Studio Hummers (pics included)

[Tom Wilson]

I've been busily shopping for a large muslin background for the last two weeks, and I was amazed when I saw the BG and the bokeh on these shots. These shots look like they were taken in front of a muslin back drop.

This shot here doesn't have the backdrop look to it, but it truly was a studio setup. It was extremely dark on Saturday afternoon here at the house. To get these shots, I set up a large 4ft by 6ft white reflector for bounce lighting, and then attached the stroboframe and the sb 800 to the x to give me the flash power I needed to get my shutter speed to any kind of speed at all. This was shot at 450mm, with a shutter speed of 1/180. It is amazing at what a little flash can do to freeze action--by most rules of photography, this photo should be blurry. Flash is an amazing tool, but it is by far the hardest part of photography to learn.

[Dbl]

Great classic hummingbird poses. You know after 25 years of shooting I still don't even own a flash. You are right about it being a challenge to learn all the setups you can use with strobes, flashes, bounces, umbrellas, remote firing, etc. I will have to jump in sooner or later for some of my other shooting but it will take some serious research and a lot of experimentation to learn how to use it correctly as you have done here.

[floating minnow]

Holy hummingbird! Those are marvelous. Well worth the extra effort you put in to get these shots. The hummingbird shots you guys have been posting are something else.