CamFan01 wrote in post #17128566
If you still consider these images as "Not quite there" Mr. VP, maybe you'd care to share with us what you see wrong....or what you'd rather see. I know it took me at least a month or so to figure out myself what I was trying to achieve and that might be an ongoing process for the both of us.
The 2 images I see are both in excellent focus on the eye and flower which we all agree is very important. The main difference I see is that the tail is much sharper in the first image, and I would suspect a slower shutter speed in the 2nd image as shown in the blurred wings might be the culprit. Your editing of both is excellent.
As to bringing him in to your hand, if he's used to nectar from the feeder try a small jar top with nectar in it. I've seen pix of birds enjoying nectar from jar lids in peoples palms. Have your camera ready too as I want to see it
I guess most of all, I'm thinking of the awesome feather definition others have in their shots. And lighting is a big factor here. My backyard is on the south side of my home, so to utilize the stand of pines along my back fence as BG, I have to shoot into the light. Turning around to put the light behind, I got structures for BG. Plus tons of shade everywhere.
Therefore, out of necessity, I have to shoot w/ open aperature(narrow dof) and relatively slow ss. Methinks the hummer's head is like it's on some type of gyroscope- it remains rock solid while the rest of the bird vibrates w/ the wings. I've even seen the sharp head and slightly blurred body in some of "Mr. Slow", Bret's shots. By the way, I'm just happy to get the focus on the bird, let alone, his head
This guy was moving around so fast and I was so close that I believe there were 44 shots and these 3 were about the only keepers.
For editing, the noise reduction features in LR have helped in that regard. Still working on the organizational aspect of it.
Thank you, my friend, for your in depth reply and encouragement. Much appreciated!
