Thought I’d share some of my hummingbird set up images that I have taken this year. The flower is coral honeysuckle which is native to the southeast. Sugar water was applied to the flowers. Background is various prints of out of focus vegetation.
Any
Canon 90D, Sigma 150-600 Contemporary, tripod, three speedlites on the bird, one speedlite on the background. Flash @ 1/8 power.
ISO 200, f20, 1/250s
Very nice images, Allen. After reading Keith’s article, my only input is that the flowers have a slightly flashed look to them, I think because you have a bit too uniform a lighting setup so you’re not getting any modeling. The varied plumage on the hummingbirds hides that more.
Hi Allen,
Excellent poses and the first and second images are the poses that I like best. You can try to move your flashes above the subject and have 2 bunched tighter together to get more light on one side of the bird while the remaining flash provides enough light to get the gorget lit up and leave some subtle shadowing on the lower part of the bird. Pretty good results with those poses…Jim
@Allen_Sparks - A nice series of images. The poses all work pretty well. The lighting is OK, but I think it is a bit flat. I’d just experiment with various placements of the flashes at different distances to the hummer to create a bit more modeling of the light. I would also encourage a bit wider composition so that the flower is more a part of the composition, rather than a thing that just comes in from the edge of the frame. Different flowers all work differently for compositional elements. Again, experimentation is the only real answer. I think of these as studio portraits and want to control every aspect possible for the studio. Composition is one that we have reasonable control over, even with hummers. Thanks for sharing these.
Wonderful images and gorgeous flowers! I am SOOO jealous of your honeysuckle down there. I can channel a walk on a warm, humid evening with the scent hanging in the air. It’s almost like the hummers are the icing on the cake instead of the other way around. I think including a sprig of foliage could work well, too.
I Allen
Thank you for add to this season of Hummingbird photographs and Flash setups. They are all great.
Peter
All very nice. I especially like the first one with the brilliant gorget.
