Hummingbird

[tab]

Now is that one word or two? Here are some shots from my yard of one of the hummingbirds we have around. They were all taken with a Nikon D1X, ISO 800, using either an AFS 300 f4 or f2.8. Shutter speed from 1/1600 to 1/2500 when the sun broke through some clouds. Aperture was usually wide open at f2.8 to f5.

[tab]

I took these while waiting for the hummingbird to return. I was able to slow my settings down but I kept my aperture wide.

[gahspidy]

Tab,
All are pretty good. i like the first 3 shots of the hummingbird and the butterfly shot. I couldn't give any advice for improvement other than I would like to see one of the shots a bit closer, and close the apperture a stop or two to get a little more sharpness and maybe getting some motion in the wings. Good work.

[Old Timer]

Now is that one word or two? Here are some shots from my yard of one of the hummingbirds we have around. They were all taken with a Nikon D1X, ISO 800, using either an AFS 300 f4 or f2.8. Shutter speed from 1/1600 to 1/2500 when the sun broke through some clouds. Aperture was usually wide open at f2.8 to f5.

Gold stars to all, but number two has my vote. Well composed and exposed images of a very elusive subject. Very nice capture.

[shesells]

Do you live in the Garden of Eden? I mean, hummingbirds, butterfly's and dragonflies all flittering around beautiful plush greenery and flowers! I've only seen a hummingbird once and that was at "Butterfly World". I love the DOF in the first one. In the second one, his wings almost look transluscent. Number 3 - his little wings flapping.ohhhhh hes so cute!#4 - he doesn't even look like a bird, looks like some kind of little munchkin or something. The butter fly pic at the bottom is superb in quality. but my fav.....That dragonfly. Its so simple and pure. great placement and wonderful catch of him just standing there on that curly twig. Very very nice Tab.
~ Kit

[Chunk]

I took these while waiting for the hummingbird to return. I was able to slow my settings down but I kept my aperture wide.

The hummer shots are terrific but my favorite here is the dragonfly sitting on a twig that is an abstract version of a dragonfly. If the original is sharper than this web version it's a wallhanger for sure.

[Old Timer]

Tab as I said in my earlier post I really like your images. I have a couple of question if you don't mind. Are you using auto focus or do you pre focus to a spot? At what range are you shooting and is the camera mounted on a tripod? Also interested in your metering, spot, matrix or center? Just trying to pick your brain here. My one attempt at the hummingbird was not nearly as sucessful. Here is an example.

[tab]

Thanks for the comments. I'm shooing about 12-15' away. The birds are quite timid and fly off in a hurry when I try to get closer. I've taken some prior to these with an AFS 80-200mm but the birds get lost in frame very easily. I don't use a tripod only because the birds move so quickly from flower to flower I couldn't track it fast enough. I have used a monopod before but not with any of these shots. I autofocus then lock the focus in until the bird moves to another flower. It stops the lens from searching when there are plants in front of or in back of the bird. I usually switch between matrix and center weighted metering depending on the background and shadows. The dragonfly was center weighted for that reason while the first hbird in the plants was matrix but the second was center weighed. I like to stop the wings or severly slow down the motion like you did with the one approaching the feeder. That's why I try to shoot a very fast shutter. Which also means that I have to shoot at a larger aperture or/and faster ISO. Here's 3 more: the first settings where the wings are barely noticable was shot at an iso of 400, SP, MM, 1/320 f9.5 using a AFS300 with a 1.4 teleconverter for a focal length of 420mm. I was probably 12' away. The second were:Shutter Priority, Matrix Metered, ISO 320, f4 1/1250 . The third one has the same settings.

[evatgirl73]

I think they're all very cool, I know I would not have been able to capture one as great as you have here! I love the dragonfly pic as well, very cool. Technically I think these are all good, I would personally crop some of them closer to the bird but that's it. Great catch!

Take care,
Eva