We were at a restaurant, eating outside and there was a Red Hot Poker plant below us that was frequented by a Rufous Hummingbird. Fortunately, I had my camera with me and took about 200 shots. The lighting wasn’t great with the sun pretty much overhead with a lot of highlights and shadows and the hummer in awkward positions, but I got a few images I liked.
Canon 7DII; Sigma 150-600 at 403 mm; 1/3200 at f6.3; ISO 400
Now that’s a dedicated photographer - bringing the kit to dinner! I remember eating breakfast outside in Arizona and wishing I’d done that for the same reason - hummingbirds.
The light is what it is, but it brought up the iridescence in nicely. Looks like the flower is in its last gasp of blooming and it’s going to milk it for all it’s worth. Good focus and detail, although I wish the eye were crisper. You could use a radial gradient to brighten the face and eye if you want. I do that quite a bit with critter pics. I like the wing position, too. The background is complementary, too. Who needs to eat when you have these little beauties?
Looks like the light was a bit harsh but you handled it pretty well, as @Kris_Smith noted, bringing out the iridescence nicely. Nice background and pretty good details, too. Not bad for taking some quick shots at dinner!
Very nice, Allen. The image quality is very good for the conditions you were shooting in.
Superb catch. I like the composition. I have these growing in my yard but have never caught a hummingbird near them.
