I was eating lunch in the hummingbird garden at the UCSC Arboretum after trying to get some bird images, with little luck. I heard some squawks and looked over to see two hummingbirds fighting in the air. I raised my camera and started shooting. The birds fell to the ground and continued ferociously fighting over the prime feeding and breeding territory in this garden. I managed to get two nice shots of them on the ground before one of them took off. I’ve never seen such activlty by hummingbirds, and was quite lucky to capture it.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
I like this image, but would love suggestions for improvement.
Technical Details
1/400, f/7.1, ISO 800, somewhat cropped. Removed distracting stick in Photoshop. General processing in Lightroom, some sharpening in Topaz.
While we’re waiting for Julie to chime in, I just want to say how much I love this. Hummingbirds are so cantankerous and crabby and this shows it extremely well. So competitive and territorial that they have spats all the time. Congratulations on having the presence of mind and skill to follow the action and catch it. Terrific colors and having both faces in the same focal plane helped a great deal.
The birds look fine to me, but the background looks over-sharpened and odd. If you’re using Topaz Sharpen as a stand alone, I suggest masking to sharpen only the birds, leaving the background alone. You could work in Photoshop to blur it further which might also help.
Sorry I did not get an email notification of your post so am now just seeing it! Apologize for the delay.
Super awesome moment to see this! These gorgeous birds that are so colorful having a little argument.
Applauding you paying attention and getting to shoot this. The lighting is great.
Couple of things…Humming birds are lightening fast. And the smaller the bird the faster the wing beat. So…all the shutter speed you have would be needed to capture those wings on the top bird. 1/8000 of a second won’t do it, I’ve tried.
The newer cameras are starting to give us up to 1/32000 of a second and that’s when you can get these wings sharp. Not sure what camera body you have?
That said, even at 1/8000 of a second you would have much more wing distinction. If you are photographing small birds, use all the variables to give yourself as much shutter as possible.
I also think a tad more F stop would also improve the sharpness of the attacking bird. His head and tail are a little soft…although I think most of that is low shutter speeds.
Great capture of an incredible moment. Hope these comments are helpful.
Hi Bill
The fact you tracked and captured this fight is No Small Feat. Not knowing what camera you have , maybe the ISO was your concern , a 1/400 is to slow for fast moving birds. This photograph was a real, thank.
Peter
I might have titled this “say uncle”, as the bird on the ground seems to have given up, with the wings still. I think the wing motion in the other bird helps tell the story. Beautiful colors and pretty good detail especially in the supine bird. Great capture; congratulations.
