio produce great looking Hummingbirds. Both shot have what is needed to present a wonderful photograph.
Peter
Superb images with respect to color body position, contrast and setting with the flowers.
Once again, I am really impressed with your ability to get such natural unflashed appearance with your multiflash setups.
