Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
End of summer at 2000 ft elevation. Will likely migrate downhill in coming days.
Any suggestions are welcome
Z9 Z100-400 1.4TC 560mm f8 1/2500 ISO4500
Nice angle on the hummingbird, Dan, and I love the flower. In the largest version, it looks like you had the focus on the pair of blooms just above the leaf rather than on the bird and it starts to show at that scale, though the smaller version looks fine. I don’t know how you had your focus area set but I usually use a pretty small one when I’m shooting these to try to make sure the locus locks on the bird.
@Dennis_Plank
Thanks for catching that focus mistake. I checked my camera and indeed had change the focus area for a landscape shot and forgot to change it back to auto area wide(s).
Nonetheless, you got a very nice moment with a good composition and very pretty flowers. I think you might be able to redo it with less NR and get a more natural look. If the flower is sharper than the bird it might be possible to do a little sharpening just on the bird, but I’ve found sharpening to be a tricky thing.
I like the composition. I think it’s always a bonus when a photograph with a bird in it would still look good without the bird, i.e. the flower by itself is attractive. For me, ideally the hummer would be looking more at the flower.
Hi Dan, lovely pose and pretty scene overall with that flower and nice BG. I agree with Dennis on the focus as the bird isn’t very sharp in the larger version. Still, I like the composition and wing position of the bird.
Fairly good results without multiple flashes. Tone down the noise reduction and you may want to play around with exposure settings for these high ISO settings to get a compromise exposure with reduced noise. I have never tried this with my Z9 and I’m going to have to give this a try out for sure. I wish the focus was more on the subject, but you have a nice baseline photo for perfecting this technique in future shots. Well done…Jim
@Jim_Zablotny Here is another shot taken of the same bird with all the same settings. I am fortunate to be able to have a nice camera and lens but otherwise am still quite the novice. I don’t own a flash or know how to use one. Any advice will be appreciated.
