Hummer summer (pic added)

[Steve Foss]

Since I'm now the master of my own schedule, I'll be doing some fairly intensive work in the back yard capturing images of hummingbirds.

With just five minutes of setup and attention to detail such as lighting and background, it's pretty simple, and once the setup is dialed in it's a matter of spending the time.

Here's the first of what promises to be a lot of fun. The light's not just right to flatter the gorget, and he was leery of the flowers, only actually feeding on the blooms once for a split second.

More refinements to come. Maybe even this evening when the light calms down.

Canon 30D, Canon 400 f5.6L, iso200, 1/1000 sec at f8, EX430 flash on high-speed synch with -1 flash exposure compensation, manual focus mode, tripod, remote shutter release.

[Big Tom]

Wow Steve! That's awesome.

[mcary]

I'll be looking forward to seeing what you can get this summer. I'm sure you'll be able to get some pretty amazing shots. I was hoping to dedicate this summer to photography, but new job and new city won't allow for it. I'll have to live vicariously through you and the others.

[mmeyer]

Since I'm now the master of my own schedule

I thought you were married Steve?

Is there a way to get them to come to a particular flower that you're set up on or does it have to be all chance?

Thanks

[Steve Foss]

Yes, there is a way. Tape the cut flower to the nectar feeder and tape over all the holes in the feeder so the hummer has nothing but the flower to feed out of.

After a hummer has taken nectar from the flower a couple of times and it is empty, you can use an eyedropper or a spray bottle to get sugar water inside the flower. Flowers wilt after just a few hours, though, so you'd better have a good supply.

[mmeyer]

Thanks Steve. I'll have to try that once I start getting some flowers blooming.

[Steve Foss]

I just bought some red annual flower varieties at the local greenhouse for a few bucks and used those. I've got a vining honeysuckle with orange tubular flowers that blooms profusely and I'll probably wait until that starts blooming in a couple weeks to do some more work with the hummies.

[JayinMN]

great shot and thanks for the tip. I'm still waiting for my first hummer to show up.

[dockothebay]

That's a wonderful shot - thanks so much for sharing your tip about getting them on a flower. We played "Are you smarter than a hummingbird?" this weekend - lots of the little guys at the feeders at the cabin. We got some decent shots - certainly nothing like this. But next time we'll have a few more tools in the bag!

Thanks again for sharing your work and your techniques -

[buzzsaw]

Perfect comp and a nice complimentary color in your flower... an eye appealing image, Steve!!

[Steve Foss]

Here's the next installment. Exposure is about right except for a slight blowout in the whites of the side of the neck, which I'll correct before printing.

30D, 400 f5.6L, iso400, 1/800 at f5.6, EX 430 on high-speed synch at -1 1/3 flash exposure compensation, camera at +2/3 EC, tripod, remote shutter release, manual focus, hummer and blooms lassoed and sharpened, background softened with Noise Ninja and a light application of gaussian blur.