Very cold little hummingbird in our yard today. He did not get out ahead of our two day snow storm and has been spending time either in our new little tree or at our feeder. I woke up yesterday to the sight of him sitting immobile on the feeder perch where he remained for a few hours. Today, he was energetic enough to take a bath in our fountain, which was a complete surprise as it was about 30 degrees out. Shot taken with a D850, 300 mm f4 lens at f4, 1/250 second, auto iso at 64, large crop as I did not want to get close enough to spook him.
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Hi Kathy
I ws going to say you could have gone up on the ISO, but your comment on having to make a large crop makes the low ISO the smart move. Great time on getting the hummingbird as he puffed out his feathers. The detail and frame are great. Nice work.
Peter
Well composed high key image. Detail is quite good for a large crop but one would expect that from a D 850. I always find it helpful to give an estimate of the percentage of crop in order to critique the image. I understand your fear of getting too close but I find if you allow the hummingbird to acclimate to your presence, you might be able to get considerably closer.
Hi Peter and David!
Thanks for the critique. Ive been absent from this forum as I’ve been concentrating on floral. Realized yesterday how much I missed shooting our feathered friends.
David, the crop is about 20 percent of full frame. I deliberately chose this placement , not only because this particular bird does not like my camera, but also because I wanted our neighbor’s snow covered roof in the background and if I got closer there would have been a different angle - I would have been more below the bird.
At any rate, I became familiar with this little guy over the summer. He and his pal (mate ?) would buzz my head as I worked in my large perennial garden and would hover about three feet from my face, looking at me. They were quite the comedians. When I got my camera out, however, they became scarce. So , I just learned to enjoy them and not try to photograph them. Maybe next year, if they come back. I have been trying to make my garden more hummingbird friendly.
Best,
Kathy
I like this image a lot. Detail on the bird is really nice. Loved that puffed up look. I also really enjoy the vegetation, and the ice makes this a unique capture. Very cool.
Excellent image, Kathy. Very well composed and the detail is superb. You should be able to get images in the summer. The best technique I’ve found is to set up a stool just over minimum focal distance from the flowers they’re using and put your camera on a tripod to minimize your movement. After about 15 minutes they start coming back.
Wonderful catch, and on the perfect perch, both for form and color. The details held up very well to the crop. A wonderful choice for the BG. My only suggestion is print and hang.
