Can't find a good setting

[yobenny]

I have shot hundreds of these and tried everything I can think of and cannot get the exposure right on these little guys.
The feeder is under a shade tree and doesnt get direct full sunlight, most of these are shot in the shadow of the house.
At this range the flash burns everything out, I have tried putting tissue paper of it a few times but I just cannot get this to look right.
Any suggestions appreciated.

[Mike Buckley]

You'll get better help if you provide the camera model and the flash model. If the flash is not a separate unit, mention that also. Also mention the settings you have been using.

[ktuli]

Benny,

When direct flash or diffused flash are still blowing things out, the next solution would be to try bouncing the flash. Usually with that and adjusting the distance of the bounce material to the subject, you should be able to that softer/broader light that you're looking for.

- Bill

[Geoff F]

For my flash shots, Benny, I set the camera manually to suit the scene then let the flash output find it's own level. With some flash compensation as required. For instance, somewhere around -2 tends to work for average close up insect shots.

But with some shiny subjects, flash doesn't work well. In those circumstances, all you can do is increase the Iso as much as you dare and hope for the best.

I often expose for the brightest area (spot meter can help) then try to recover the shadows during editing.

Shooting Raw then doing two conversions with different exposures and combining them as layers and masks often works for me. But it does take a bit of extra time and care with editing.

With this particular shot that yellow flower is an additional complication. Yellow over exposes so easily.

However, I would have a bit of a play around with this shot and carefully increase brightness levels using a Curves Adjustment layer plus a mask which can be edited to selectively apply the effect.

But this assumes that you have suitable software and skill. Although the latter element can be learned quite quickly as the basics aren't too difficult.

[Bobobird]

Read through this excellent post by Steve S.

How I Photograph Hummingbirds

[FrankMi]

Read through this excellent post by Steve S.

How I Photograph Hummingbirds

I'd second that!

[Donald]

Read through this excellent post by Steve S.

How I Photograph Hummingbirds

I agree. You'd pay a lot of money for that sort of guidance if you went out there in the commercial world to find it. The images that accompany the text are testament to its importance and value.