Hummingbird in the Backyard

Howdy,

I should be doing more research reading into proper exposure settings instead of fumbling around with the aperture/shutter/flash​. This one was with 1/1600 but I don't recall the 430EX flash settings. Sometimes I wanted wing blur and sometimes not. I thought I'd have control over that with the shutter and flash but I've run the shutter at 1/1600 along with high speed flash mode set and didn't get the wing-stop that I expected. Other times I've had 1/200 shutter and full auto flash and it seemed to freeze the wings but not always (maybe the wings were in the process of changing direction so they were slowing down). If I'm using a flash along with so-so sunlight, should I be in high-speed flash mode with a fast shutter or should I be at a 1/200 and doing something with the flash other than auto? Should I lower the flash power to get a shorter pop? By the way; female Anna's hummingbird? Thanks in advance for your advice!

1/1600th

Hello Dave, Welcome to the forum. Real nice shots here, I like #2 and 3 best. Sorry but I can't help much on your flash question but there are a lot of very great Photographers here that are quite willing to help you out, I rarely use flash for birds, never actually. There are probably some very good tutorials here too if you look at the different sub-forums. I say try shooting w/o flash, their wings move so fast that luck has a bit to do with freezing the wings imho. Anyhow Welcome again, let's see some more!. Also, with Hummers it is very hard to do as they jump around so much, try to crop out your feeder. I am quite sure someone else here who uses flash will give you some pointers. Lets see some more.

Nice ones Dave! I've had more failure than success with flash and birds. Check out my no flash attempts at the Manhattan Beach Botanical Gardens last April. The place was swarming with Anna's and Rufous.

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1027412

Whoops I just noticed you posted on that thread already. Did you ever go check em out?

nicely done Dave

Howdy Bret, Chris and K,

Thanks for the welcome .

Chris: Yep, I went over to the Botanical Gardens back at the end of June. There were only a couple that swooped in and then back out again during the hour that I spent there . I heard that the "action" is better earlier and later in the year than summertime. I assume that springtime would be best. What shutter speed did you use for your great shots?

Bret: Yep, the big red feeder has to go from future shots. The feeder is now a "been there, done that" kinda thing .

I think in 1 & 3 you need to Photoshop out the feeder, the difference between a good shot and a great shot is in the detail. Lose the feeder it becomes a better shot.

Dave Weldon wrote in post #12889520
Chris: Yep, I went over to the Botanical Gardens back at the end of June. There were only a couple that swooped in and then back out again during the hour that I spent there . I heard that the "action" is better earlier and later in the year than summertime. I assume that springtime would be best. What shutter speed did you use for your great shots?

These were shot at 1/2000, ISO 400, and pretty wide open apertures. I was using the 100-400mm, mostly at 400mm.

Love the double-bird shot!

G3G4G5 wrote in post #12893525
These were shot at 1/2000, ISO 400, and pretty wide open apertures. I was using the 100-400mm, mostly at 400mm.

Howdy Chris,

Thanks! I'll try the faster shutter speed and see how I do .

absplastic wrote in post #12893562
Love the double-bird shot!

Howdy,

I like it too! I turned it into the monthly company photo contest last week. I'm hoping for an "honorable mention" .

Dave Weldon wrote in post #12894762
Howdy,

I like it too! I turned it into the monthly company photo contest last week. I'm hoping for an "honorable mention" .

Howdy All,

As luck would have it, I did get an "honorable mention" in the company photo contest this month .