Yesterday we got some soft evening light and so I sat and tried my luck with the local hummies. This is our girl, hard at work in the flowers on the back deck. This is a new variety I’m trying with them and while it isn’t the runaway hit of Vermillionaire, they do sample them now and then. I like her serendipitous spotlight in the far background. I’ve noticed that the wingbeats of the male are louder, but she almost always continually squeaks while on the flowers, while he is silent. I often hear her and don’t see her if she’s away from the deck. Funny.
Specific Feedback Requested
Anything to improve the shot is welcome. I will probably get more opportunities today, but I’m not sure how the light in the afternoon is going to be.
Technical Details
Handheld sitting on the couch
Lr for a little crop and basic RAW development including a little wb adjustment, curves adjustment, texture & clarity. A touch of sharpening & nr, but then into Topaz Denoise to clean it up. It pulled just as much detail as Sharpen did alone and a much better job with the noise. Photoshop to remove a bit of the plant pot itself and some extraneous hairs and filaments.
Hi Kristen
The spotlight helps to give the Hummingbird punch. I think you could change the shutter speed (1/1600) is a little slow of Hummingbird wings. The body, eye contact and coloring look great.
Peter
I like the spotlight effect. The extra sharpening might have gone just a touch too far, but it doesn’t really stick out that way. I like wing blur, but I prefer to get the wing where the tip looks rounded-toward the top or bottom of the beat. There’s not anything you can do to get it except take lots of frames.
Nice capture – the spotlight is perfect!! I’m wondering about removal of the lower detached leaf. (Or darkening it?) The only effect of the sharpening I see is an interesting change in the color of the feathers aft of the wing.
Interesting behavioral observations. I need to watch my Anna’s more closely. Every so often one of them screams, but I never see which one. They are very busy with internecine warfare.
@peter - yeah, I’m trying to thread the needle with ISO and shutter speed and this was a compromise. I might have some with a higher ss, but I’ll have to look.
@Dennis_Plank - I didn’t keep the little tag that came with the flowers so I can’t recall. It’s similar to the typical red ones (trade name Vermillionaire) that were so attractive with last year’s hummies. I have those as well and they are still the favorites. And yeah, lots of frames and lots of deletions. Lol.
Thanks @Vanessa_Hill - it really did need the Denoise, but maybe not the Sharpen. Or else I could have messed with the amount of sharpening more and had it come out a bit more natural looking. Still experimenting with the Topaz products.
Yeah @Diane_Miller - I dithered over that other leaf, but it looks too blank without it to me. The behavior is just something I’ve noticed in the past two years of observing them on the deck flowers. We only have ruby throats here so I can’t compare it to any other species. They are cantankerous little things though!
