Hummingbirds - Help!

UNCTEP

I've been trying to get some decent shots of hummingbirds for at least the past 3 summers. Right now I'm using a 20D tripod mounted with cable release, 70-200 f/2.8L lens, and the 580ex. I set the tripod up just outside of the minimum focusing distance, and manually dial in where I think I'll get most of the bird in focus and in the frame.

Most of the shots I get end up looking like this:



Camera was set to Manual mode, ISO 800 (was getting a little late in the evening, plus it has been cloudy all day, so lighting wasn't that great), shutter was @ 1/1250, f/5.6, set the flash to +1 2/3 (which was too much, had to lower the brightness level).

I've seen some amazing shots here - for all you bird photography wizards:

How the heck do you freeze the wings? I know they move extremely fast, but we've all seen shots that have every detail captured - I just can't seem to get it work... :scratch

I'm guessing multiple flash units would be a start - I've got 2 AB400s that I thought about setting up - just not sure where to place them in relation the feeder for the best performance.

I also know that getting a shot without the feeder visible would be better - I think I need to take another look at the angle I'm shooting from... problem is, the little devils aren't exactly predictable!

Anyone have tricks of the trade they'd like to share?

Harryb

this may be of help.

UNCTEP

Harryb wrote:

this may be of help.

Thanks for the link - interesting read. I'm going to try setting up multiple flashes tonight if the weather is decent. If I get any results I'll post them ASAP.

gfxartist

Wow, his hummingbird photos are amazing!

Harryb wrote:

this may be of help.

Greg Scott

I consider myself to be a pretty good hummingbird photographer.
The link provided gives pretty good info on how to accomplish this kind of photography. There may be a few other hints I can provide. Shooting with flash and camera on full manual, with focus and all settings preset is a very helpful technique. Any delay between triggering the exposure and the actual flash is very undesirable, since the bird may be long gone before it the camera can acquire focus, pre-flash for ETTL exposure, and then finally make the exposure. The shutter click can disturb the birds, potentially more than the flash itself.

It's good to cut the perch off of your feeder, or at least replace it with a natural twig, and remove as much ugly feeder as possible. Spiking flowers with extra nectar is a common trick, but I don't bother. In most of my shots, I prefer to just crop out the feeder entirely. The trick here is that between "sips" the hummer will back out from the feeder and hover, perhaps to rest and look around for competitors. The distance that he backs off is a few inches, typically, though this varies with the individual bird, species, and other variables, but it tends to be fairly consistent with a specific bird.

There are other tips on my website at www.gregscott.com.
(Both from my Dad and from myself).

I use a 100mm f2.8 macro lens, but a longer lens would work well if it has suitable macro capabilities and sharpness. I've got a 300mm prime lens from canon that seems like it might be sharp enough.

The use of fresnel lenses (flash extenders) to extend the reach of flash units is indeed helpful, and most people do this. I don't, I merely place the flash heads extremely close to the bird.

When using "normal" flash and slaves, I generally shoot at about F16, shutter speed adjusted to totally elmininate natural light (1/200 sec) or slower if I want to have an underexposed but otherwise natural background. (Two stops underexposed will generally minimize ghost images, provided that both subject and background are in the shade.)

Generally, however, I forgo using a natural background, and substitute a white card. When underexposed because it's further from the flash than the bird, it appears grey. A "natural" background can then be added digitally, if desired. A black background works too, but looks very unnatural since hummers don't fly at night. (Though I've seen Magnificents, particullarly, feed in very dark twilight.)

Positioning the flash to get irridescence can be ridiculously easy or extremely difficult, depending on the species. Ruby throats are not too hard, you just want to have the flash in front of the bird. Rufous and Broadbills and Costas are similar. Broadbills are no problem at all. They're irridescent with any flash placement. Black Chins are very difficult, and Magnificents are even harder. I generally get the best results with the last two species when I have some significant amount of ambient light. Flash placement remains a puzzle for those two species. It's curious that seen in very dark twilight, the magnificent head and gorget colors are extremely bright, in proportion to the rest of the bird, in natural light entirely of skylight with a wide canopy of fading blue.

Anyway, I'd be happy to answer questions you may have.

email www a_in_a_circle gregscott period com