I spent three mornings with the Hummingbirds of Antelope Island last week. Each day the number of birds and amount of activity declined so I’m thinking some of them are moving out. All but one of these images are from the third day.
Despite my lack of experience shooting hummingbirds I’m already developing preferences for settings and backgrounds when photographing them. My tastes are sometimes overwhelmed by all the flower color, especially when there’s so many flowers and they’re all the same color so I like as much variety as I can get in my backgrounds. Shades of pink have never been my favorite colors…
1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up
I’d often get backgrounds like this – a mixture of out of focus flowers (Rocky Mountain Bee Plant) and greenery. There’s a lot of color here but it works pretty well for me because the background flowers are so soft and out of focus. When they’re more in focus back there I find them distracting. I have many shots like that, where I really like the bird but the background – not so much.
1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up
Occasionally I’d get a bird feeding at an isolated flower with the golden color of dried grasses in morning light as background, which I like for variety (and for the fact that it’s not an artificial or Photoshopped background as is so often the case for shots like this).
1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up
But I think my favorites are those where I mostly have greenery of the bee plant as background and the bird is hovering slightly away from the flower, which gives a great look at the entire bird rather than having the bill buried in the flower and partially hidden. But then I like the feeding behavior too, so I guess I’m vacillating – nothing new for me, especially when I’m venturing into unexplored territory (lack of experience shooting hummers).
1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up
I got a few shots with the beak open and tongue sticking out. This image isn’t my best technically but I like the behavior.
In a comment on one of my two hummingbird posts last week, Jo Smith provided a link to an absolutely fascinating clip about hummingbird tongues. If you didn’t see it then I highly recommend that you watch it. Thank you, Jo!
1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up
One last shot of one of the birds feeding.
Something I’m still trying to wrap my head around to some degree is the relationship between shutter speed, depth of field and the sharpness of the whirring wings when shooting these tiny birds in flight. The shutter speed of the third and fifth images was extremely fast but the wings in those images don’t seem to be significantly sharper than the other shots with much slower shutter speeds. That may be because the wings at the apex position are moving slower than they are during the downbeat, it may be a depth of field thing at f/5.6 or it may be a combination of the two.
Figuring it out and fine tuning my technique next summer (or earlier if the birds hang around a little longer) should be fun.
Ron
What incredible shots! I think you’re dead on on your shooting. These are simply amazing.
Charlotte
beautiful shots, Ron! Such detail!
Glad you enjoyed the link, my cousin sent it to me as she knows I feed the hummers all summer. She lives in Texas so we let each other know when they are headed in each others direction. I wouldn’t worry too much about the back grounds, most of us are too busy looking at the birds to notice.
You had three days with the hummingbirds, and I have had hours of fun. Visiting and re-visiting. Thank you. And thank you to Jo for that incredible clip.
Hi Ron,
As much as I enjoy your photographs I also enjoy your comments. I’m also trying to learn from all your settings. One question for now is, how do you get the bird and the flower both sharp? Where do you focus your camera on? When I ‘m birding and handholding my camera I spot focus on the bird’s eye. I’d appreciate any tips on this subject.
Maha
Maha, I always focus on the eye, or as close to it as I can. There’s not much DOF with the gear I use so usually the flower has to be in very close to the same plane as the bird to get them both sharp. Notice that’s the case in all of these shots (at least with the primary flower). I have many images where the bird is good and sharp but the main flower isn’t because it’s too far in front of or behind the bird.
More wonderful photos! I’m surprised that the hummingbirds were still around last week. My experience has been that they migrate in mid-April and mid-August, especially in places that have real winters.
Susan, I looked for those hummingbirds this morning but most of them have moved on. Only saw a few and photographed one for about 5 seconds…
I love the colors in the first picture (but then I really like the color pink!) The background is so soft.
I try to be more accepting of pink, Peggy but I’ve still got some work to do in that regard.
Ron, don’t worry about needing to grow into liking pink. Even some women (like me) find it takes time to really appreciate it…
Well, I sure botched my HTML coding! 🙁 Just click on anything underlined.
Not to worry, Dwynn – the link worked just fine.
Measurements on Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds () indicate wingtip speeds throughout the wing stroke ranging approximately from 2 m/s to 15 m/s. Thus, if a camera is exposed for 1/4000 s, the wingtip travels 0.5 mm during the exposure if it is at the slowest portion of the stroke. If the wingtip were moving in a direction significantly away from the line of sight to cause, say, an apparent 0.1-mm displacement in the focal plane, is that significantly greater than the smallest detail in a hummingbird photo; i.e., would the wingtip appear blurry? I don’t know, I am just throwing this out for consideration.
Wow, Dwynn – that article’s going to take some study. Their point about the long axis humerus rotation immediately grabbed my attention. I had never heard hummingbirds referred to as “vertebrate insects” but it certainly fits.
Hi Ron- enjoyed your Hummer images. I too have fooled around with settings on my Canon for speed and DOF this summer. I like the blurred background not cluttered and the wings sharp. I have found shooting at 4000 speed to work well but, still not sure on F-stop- have shot anywhere from 2.8 to 5.6 without seeing a big difference in DOF. Used the 300mm 2.8 on a 1DMK4. Look forward to your posts daily- Keep up the Great work!
Bob Karcz
Bob, I can only get down to 5.6 with the tc on the 500mm. That seems to give pretty good DOF for both the bird and the large flower if the bird is close to it. Then I hope for enough light to use higher shutter speeds.
Ron – I presume that the speckles on the wings in pix 2 and 3 are pollen. What great pollinators! My favorite is the second pic. Thanks for the clip. I love hummers!
MarkNDenver
Yes, that is pollen, Mark. Some of the birds had lots of it on them.
I love, love, love these photos! Some of my favorite ever! Thanks for taking some time with hummingbirds.
Thank you, Marya.
Wonderful Photos Ron and thank you for the incredible clip ! Here’s some clips to a documentary on “Nature ” from PBS about Hummingbirds I think you and others might enjoy.Here’s the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/lessons/the-physics-of-hummingbirds-magic-in-the-air/video-segments/5725/
The clip I enjoyed most was how the Hummingbird conserves energy. Thanks !
Very interesting clips, John. I was fascinated by the possibility (likelihood?) that the Anna’s chirp is made by feathers rather than vocally.
Great photos Ron. And you’re right that clip is very much worth watching ! I sent it on to my Birding Bunch. Thank you Jo & Ron.
Thanks, Deb. Hope your birding bunch enjoys it.