The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
More from the laziest wildlife photographer file - taken the other day while lounging on the couch. She is out there as I type these words. By now I’ve noticed at least one other female and once, a male around as well. The females fight and chase and hit each other occasionally, but this one was all sweetness and light for the moment.
The first photo I love for its slightly different pose/posture. The more I shoot these birds the more I’m looking for a non-typical catch and I think that one works while the follow-up shot is more traditional. Each pink flower is about 2cm long. They love them.
Specific Feedback
Both also represent another experiment in pushing shutter speed and ISO. Let me know what you think there. I don’t think I’ll ever really freeze those wings, so going this high isn’t really necessary, but I want to see if the results are usable.
Technical Details
Both handheld
Lr for all work starting with a denoise AI action and then adding sharpness. Worked with some masking to bring our lady to life and keep the flowers from overwhelming. Cropped away some empty space and a flower pot to either side of her. Didn’t realize at the time that I wasn’t zoomed all the way in, but that probably helped with a slightly larger aperture.
Both are fine photos, and I don’t really have a preference. I get caught in that dilemma, as well; how high to go with the ss? It appears you came darn close to totally stopping her wings in both shots. Nicely done.
Both images are very nice, but need a bump up in microcontrast. Hummingbird feathers are wiry and coarse and I took your second image and bumped up the microcontrast followed with a curve adjustment for bringing some contrast back into the darks and lights. It will look better with adjustments done on the original and it puts some sparkle and detail back on the hummingbird’s feathers…Jim
Hi Kris, I like both poses really well. The approach shot in the first image is certainly intriguing. As Jim states, the details on the birds look washed out perhaps from processing or the high ISO. I’d have another look at that. Fine captures and I like the composition in each.
Thanks @terryb, @Jim_Zablotny & @Allen_Sparks - I generally like a softer presentation for my hummingbirds, but I take your point about clarity and have added a little into the bird only and it works fairly well. Thanks!
Wow! These are my favourites so far I think…that shutter speed seems to have really helped to capture the details in the flowers as well. Sometimes if there is no blur a photo can too flat. I particularly love the second post with the wings so open and the lovely “Hollywood” spotlight framing its head. Well done!
