Finally an acceptable hummungbird...

[OldClicker]

I finally captured one worth posting. Any advice on where to go from here? I'm thinking a lighter/less noisy background, better light on the ruby throat and a little faster shutter speed??? - TF

[PWhite214]

You have a real good one there.

Phil

[billy320]

awesome !!!

[CaraRose]

Just "acceptable"??? This shot is awesome!

[OldClicker]

Phil, Bill, Cara - Thanks for the comments. I'm set up next to a feeder and I'm trying to get as much out of it as I can. - Terry

[armando_m]

acceptable , yeah barely , you need to reshoot ... LOL

just kidding !!

you are being too humble , I think it is a great capture !

[Don Kondra]

Good pose Terry, Great eye detail and the wing motion the way I like

Not sure what you have for editing programs or even if you want to ?

In Elements 7 I did a little burn on the blown out parts, dodge on the dark areas, in lighting adjustments I darkened the highlights.

Then I blurred all of the background. I've been finding lately that does a much better job on the noise than noiseware.

In FastStone I fooled a bit with brightness/contrast and +1 sharpen.



Not to take away from your capture, personally I don't care for fill flash. It does capture more color and detail but it just doesn't look natural to me.

BTW, did you prefocus on an area/remote trigger or manage a AF capture?

I find if I'm at the camera I can shoot them but if I have to walk up to the camera they are gone

Cheers, Don

[OldClicker]

acceptable , yeah barely , you need to reshoot ... LOL

just kidding !!

you are being too humble , I think it is a great capture !

Thanks! I'll keep working at it. - Terry

[OldClicker]

Good pose Terry, Great eye detail and the wing motion the way I like

Thanks, Don.

Not sure what you have for editing programs or even if you want to ?

I certainly have nothing against post processing. I use Lightroom v2 and Photoshop CS4.

In Elements 7 I did a little burn on the blown out parts, dodge on the dark areas, in lighting adjustments I darkened the highlights.

Looking at the LR histogram (where it makes the blown out parts red), there isn't anything blown out. The lower throat is just lacking detail because it's not quite sharp enough. Motion blur? Need more DoF?

Then I blurred all of the background. I've been finding lately that does a much better job on the noise than noiseware.

It looks better, but I think that capturing it with more BG light would help a lot???

In FastStone I fooled a bit with brightness/contrast and +1 sharpen.

I did kick up the contrast quite a bit and used High Pass Filter sharpening. I am somewhat afraid of sharpening because I have a hard time telling when something is over-sharpened. Any pointers on what to look for? (I should start a thread on this.) Just not enough experience.

Not to take away from your capture, personally I don't care for fill flash. It does capture more color and detail but it just doesn't look natural to me.

It's more than fill flash. it's just about total flash. That's the only way I can get the shutter speeds up to > 1/800 sec to slow/stop the motion. (That's also why the BG is so dark.) One problem is that I have it on the camera so it is directly head on. I'm going to try it off camera today.

BTW, did you prefocus on an area/remote trigger or manage a AF capture?

I find if I'm at the camera I can shoot them but if I have to walk up to the camera they are gone

Manual pre-focus, remote sensor/trigger. If I get much more stuff set up in my back yard for this, I will probably need a building permit

Cheers, Don

Thanks a lot for your analysis. There are so many things I just can't see.

Terry

[scott-devon]

Wow, wonderful shot indeed. Congratulations!

[Don Kondra]

The lower throat is just lacking detail because it's not quite sharp enough. Motion blur? Need more DoF?

More DOF would be good but I think it's more a matter of the bird being on the edge of the prefocus area.

It looks better, but I think that capturing it with more BG light would help a lot???

Definitely would help and to my eye at least, look a little more natural. More lights

I did kick up the contrast quite a bit and used High Pass Filter sharpening. I am somewhat afraid of sharpening because I have a hard time telling when something is over-sharpened. Any pointers on what to look for? (I should start a thread on this.) Just not enough experience.

Me too, I haven't found the time to learn how to use the sliders for sharpening in Elements, that's why my final pass is in FastStone, the +1 is usually just enough and even +2 sometimes isn't over the top.

It's more than fill flash. it's just about total flash. That's the only way I can get the shutter speeds up to > 1/800 sec to slow/stop the motion. (That's also why the BG is so dark.) One problem is that I have it on the camera so it is directly head on. I'm going to try it off camera today.

Off camera will help a lot and some sort of diffusion/softbox would also kick it up a notch... I haven't done a lot of flash work with the birds but I would start with two heads, one on each side of the capture area at about 30 degrees. That should also improve the BG.

Manual pre-focus, remote sensor/trigger. If I get much more stuff set up in my back yard for this, I will probably need a building permit

LOL, know what you mean. At one point I had two strobes with 2' x 3' softboxes set up

Some ramblings.

Just recently I removed the perch from my feeder. This resulted in a slightly more consistent flight pattern. They come in to sip, move back, come in. When they move back they are still for a fraction of a second. Well, the body is anyway....

If you haven't already, you can increase the traffic to the target area by removing the other feeding ports.

1/800 is a pretty good speed to stop the wing motion. If you have the power I'd go to 1/1000.

The one advantage of flash is you can shoot anytime. I'm using natural light and can't help but shoot under poor conditions, he, he.. I tell myself it's good training and then grumble about the results.

If you are interested in perching type shots, install a short length of tree branch about a foot away from the feeder.

The females will quickly start using it to stage before moving in to feed. The males for some reason hardly do this and/or don't stay long.

One of my problems with prefocusing is my feeder is swinging/turning in the wind. I keep meaning to stabilize it somehow but never get around to it.

Coming from film, I tend to be "cheap" with my shots. I've switched to three to five shot bursts and gotten more "tongue out" shots.

Have fun, eh ?

Cheers, Don

[OldClicker]

Thanks, Don. I'll keep working on it. No visitors today for some reason. - Terry

[hb1944]

I try to get into a lighting situation when I can shoot 1/4000 with no more than 640ISO. I also will sometimes use an offcamera flash on a stand by the feeder, at no more than 1/16 power. 1/32 works better, but you have to have it within 3-4 feet, but it will stop his wings dead still.

Great shot and glad to see someone else get hooked.
Horace Best
Goldsboro, NC

[OldClicker]

Wow, wonderful shot indeed. Congratulations!

Thanks! - Terry

[Intrepid Berkeley Explorer]

Sages in my front yard seem popular with hummingbirds. I only see them hover and dine. Your marvelous photo is greater than life size. Their wings are only a blur as I watch, but you have somehow captured the wings and made them still.

Congratulations.

[Loupey]

Nice job!

I see only 1 male for roughly every dozen female sightings. And this year I've only seen a half dozen RTHB total

[paulnj]

Very nice shoot!

I am not one to critique, but it looks a bit too bright and over flashed(or strong directional sunlight)

[OldClicker]

Very nice shoot!

I am not one to critique, but it looks a bit too bright and over flashed(or strong directional sunlight)

Please critique. How would I get the throat to fluoresce without an overly strong light? – Terry

[paulnj]

You did great at lighting up the throat, but It looks over flashed.

[OldClicker]

You did great at lighting up the throat, but It looks over flashed.

I have put small diffusers on the flashes. I don't have any results yet to check if it looks batter. - Terry