A collection of Hummingbirds

[d-sr]

I've been trying to get some decent shots of Hummingbirds for the last little while, with little luck but today I finally got it right, at least one time. The first three are cropped and resized only. No PSP at all. Hope you enjoy and as always, C&Cis welcomed.

I am having trouble getting the shutter speed I need to freeze the wings. If I get above500 everything is so dark I can't use the shots. I've tried everything. I change the EV so the camera shows just a very little burnout on thefeederandit looksgood in the viewfinderafter I take it but is way dark when I download it. Extremely bright sun today and these three came out nice but the fourth one was at Shutter speed 640 & +2/3 EV and still came out so dark it shound have been thrown away. Any suggestions are welcome.

Don







Iraised thespeed to 640on this one and had to brighten, sharpen and NR. I know it's not in focusbut I wanted to include it for the question above.

I took this last one this spring, I think. It's so tinny and cute I had to include it. I think it was a baby just out of the nest but not for sure. It was less than 1/2 the size of the others.

[D.Ann]

Very nice series Don! I wish I could help you withany technical questions you may have, but when try I to capture hummers, I just stalk around my deck, hoping to get lucky and saying a prayer when I squeeze the shutter. Again, very nice! Donna

[bayourebel]

Hi! Don. Very nice series. I have the same problems you have with the hummers. I have also tried different settings. If I up the ISO, then its too noisy. Up the shutter speed too dark, etc. Will watch this topic to pick up on any advice offered.

[RedStickMan]

I've been struggling lately with photographing hummers myself.From what I'veread and experienced, you'll probably want to use a flash if you really want to freeze the wing action.The down side is you lose the use of burst mode. I've just started trying with the flash and surprisingly, the little hummers barely seem to notice it.

These links might help.

http://www.photosafaris.com/Articles...mmingbirds.asp

http://www.moosepeterson.com/phototi...mingbirds.html


Your second shot looks pretty darn good to me, just might need a touch of sharpening and maybe some level adjusting.

Keep shooting and good luck!

[dwssas]

d-sr. What seems to work for me is to set focus on the yellow part of the floret on the feeder, which is usually the brightest part giving the highest shutter speed. I then move the positioning of the cam to about where the bird is on your last photograph. That would be 4-5 inches away from the floret. I then wait for the hummer to enter this realm and then shoot. Since one shot would be enough the flash can also be used especially if acheiving a high shutter speed is not possible. This method can be time consuming. If you want a hummer to go ino this sweet spot "guaranteed like for sure"just set the camera down, turn it off, look up and he will stay there until you prep he cam and he will be long gone again before you can get a shot off.

[bayourebel]

Dwassas, how true.

[dwssas]

A couple more hummers

[dwssas]

And the second one.

[tiger98]

Nice shots Don! They are tough to get. I've found that I have my best luck shooting them in the Sports mode. Not sure if you've tried that? Included one sample sitting still ! Jim

[d-sr]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions Jerry, Jim, dwssas, RedStickMan and Donna. I'll tryevery one of them.

Jim, Now a shot like that with your FZ50 would make a great comparison.

Don