I am overwintering some of the tropical/ subtropical plants that hummingbirds use as a nectar source. Cape fuchsia produces plenty of flowers and nectar and hummingbirds reposition the pendulous flowers to their liking. The bright spots on the petals are glandular hairs that have tiny glistening nectar drops on them.
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Nikon Z9 105mm micro (1/100 sec. at f20, ISO 80) 3 flashes with master set on TTL, 2 slaves set at 1/8 power, plant placed in light box with black velvet BG. Levels, WB set to flash, Shadows & Highlights to bring up shadows slightly, Crop for Comp.
Jim, this shows off bloom, stalk and leaves to perfection and I love the composition too. I’m just curious how the hummingbirds can reposition the flowers.
Thank you Mike. The hummingbird sticks their entire beak into the flower while flying upwards. Once the flower is at the horizontal position, they drink away and release the flower after feeding. I hope to get the sequence shot this coming year…Jim
Hi Jim, I really like the composition and the black BG, the colors are great as well.
Very clean edges along the stem, leaves and the flower.
I’m fascinated with hummingbirds and their feeding habits.
The ones we have here are always claiming and fiercely protecting their miniature territories. Sometimes their territory is only a few feet in diameter.
I have feeders at three places along our porch which means there are three territories.
Thanks for describing the setup, using three flashes worked very well for this shot.
I love it when hummingbirds do that, Jim. They often shift long tube flowers like this in the pots of plants I set out for them. I think I have caught it in slow motion video, but need to get to editing. A thing I haven’t captured, but have seen is when a spent flower detaches from the stem and sticks over the beak. They get a little flustered for a second and then with a quick shake, the offending flower is off and they go right back to feeding. I miss the little guys although a huge flock of trumpeter swans just flew by on the river so maybe I’ll have some luck with them today.
But to your flower. I love the composition and the lighting as usual. I can barely manage one flash, never mind three. I agree with Don about maybe desaturating and/or darkening the green areas just to emphasize the flower more.
@ Kris_Smith This detaching of the flower happens to Hummingbird Hawkmoths too, where it attaches to the proboscis of the moth! I’ve snapped this a couple of times. Once the moth levered the Verbena bloom off its tongue with a front leg - the other time it continued feeding on other blooms with the old bloom still transfixed by the tongue. It fell off in the end.
