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The hummingbirds left on September 28 and felt fortunate to have learned a lot about multi-flash hummingbird photography. Three to four flashes are adequate and placement is very important. From previous critiques and comments by @Keith_Bauer, position flashes above the subject so that some shadows are produced. Otherwise, the lighting will be too even and the subject will look like a flat paper cut out. Second, I discovered that pre-focusing on the best target flower and setting the aperture at f18 produced the most in focus shots. You only have seconds to work with and by the time you hit the af button, the bird has flown off. Take the first shot after the hummingbird has fed at one of the flowers. Once committed to a flower spike, they will not leave until most of the flowers have been visited. Take multiple shots to get optimal wing position. Fresh batteries in all flashes are essential and you can expect the flashes to fire continuously for 3 to 5 exposures while set at 1/16th power. The background that I chose for this shot is good for a beginner–maybe too green and plain, but is a good learning tool. Next year, I will try some more backgrounds with slightly more detail. Small flowers work better than large garden flowers for composition purposes. Chose flowers that are morphologically built like a tube and are red, blue, or purple in color. Hummingbirds seem to prefer these colors over others. Finally, the hummingbird photographer has to be patient and photographing hummingbirds is analogous to herding cats. I discovered that 7:30 to 8:30 pm was the best time to shoot for me as the hummingbirds would tank up before dark. I have much more to learn and have a trip planned for Southeast Arizona next spring. With the highest hummingbird species diversity, I hope to get some of these Western species using these techniques. Follow @Keith_Bauer article for this method and will provide an excellent recipe for success.
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Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Z9 600mm f4 (1/200 sec at f18, ISO 200, 3 flashes set at 1/16th power. Crop for comp, Topaz DeNoise AI for sharpening, Adjusted shadows and reduced saturation in red and yellow plus increased saturation in green. Crop for comp