My Fisrt Hummingbird encounter

[Jaedon]

After reading everyone elses posts and marvelling at these little creatures I found myself in a perfect location to try out everything I have read in teh way of advice and try my hand at a capture or 2 of these little guys.

Over 2 days I probably sat still for about 3 hours and at time I got very frustrated with things that I could not control (lighting, uncoorporative subjects, not enough beer....etc) but in the end it all turned out to be worth it. Only one type of HBird was showing it's face although I am told that there are 3 species which visit my wife's uncles cottage throughout the year.

I have no idea what species of humming bird this is.. but it sure was fun trying to capture them.

This one was from inside the house, through the glass, with flash due to poor lighting.



The following were taken after about 2 hours of practice and another hour of patience waiting for the sun to show through the clouds so I could crank up the shutter speed and get the picture I wanted.

And lastly my favourite:

[quetzal]

Hummingbirds are cool aren't they?
Very nice for your first images of these guys, and even though the first one's a little dark, its still a beautiful close-up.
I just started taking pics of them this summer and, though my latest have improved, my first shots were pretty bad. Good job! :thumbsup:

[OBie]

Very cool. I'm only lasting about 10 minutes outside waiting for them - it's way too hot. Hmmm - maybe I need some more beer myself . . .

[Jaedon]

Very cool. I'm only lasting about 10 minutes outside waiting for them - it's way too hot. Hmmm - maybe I need some more beer myself . . .

We have had a weird stretch of weather up here this summer. Smoking hot for June and July and then August hits... some cold arctic air mass moves in and we haven't seen above 75F yet this month. It was 81F inside and 71F outside so the beer was being drunk when we went in to warm up lol.

Thank you for the comments guys. Of course these are the best of about 35 images that I shot. I got a really nice approach shot the night before but the light was very low and my camera doesn't like low light very much. There fore it was very noisy and SUPER grainy. I could have had a nicer image but then the bird would have been nothing but a blur since I would have been shooting at 1/80 or even 1/60.

I also discovered that my camera auto defaults to 1/160 when the on board flash is used as the fastest shutter speed. Great for fill lighting and such but when you need to shoot fast motion it leaves much to be desired.

Learning my camera as much as learning my subject is getting better pictures out of me every day. Knowing the limitations before making the shot I now know whether or not is it worth sitting there for an hour in wait.

[Loupey]

Jaedon, you nailed it on the head - knowing your equipment thoroughly (inside and out) is more than half the battle. The more you use it, the more it will become a part of you so that you don't really have to think about it and can concentrate more on the subject at hand.

I can see it now: if we ever have a N/W photogathering, a bunch of nature freaks drinking beer and shooting hummingbirds Afterwards a contest to see who got the most blurry pixs

Oh, BTW, I love your last 2 pictures - nice wings and nicer background

[Jaedon]

Thanx Loupey

and if we ever do a NW gathering.. I'll bring the beer.. that american stuff just doesn't cut it
The last 2 are my favs as well. The clouds darkened teh background for me taking out the green from the pine trees in teh backdrop nicely. I did turn the shadows up a wee bit in post to make the contrast that much nicer too.

[terryger]

outstanding!

i am not sure what is in your area but if that was here i would say either a blackchin female or a anna's female. and it could be both as i see rufus sidemarking on one. maybe the same one but hard to tell.:mad2: many times you just think it is the same one but they are taking turns.

lighting is everything along with behavior and location for identification.

then you get a lot of hybrids and birds that don't pay attention to the "expert rules" which really puts a kink in it.



great stuff!

[Coastal Flyer]

Great shots regardless of experience. I enjoy shooting these little guys myself and like to see what others have done so I can improve. Thanks for posting.

As for the N/W gathering, count me in. I can drink beer and blur shots with the best of them.

CF