Technical: Canon EOS 7D, 1/1000 sec. f6.3, ISO 200, Focal length 135
Rather than have you look for the previous post, I have posted again for reference.
Cousin David again. Wow. These were great. If I had captured any one of these images, I would have been very happy. So it is the reader’s choice as to which image is best. The background is blurred nicely, so the viewer can concentrate on the little bird. It was shot with a tripod. The fence in the background remains constant. The branch moves upward as the hummingbird pushes against it. Focus is good.
A little fill flash might have put some catch lights in the bird’s eye. That’s being very picky. Cropping might have made this shot tighter and the background less dominant. Still I would have been hesitant to shoot more telephotos because the bird might have moved and the shot would have been missed. After I got the shot at wide angle, then I might have zoomed to try for a closer tighter composition. Again, this is being very picky. The flower branches sweeping upward nicely lead the eye to the main subject. I have seen great shots of hummingbirds near a feeder, but being able to get this shot from a random branch is pretty special. Did I say that I liked this shot?
How hard was this? Well, Lisa put up a bird feeder during the winter and sitting there about 10 feet away and with a 400mm lens, I did not/could not do better than this. And, a bird in flight is never an easy image to capture. That is another discussion. For hummingbirds I have seen high speed flash triggered by the bird flying through the trip beam. Here David got the shot with good timing, a steady hand, patience, and a tripod.
David emailed:
Hi Victor: I’ve placed humming bird photos in Dropbox. With your help, I feel that I can start to take photos in a new dimension. Thanks so much. David
PhotoCritical 