My take on hummingbirds

[Dbl]

Went out Friday looking for some hummingbird shots. Managed a few, but I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with various techniques so I didn't get all that many keepers. All shots with the Mark IIN, 300/2.8 with 1.4TC on tripod. ISO ranged from 160 to 1250 depending on light, most shutter speeds around 1/650 to 1/1250 with the aperature of f5.6 and -1/3 to -2/3rds Exposure compensation for the darker background. Very slight crop on a few of these. I hope you enjoy one or two.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

[Steve Foss]

That's great work, Dan. Nice to see you getting back into the bird game with the rest of us birdbrains.

Love the quiet light and quiet BG, with the bird and flower perfectly isolated.

[mcary]

Very nice!

[Dbl]

Thank you Steve and Michael for the kind comments. It was a slower week in the sports world and I was anxious to shoot some fast moving subjects!

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Super nice! Very sharp. What is the flower?

[vern]

Wow! Great photos.

[Dbl]

Boy MM, I have no idea what flower that is

[mplspug]

That flower there be Delphinium. We planted one n the spring in the hopes of attracting some hummingbirds along with a feeder and a butterfly/hummingbird wild seed mix.

Well I took the feeder down and pretty much had given up on attracting them. The other day I see a small bird just as it landed on the clothesline. My firsts thought was a wren, since we had not see a hummer. As he took off, it was unmistakable. I was very excited, but it was the top of the thistles feeder, which is red, that had gotten his attention. He moved on past the feeder and flowers after realizing it was not a flower. I decided to move the feeder to the clothesline, since I have red that they take the same routes everyday. We haven't seen that one since. My immediate thought upon seeing one after not seeing one all summer is that he was migrating.

[Jim Almquist]

Dan all are great shots but really love 2and 3.The detail just pops on those two. I guess we have to hope you have some more slow time

[Dbl]

Thanks again for the compliments and mplspug thank you for the flower ID.

[MarchelRipley1]

Those are very nice shots. I have to say that if you ran a search on Google, you would find those flowers to be a Purple Majesty Salvia. I know of another photog down in the southern burbs that has been using them this season for his shots, nice.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks for the flower ID. I wasn't sure whether it was a type of salvia or not, myself. It's been too long since my greenhouse days, and the memory ain't what it used to be.

[mplspug]

I was just testing you.

I stand corrected. In my haste, I identified it wrong probably because I planted mine for the purpose of attracting hummingbirds. Oddly enough, we have red salvia on the patio. That's red. As in hummingbirds are suppose to be attracted to red! Well, it hasn't been doing it's job! I think the problem is we aren't in a very woody neighborhood and the nearest body of water is about 1/2 mile away.

[Dbl]

Bill we know the same photographer and that is where they were taken.

[Steve Foss]

Ah, of course.

[hendenhook]

Just wanted to say that those are great - just so sharp.

No doubt you can tell when the pros are touching the shutter it shows.

Thanks for the post.

[Dbl]

That is really very kind, I appreciate the complement hedenhook. There really are a lot of talented photographers who post here, it sure is fun to see what work everyone has to share each day.