humming birds

this is only my second time useing my bigma,i know they are not that good,but i did handhold these shots.

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Get a tripod or monopod, clean that feeder off it's very dirty. I prefer the feeders without perches on them as you can set up small branches off the place you hang the feeder and they will perch up on those giving you cleaner shots. The first image looks pretty good on exposure but really needs some flash to pull up some details around the eye, Also if you set up near you minimum focusing distance most humming birds will get use to your presence and allow you pretty close as long as you do not make fast movements. Get the feeder set where the sun will help you with the shots either in the morning or the evening. Second shot also needs flash or you need to orient the feeder to where the sun will help you with faster shutter speeds and try higher ISO settings.

thanks for info. i will use my tripod next time and i have cleaned the feeder.i did not think about flash.thanks scott

For hummingbirds, cleaning up my hummingbird feeder was not enough. It still looked ugly. So, I bought some silk flowers and attached them around the feeder. The hummingbirds still go there to hit the nectar port, but it looks more natural.

I set my camera with 100-400 lens on a tripod inside the house, shooting out through a patio window, toward the feeder. I put my 550EX flash unit close to the feeder (maybe four feet) and use a wireless master on the camera's hot shoe. That works.

---Bob Gross---

thanks for the info.i went back out and shot with my flash it is late here but did not turn out to bad.

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Looks better and more balanced I think, now to get about 5 foot closer here and then a little more you will get there.

thanks Dragonslayer thanks i was about 10ft futher on this shot they were not shure what i was doing i think.thanks very much for info.

You are welcome and you might want to try and adjust your AE compensation down at least one third, maybe two, and read your book about how to set your flash exposure compensation and set that minus one at least as you get in closer, many more flash tricks to learn but that is way to much typing

thanks again,i do know how to use flash comp. on camera and on my sigma flash i will try again in the morning. thanks alot scott stokes.