Now that the hummingbirds have arrived in Tennessee, I have started trying a five flash set up. Here is one of my first attempts. Bird attracted by flower dipped in sugar water. I took out some of the flash highlights on the eye and some highlights on the flower. I am working on creating some prints for a varied background.
Canon 7D2, 400mm f4 DO IS II, 1.4x TC III, tripod, 5 speedlites @ 1/8 power
ISO 200, f20, 1/250s
Any comments appreciated.
Oh wow, this is really excellent, in my opinion, Allen. Such detail in both the bird and flower, and that background is silky smooth. I haven’t seen any hummers here in NC yet, so please send some our way!
Allen, simply beautiful. The flower goes really well with this bird. However, the image looks a little dark on my monitor. A slight increase in the brightness would be quite helpful.
This came out very nicely, Allen, particularly for a first multi-flash setup. It looks to me like maybe a bit more light on the main flash to get that gorget to really pop, but the background and flower look perfect, so I wouldn’t mess with it much. Interesting that you’re still getting wing blur at 1/8 power. I’m not sure what the flash duration is at that setting, but it must be pretty short.
I think this is an excellent first attempt with a five flash set up. There are a lot of variables with respect to position, flash output, background quality, and of course a cooperative subject. This one does not look flashed which is what one is shooting for. I actually like the winged blur; this is a very natural looking image.
