The Ruby-throated hummingbirds have returned to west Tennessee. Took this one in my yard last evening. Five flash set up (1/16 power). Background is a photo print. Sugar water applied to flower.
Canon 90D, Sigma 150-600 C, five speedlites, tripod
ISO 320, f20, 1/250s
Any comments appreciated.
@allensparks.wildlife
Looks technically perfect for a flash set up. I’ve only fully around with 5 flash set up a few times so I’m not an expert at critique. The colors look good on the bird from the standpoint of saturation and exposure. Saturation of the flowers is probably accurate but it really pulls the eye toward the flower because of its brightness. I’m not sure you can do anything about that; Keith and Nate are the experts. From the standpoint of composition I think I would take a little off the top tells the center the image a bit. Still I would be happy with this if it were mine.
I’d say this turned out really well and I’d be thrilled to get a shot like this. No nits from me. Excellent detail, nice composition, nice flower.
Hi Allen
Hummingbirds are very hard to photograph, nice work.
Peter
Allen: Technically well exposed, sharp, all those good things. For me the image is lacking in two areas. The background is very monochromatic and I much prefer backgrounds that have tones and textures to them. Yes still prints, but much more character.
The second and more important thing is the lighting. You basically don’t have any shadows at all. That doesn’t feel natural. Of course what we’re trying to do with these images is do outdoor portraits of these amazing little creatures. Portrait lighting is not flat, shadowless lighting. I think you have too many flashes going so there’s no chance to get shadows. You said this was a 5 flash setup, so I’m assuming 4 on the bird and 1 on the background. I’d kill at least one and maybe two of the flashes on the bird and work with the light to make it feel like sunlight where there would be nice subtle shadows on the underside of the bird, just like natural sunlight. I’ve done thousands of these shots and still work every time to come up with better lighting. It’s not easy, but is sure is fun. Hope my comments are helpful and taken in the spirit of improvement.
Hi Allen,
The gorget is especially nice. Adjusting the flashes by distance and position relative to the subject can be challenging as Keith mentioned. You have some shadows present so you are very close to where you will place your flashes for the next trial. I do not mind this particular background. I prefer the smoother backgrounds over contrasty and blotchy ones. A question for you: How are your flashes triggered? A very nice attempt and hope to see more of these through the Summer…Jim
@David_Schoen @Allen_Brooks @peter @Keith_Bauer @Jim_Zablotny
Thank you for the comments everyone.
Jim, the flashes are triggered optically by the master flash in the shoe. There are three flashes closer to the bird and one to light the background.
I am kind of struggling here to distinguish the “must haves” from personal preference. I prefer smoother backgrounds - to me this image’s background is two toned with green on the left and more orange on the right.
I do a lot of photography in very early morning light where there is little to no shadow produced on the subject. Below is an example in natural light:
Admittingly, I am rather new to attempting multi-flash hummingbird set ups so please let me know if or what I am missing on my reasoning here. Thank you for the input.
Allen: I don’t think there are must haves. My input was for this image. I provided honest feedback. I don’t care for the lighting or the background. If you do, then great, it’s your image. The whole point of feedback is that you can choose to incorporate or not in future shots. If you like this look, then by all means keep doing the same thing. I would encourage you to look at some world class multi-flash work from photographers like Greg Basco (https://www.deepgreenphotography.com/portfolios/pollination) and I think you’ll see a tremendous variety of lighting choices that provide a lot more appeal.
@Keith_Bauer
Yes, I appreciate your honest feedback. I hope I don’t sound ungrateful. I’m just trying to fully understand the issues and I’m sure I still have a lot to learn about set ups. Thanks for the link.
Thanks again — Allen
Beautiful shot Allen, I would try to take down the highlights on the flowers some. I always process these multi-flash shots in camera neutral as it seems easier to keep the flowers from becoming overly bright and/or saturated. I like your background and the wing position is great.
@Nate_Chappell
Thanks for the input Nate. I’ll try desaturating the flowers some in this shot and look for camera neutral the next time I shoot the set up. I’ve never tried that setting.
It doesn’t matter what you put in the camera as long as you are photographing in raw. But I select camera neutral as my camera profile in Adobe Camera Raw (or Lightroom) when I am processing the raw image.
Oh okay. Gotcha. I process my RAW images in the Canon proprietary software. I’ll have to see if that is an option.
Hello, Allen, impressive image. I am always in awe when people master these flash techniques and then reading that there’s also ways of creating a different look by Keith’s en Nate’s input. Awe. To me it looks great, even if not the one liking to work with set-ups (prefer ‘all natural’ images) 
… Nice work ! Cheers, Hans
ps and YES, try and learn from comments and the views others may have, but always stay close to yourself when it comes to what you personally prefer and like !
I think it is an option there.
Wow, this is one fantastic image capture. You should be proud of it. Sometimes I thing that all of this discussion of background boils down to personal preference. But when you think about the best part of any background is that you do not notice it and that it doesn’t distract from the subject of you shot. This is exactly what you accomplished. In the meantime, I would love to discuss your set and any other pointers you might have to share.
