The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Late summer is the time when I drag all of my flashes out of the basement to photograph hummingbirds that spend the summer season on our property. Unfortunately, there’s only four around which suggests that nesting success was much lower than expected. The most that I have seen was a few years ago when 13 hummingbirds were fighting over the four feeders spread out over our property. I used 3 flashes to light the subject and another flash pointed at an artificial BG. I prefer smooth featureless BG’s and there’s enough variation to hold interest. The plant is Cuphea salvadorensis which is also known as the orange bat-faced Cuphea, a plant found in the habitat where these birds overwinter (Central America and Southern Mexico). Enjoy!
Technical Details
Nikon Z9 600mm f4 (1/200sec at f16, ISO 400) 4 off camera flashes set at 1/32 power. Levels, Topaz DeNoise AI, Shadows & Highlights, Brightness & Contrast, Band Aid tool to remove extra highlights in eyes. The slight head turn caught my eye and decided this one was worth sharing…Jim
HI Jim
As always, your flash setup is magic. The lighting looks natural and the Hummingbird has great feather detail. My only nit is the green background. Maybe a more neutral color palette?
Peter
Jim: your flash setup is to be admired and the end result even more-so. The lighting certainly seems natural and has brought out the tones in the bird and the plant. My preference for the background would be more of the green seen in the LLC.
Hi Jim, a mighty fine capture and I do like the head turn also. Good to see the shadows on the bird not being blocked out. I’m liking the vivid green in the BG in this shot but not sure I’d want it for every image shot. I like seeing the plant with the hummer doing a detailed inspection on where to hit. Nice frame.
Thank you @Richard_Sandor , @Allen_Sparks , @Dennis_Plank , and @peter for your comments and critiques. I re-edited the image with reduced saturation in yellows which reduced the dayglow effect in the jpg file. …Jim
Gorgeous!! Beautiful composition, setting and pose. You are working magic with your setup. They must be delighted to find a familiar plant so far north!!
I’ll vote for the more subdued BG, although I love the color. If it were me, I’d prune the leaf exiting the frame.
Love the rework on that background Jim. Super sharp image along with a great head turn and wing position. Thanks for the information on your set up. Thanks for sharing this one.
