Nature's Way

Gallery: AvianPosted August 22, 2011171 views13 comments

I got this one Sunday.

Nikon D90, Nikor 200-400VR, Nikon SB 900 Speedlight, Slik Tripod.
1/200sec, f/5, ISO-400, 400mm (DX Factor 600mm)
Not set up, Nothing artificial, Natural Background.

Thanks For Looking.

P.S. I have nothing against hummingbird multi flash artificial background setups, and may get back into that again myself one of these days.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Bob McQuade on August 22, 2011 at 5:38 AM

Very nice capture of the hummer, but reds seem a little over saturated

Registered on October 8, 2009, 214 Posts, 432 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on August 22, 2011 at 6:49 AM

A nice shot Gary. I like the fact that it is all "natural." The reds are red, but given I have no reference for how saturated these flowers were in real life, I can't comment on if they are too red or not. Nice shot overall.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on August 22, 2011 at 8:30 AM

Great capture! I'm envious.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on August 22, 2011 at 8:54 AM

Gary: Very nice capture. Birds wing position is great. The scene is very nice, but those reds do look a bit over the top. I've found red to the color that digital struggles with the most in high saturation settings. I'd like to see just a bit more room on the right if you have it.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Terry Sohl on August 22, 2011 at 9:45 AM

I too really appreciate "nature's way" for a hummingbird shot. I really like the composition with the diagonal or red flowers cutting through the frame. I too would tone down the saturation on the reds.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 513 Posts, 6889 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on August 22, 2011 at 9:50 AM

Agree about the reds but I quite like this otherwise Gary. I like the position of the frozen wings and your composition works fine for me.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on August 22, 2011 at 11:57 AM

Well composed, love those red flowers Gary..You've got me wondering what they are?
Detail looks great from what I can see at this size, excellent exposure and natural looking colors..I for one like the way the red "pops" here.
Well done!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on August 22, 2011 at 12:26 PM

Great hummer capture Gary! Tough little buggers to get. Agree with the red saturation. Otherwise stunning.

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Marquart on August 22, 2011 at 12:56 PM

Thanks for the comments, I should have mentioned the flower is Cardinal Flower ( Lobelia cardinalis ). Cardinal Flowers are as red as red gets and are a huge magnet to hummingbirds. My experience is that hummingbirds visit these flowers at least as much as they do a hummingbird feeder which makes it very convenient to photograph the birds in a natural setting.

Registered on October 24, 2009, 126 Posts, 799 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on August 22, 2011 at 2:12 PM

Excellent natural hummer shot Gary. Nice job on the wing position and stopping the wing at only 1/200 sec. I like that you can see some of the iridescent shine from the hummer and the overall composition is great with the flowers and background, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Marquart on August 22, 2011 at 2:52 PM

Jim and anyone else who may be interested or wondering.
When using speedlights ( flashes) it's the duration of the flash that freezes the amazing speed of a hummingbird's wings and not so much the shutter speed of the camera.
1/200 sec. happens to be the maximum shutter flash sync speed of my camera. However, although it's the flash that freezes the fast movement of the wings, the faster the sync speed of the camera the better because the slower the shutter sync speed the more likely you will get ghost images of the wings due to existing daylight getting into the camera after the flash fires and before the shutter closes because generaly speaking the flash duration is much shorter in time than the camera's shutter sync speed.
Is that clear as mud or what?