Hummingbirds

Hummingbird wings beat approx. 80 times per second, or more, perhaps
as much as 200 beats per second. To stop wing motion, one must use a
very fast shutter speed - faster than most cameras have the
capability to attain and still produce adequate exposure with standard
lenses.

Instead, I used off-camera flash units, set to 1/8000 and 1/16000 second flash
duration. Here is a photo of the setup. The short duration flashes
provide all the light for the exposure. Camera iso/f-stop/shutter settings
such that frame is quite under-exposed without flash.

www.wyomerc.com/photog​raphy/wildlife/Humming​BirdSetup.jpg

The flash units are triggered wirelessly from a master unit mounted on
the camera, the slave units can be seen under the flash units.

Two photos from the session:

www.wyomerc.com/photog​raphy/wildlife/Humming​Bird20190430_1.png

www.wyomerc.com/photog​raphy/wildlife/Humming​Bird20190430_2.png

I plan to do more photography of the hummingbirds in the next few days.
These are at the home of a friend near Curtin Oregon.

Interesting setup. Thanks for sharing. I don't have all that equipment and I've never even used a flash before, so I just went old-school with my hummer shots by lowering the shutter speed to a crawl.

I have never used a flash for in flights, although I have seens some fantastic shots from flash setups. Generally I think a little wing blur is accepted by most for hummers as they are also blurry with the naked eye.

Photo from rgfrison's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (803980)

I like the wing blur too. Even a little more blur. It shows motion.

Blast from the past...

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …28%20copy-XL.jpg&lb=1&s=A

I have also never used flash for birds. I shot this with my Canon 70-200 2.8
SP 2000
F6

The setup GJim is using and describes works well.

Here's an old one that should have been shot at a lower ISO. Live and learn. There's a feeding tube hidden in the flowers to help the models hit their spots and pose for the camera.