Description: A different ruby-throated hummingbird coming into Salvia miniata which is found in Southern Mexico and Central America. I always look for Salvia species for hummingbird forage. I was hoping that the hummingbird would swoop in under the arc of Salvia. The bird is also half way through a blink so the eye looks unusual.
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Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Z9 600mm f4 (1/200 second at f18, ISO 200 + 3 flashes set at 1/16th power on bird and one on the BG. Crop for comp, Levels, Briughtness & Contrast…Jim
This is as lovely as your Ruby-Throated hummingbird you posted not long ago. It’s a shame the eye was closed, but it’s not that distracting. I love having the hummingbirds around my house. They’re drinking the sugar mix like crazy now, so it’s only a short time before they’ll migrate. I wish we had different types of hummers. We only have the red RT. Thanks for letting me see a different hummer. Great job!
Jim: A lovely hummer image. I like the composition with the curved stem of the flower. That works really well. Your flash lighting looks quite good. Bummer on the half closed eye. The wing position is obviously out of our control on these shots and unfortunately for this one, it is just one of those less than ideal positions. I talk about that in my upcoming hummer article. Still a very nice effort and a solid frame.
The flower, with the nice background, by itself would have made for a good image in Flora. You caught the hummer at a nice moment as it approached the flowers. Sometimes 1+1>2. Nice job.
A wonderful composition, Jim. My only suggestion would be to get a bit more variegated background. An out of focus image of a flower garden should work well if it doesn’t have white in it.
Hi Jim
This is quite the lesson in flash photography. All of your Hummingbird photograph look great. What is the burst rate with all three flashes going off and then recharging?
Nice work.
Peter
Thank you @Donna_Callais , @Keith_Bauer , @Allen_Brooks , @Dennis_Plank , and @Peter_Morrissey . I use 3 Nikon SB26 as slaves and an SB800 as the master all set at 1/16 power. I can get 3 good exposures in 2 seconds with fresh batteries. Sometimes the SB26’s will switch to full power and that ruins everything. For the master flash, I use a Godox radio trigger as the SB800 is the only flash that plays nice with the Godox. Normally, for a 2 hour wait, I will get 1 to 2 visits between 7:30 and 8:15 pm. And if something malfunctions, the whole evening is wasted. There are quite a few hummingbirds, but getting a reasonable shot is very difficult. I prefer the cana flowers because they draw hummingbirds in better than any other flower in our area.
@Jim_Zablotny Yes, it is a game of patience to capture good hummingbird images. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I was asked to author an article on photographing hummingbirds. That article is complete, and the last I was told, it will be published on NPN on September 7. I talk about the flash equipment that I use, and many, many other details. It is a pretty lengthy article. I hope it will be of benefit for those who want to capture images of these little marvels.
Beautiful! I’m really enjoying the symmetry of this image in the curves of the plant. Excellent wing position, color, background. You are very patient photographer.
I am looking forward to your article. I relied heavily on Nate Chappell’s post on hummingbird photography for my initial work. I discovered that when the flashes are placed far from the subject, the lighting becomes more flat and uniform which is not ideal. I wish that I was in SE Arizona which has a high diversity of hummingbird species which provides better opportunity to get photos. I am trying to get Jenny to do an Arizona trip in the near future…
