1st attempt at Hummers

M38A1

Man, I have a whole new level of appreciation for you guys that shoot birds.... Hummers included.

A friend of mine invited me over to her place to shoot these little fellows. I really didn't have much concept on just how fast, quick, darting they would be.

#1 - I started out with an obscene ISO (5000) to get 1/8000th of a second just to stop motion. That worked but the noise was not fun to deal with:


#2 - So then I tried the same ISO5000 and 1/3200th second to see what would happen. Enough to stop the hummer wings, but the wasp is still blurry.


#3 - So then I tried a remote SB700 with ISO400 and 1/320th on highspeed-sync to see what would happen. Just a hair soft I think and not near fast enough I suppose to stop the wings


#4 - Next was bring the ISO down some more (2000) and try 1/2000th second. Hmmm. You can still stop them in flight at 1/2000th and available light.


I tried continuous focus, but never could get a good lock on them. So I switched to single point and focused on the feed bottle with a big DOF to catch anything within it's set capability.

I don't think these are horrible, but I'd like to shoot them better. I know I need to find a natural food source 'cause the feeder is well, an ugly feeder. So this brings me full circle.... Shooting a 70-200 f/2.8 from about ten feet, how are you all shooting these guys?

Don Kondra

I would suggest you spend some time studying their feeding behavior Scott.

They will move in for a sip and then move back away for a split second before moving back in.

Try to nail them during that split second without the feeder in the image. With some practice you will get better with auto focus, just prefocus on the feeder to get yourself close.

As much as possible keep the sun behind or to the side of you. Sit or stand quietly and they will get used to your presence.

Depending on the number of birds in the area you can use this same system on flowers but a longer lens would help.

I find a deeper DOF is more important than shutter speed, somewhere between 1/650 and 1/1000 gives me the wing motion I prefer. That is assuming I capture them in that split second of transition.

Careful now, shooting hummers is addicting

Cheers, Don

M38A1

Thanks Don for the tips....

I sort of tried to do what you mention - focus on the bottle and let DOF help me with the focus. I watched them for quite a while and figured they "sort" of do the same things most of the time. It didn't take many frames to realize sitting on or close to the bottle was BORING. So I tried to get them as they came in for landing so to speak.

I pick up a 2.0iiiTC this afternoon to pair with the 70-200 so that should help some with reach/crop with little realistic affect on DOF with two stops. If I'm shooting f/11 or more anyway I don't think it will change much on DOF at that range.

I need to also find out if my D700 can fire the flash at more than 1/320th somehow. I'd like to have a little artificial light from where I sit or I'll have to move the feeder or find a natural setting more appropriate.

Again, thanks.

Don Kondra

Glad to help Scott !

May I suggest you save yourself some frustration and move the feeder now.

It was my experience that there was a progression with my images.

Happy to get anything.
Bored with the feeder in the image.
Started to get more selective with poses.
Shot enough images that good light became more important, especially with the males. A year of back lit images did teach me a lot about noise reduction programs
A "good" image now involves front/side light, eye detail with catch light, landing gear down, colorful gorget and slightly blurred back wing position.

A bonus is tongue out and/or tail flair

As to the "boring" part, yeah. This season I'm down to one pair and visits to the feeder are a good fifteen to twenty minutes apart. And they appear for two seconds and don't always present a photo op. I'm pleased with one keeper for an hours work...

Another thing you can do is attach a natural branch beside or above the feeder. They will stage on the branch before or after feeding and present some good opportunities for preening and/or tongue out shots

Cheers, Don

Oso

Your first attempt was better than my first attempt(s)!

Although hummers show up in my yard in Pasadena on a near daily basis, they rarely stick around long enough to get a decent shot. I've found it's best to visit a nearby botanical garden (I'm lucky to have one a mile from my house) where there are a ton of hummers and a big variety of plants/flowers they visit. The light is almost always very good in the late afternoon.

My photos are probably deeply flawed compared to the pros, but I've managed to get some that I nonetheless like, using my Nikon D5100 and either a 55-200mm lens or the one I replaced it with, a 70-300mm job. At 1/2000th, I've almost managed to freeze the wings but as Don mentioned in above reply, DOF is important - and my photos suffer from lack of enough of it. The 70-300mm gets you closer but nowhere near as fast as the 2.8 lens.

When there's a lot of feeding sources around, the hummers will also sit still:



And here's one from the grounds of the Page Museum in L.A., another hummer hangout.



Good luck with it -- I've been shooting hummers for a year now and have some decent shots but they can always be better

Steve