Humming Birds

I’ve been trying to photograph some shy humming birds and I’m afraid I am a flash short for a background. These were taken in daylight shade using two off camera flash units. I can’t afford a third and was wondering if there were some ideas to bring out a background.

I could add one with Photoshop but would rather capture one.

Butch

Nice pictures. They are just fine to me without including any BG.

Great stuff. What a fantastic lens.

What is the black background from? What is your technique to achieve focus? I've always had trouble getting accurate focus on moving birds.

One way to achieve a nice background would be to shoot the background in Av at a slower shutter after getting your shot and mask the bird in later.

--
Write, Draw, Shoot, Create

Nice work on a tough subject.

Thanks Carl

Hi James

In order to freeze the wings and get the necessary depth of field I had to use F16 with a 1/250 shutter speed. This gave good detail and froze the wings.

I slaved two speedlites set to manual 1/32 power. This gave me a flash duration of under 1/10,000 second…plenty to freeze the 800 beats a minute wings in flight

I used no diffusers but would have if I had them

I set them within 18 inches of the feeder.

Set up the camera on a tripod just beyond minimum focus distance…about 10 feet.

I set the lens to manual and pre-focused on the feeder flower

Set the camera to manual … ISO to 400, shutter 250, and F16. I also shot some at ISO 200, shutter 250, and F13.

Got a comfortable chair and a cable release and sat quietly until he began to feed.

It was late afternoon in the shade…If I did not use the flashes the F16, ISO, and shutter setting would just show black. With the flash I could freeze the wings.

Hope this helps.

Butch

Thanks Zee

James Madara said:

What is the black background from? What is your technique to achieve focus? I've always had trouble getting accurate focus on moving birds.

Click to expand...

I wondered that too, then I found this:

http://www.dyesscreek.com/miscellaneous_pages/howto_1.html

Daviskw said:

Hi James

In order to freeze the wings and get the necessary depth of field I had to use F16 with a 1/250 shutter speed. This gave good detail and froze the wings.

I slaved two speedlites set to manual 1/32 power. This gave me a flash duration of under 1/10,000 second…plenty to freeze the 800 beats a minute wings in flight

I used no diffusers but would have if I had them

I set them within 18 inches of the feeder.

Set up the camera on a tripod just beyond minimum focus distance…about 10 feet.

I set the lens to manual and pre-focused on the feeder flower

Set the camera to manual … ISO to 400, shutter 250, and F16. I also shot some at ISO 200, shutter 250, and F13.

Got a comfortable chair and a cable release and sat quietly until he began to feed.

It was late afternoon in the shade…If I did not use the flashes the F16, ISO, and shutter setting would just show a black background. With the flash I could freeze the wings.

Hope this helps.

Butch

Click to expand...

Man, this is great info and pics! So I have one speedlite. Would that be enough to get the freeze you're getting?

Hi

No expert thats for sure but if you had a powerful flash like a 580 you could try setting the duration to 1/16 and use a reflector of some kind to soften shadows.

Butch

Ugh, only have a 430ex ii. I still might try it one of these days.

Very nice shots . I try to isolate flowers from back ground .
Nice DOF .
--
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Wow, those pictures are absolutely fantastic! Very professional quality. I am very impressed.

Just move the flash a little closer to the feeder it could still work. I was surprised with all the equipment that the birds still came to feed. I was careful to let them feed a little before I used the flash. At first they took off but after awhile they pretty well ignored the flashing.

Butch

Thanks tony

Thanks Marshall

Some very nice shots and very well illuminated.

So, there are lots of different ways to approach these sorts of shots, but one hint I picked up in another thread here was to try to shoot with flash at a time of day when the feeder is in shade and the background is lit (if you're lucky enough to have that sort of environment). My own feeder happens to be shaded in the morning and there is a reasonable window of time when the trees in the background are nicely lit. Using the flash freezes the wings and provides sufficient illumination to get a decent shot. I use servo focus and high speed shutter and my 100-400L at 400mm. Since I'm fairly close to the feeder (and use a 580EX flash), it seems to recharge quickly enough to catch most of the shutter iterations.

Here are a couple of examples taken in the last few weeks or so. There's still a bit of blur in the wings, but I actually prefer that as it gives a bit of sense of motion to the shot. Strictly a matter of personal preference. Minimizing ambient light would reduce or eliminate that blur.

Best of luck. Looks to me as if you're off to a great start. These guys are among my favorite subjects, though they are VERY challenging.

Thanks Jerry and good job with your takes

Butch

The shots are so perfect, almost like Xmas tree ornaments. Please excuse me if I first thought they were stuffed birds hanging on monofilament line that was photo-shopped out.

Daviskw said:

I’ve been trying to photograph some shy humming birds and I’m afraid I am a flash short for a background. These were taken in daylight shade using two off camera flash units. I can’t afford a third and was wondering if there were some ideas to bring out a background.

I could add one with Photoshop but would rather capture one.

Click to expand...

Excellent images!

Using a sun-lit background would "ghost" the image. I suggest using a background about the same distance behind the bird as you are in front of it. Maybe a mat board, maybe some flowers, maybe a trellis - but the background should also be in shade. If you use an artificial background, use a bright one - your background will be 2 stops less exposed than your hummer (if the subject is halfway between).
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-Dave
http://pixseal.com