I returned from work to find the yard around our deck silent–no hummingbirds present. Started cooking dinner and then I head the telltale squeaking call of our resident hummingbirds. I quickly set up my gear and after reading @Keith_Bauer 's hummingbird photography paper, I realized that I needed to make some changes to the arrangement of the flowers and feeder. This time the feeder was only 8 inches from the flowers and I used a Plamp to hold a spray of Cape fuchsia (Phygelius species) under the flash heads. I went in briefly to see how my dinner was cooking and upon my return an immature hummingbird was checking everything out. Within 10 minutes it showed up again and I was able to get this shot. This is one of my best ones so far.
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Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Z9 600mm f4 (1/200 sec., at f18, ISO=200)2 flashes pointed at back of bird from above and the remaining flash pointed from above to light up the head and front of the subject. A single flash was used to light the BG. Crop for comp, sharpening done with Topaz DeNoise AI, Brightness & Contrast, rubber stamp tool to remove some OOF insects.
@Jim_Zablotny - This one is certainly the best one of the images you’ve posted recently of our little friends. That pose is one that is always great to capture. Such a cool look with the tail pushed down. Great wings forward position (which of course is always a crap shoot) - but you got it! Lovely composition as well. Nicely done.
I like both coming in for a snack and this one, but my preference is this one. The colors, composition, sharpness, pose and wings positions are excellent. I notice a spot on the upper left of both images.
