Hummingbird images for C&C please...

[IzzieK]

After setting up my feeder for quite a while now, I decided to watch it each day for some hummers. I studied them for a good while before I finally decided to take some shots. The first batch with the 70-300mm were baaaaddd....because I didn't realized how fast these are...and with the bees in the feeder, I have to fix them first. Yesterday I put a dash of Vicks Vaporub on the feeder. I read that they do not affect the hummers. The bees went away for the time being so I decided to do my shoot this morning. Unfortunately, the smell might have dissipated during the night...

Second try was my 150-500mm. I took one or two shots of the feeder, adjust my settings and all those things that needed to be done when doing a planned shoot. These are all of my 9 shots. I have chosen 7 for uploads...



2

3

4

5

6



7 And so this one bids us "FAREWELL...SO LONG..."



And I am too for now...will be back in the morning...thank you all for looking and commenting and giving me feedback if any. I know these are not really as good as I want them to as I was about 10 feet away when I can go closer still...Will do some better ones this week...

[bnnrcn]

Hi Isabel You have something like noise on all images but I don't think it is possible to get so much noise with ISO 800. It has effected all your images negatively though. Is it possible that it is related to your PP work ?

Well , bird shooters might know better about the matter

[Cantab]

Izzie, I enjoyed the photos. It seems the humming birds are not particularly bothered by the bees! Was your camera (and you?) located hidden behind any shrubbery, etc.

For my no longer used film camera, I have a 25 foot cable with a balloon release. So far I haven't found any similar item that would work with a digital camera. But it's great for taking photos when you might want not to be near the camera: e.g. human and humming bird portraits.

Being closer would allow for less cropping (you did some?) and hence less noise.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Izzie,

Well done !

You have captured these well and now you know the settings that will work and almost freeze these birds, the next step is to get closer. Not sure if you have a wireless remote but that's the next thing to try, set the camera closer, sit back out the way and press that button

Grahame

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts, keep at it. Do you rely on in-camera noise reduction or PP editing?

[Ziggy]

Izzie can't help with what lens to use, not my thing.

My guess is the most important thing to catching hummers at the feeder is where the feeder is placed. You want the right light at the right time.

I do enjoy my hummer feeder each and every year.

[rtbaum]

Hi Izzie- I haven't shot Hummingbirds for a while, but they were a very educational phase for me.

Lessons learned- They are predictable; they frequently approach along the same path and at a regular interval

They will usually hover for a few seconds before approaching the feeder, often in the same spot. I liked this as I was able to achieve a better background.

They are fearless; I have had them hover off the tip of my nose, follow me to my car, and bounce off the back of my head to remind me to refill the feeder.

Now.....What were your settings, how much did you crop.....exactly where is that noise coming from?

[FootLoose]

Hi Izzie, I don't anything about humming birds, but the settings in the exif suggest to me you may need to increase your depth of field. If I am reading the data right, then you took these at F/9.0 @ 400mm from about 3m back from the subject. According to my DoF calculator, those numbers would give you a depth of field of about 20mm. You could keep your f/9 @ 400mm and try standing back a few metres further, or stay at 3m and decrease your focal length significantly.

[Rita]

Hi Izzie, you did quit well on these. Like others have said, if you can get your camera closer it would be a bonus and I also agree that the noise is an issue.

[IzzieK]

Hi Isabel You have something like noise on all images but I don't think it is possible to get so much noise with ISO 800. It has effected all your images negatively though. Is it possible that it is related to your PP work ?

Well , bird shooters might know better about the matter

Yes...I was wondering about why the noise...so I went back to my original RAW file and traced it -- the culprit was using the after-sharpening of Nik's. I should had kept to Photoshop's Unsharp Mask -- it is more simpler to use.

Thanks for catching that, Binnur...even the bird shooters will perhaps be disappointed in all of these...

Thanks for passing by and giving me feedback...

[IzzieK]

[QUOTE=Cantab;540182]

Izzie, I enjoyed the photos. It seems the humming birds are not particularly bothered by the bees! Was your camera (and you?) located hidden behind any shrubbery, etc.

Thanks Bruce....no I wasn't hidden. I was in full view of the birds and of course the bees, (pun intended...) I was on my deck and my first blasted batch was a failure because of the wrong lens. I had about 30 I dumped there. It was also the wrong cloudy temperature...too dark cloudy...my first experience with shooting in a real darkish cloudy morning, no shadows at all to crow about...then my lens was showing a bit of the sky pretty much like looking straight at the sun while taking a shot. It needed a flash cloudy day scenario...I gave up after 15 minutes...and changed my lens to my birding lens..

For my no longer used film camera, I have a 25 foot cable with a balloon release. So far I haven't found any similar item that would work with a digital camera. But it's great for taking photos when you might want not to be near the camera: e.g. human and humming bird portraits.

Oh! remote control...I use to have that kind on my film camera too and the one that I have for camera now works perfectly.

Being closer would allow for less cropping (you did some?) and hence less noise.

I know this and I have no noise in the original file. My pp here sucks big time! I admit this...

Thanks for commenting and giving me your feedback...truly appreciate it...

[IzzieK]

Due to the cloudy condition I was talking about, my first choice was 1/2000 or 1/2500 but I kept upping my ISO because of the light. I lack light and I did not want to use my flash and spook the hummers...As for going closer, I said 10 feet but I was farther away than that, 10 feet across but more than 10 feet diagonally. I was diagonally on the other side of the deck. I measured my position yesterday afternoon and I reckon 7 slats from the back door to get closer...will test my camera set-up tomorrow morning...

As for the remote, I have one but I do not think at this experiment it will be useful because the birds were not as busy as my actual bird feeder. I only have 4 of them that comes regularly and I have not seen them go to the red water together...they come, they go as quick as they can and come back again, one hovers, drinks then fly as fast at it had came...I tried to shoot Shutter Priority but I gave up on that with the bees so I ended up loosening up my tripod handles so I can get them as quick too. With that heavy lens and waiting, I needed a tripod at least to rest it in even though I have to loosen the handles well...like oiling them with WD-40...

Hi Izzie,

Well done !

You have captured these well and now you know the settings that will work and almost freeze these birds, the next step is to get closer. Not sure if you have a wireless remote but that's the next thing to try, set the camera closer, sit back out the way and press that button

Grahame

Thanks for your kind comments and feedback...Appreciate it as always...

[IzzieK]

Nice efforts, keep at it. Do you rely on in-camera noise reduction or PP editing?

I relied on ACR for my sharpening and after sharpening on Unsharp Mask but I overdid it when I used Nik's sharpening at the end instead...I have to learn how to manage that as this is the first time I had used it. I was I was shortening my workflow. I should had stick to what I know...
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Thanks John...your kind comment gives me a bit of a push to do better...'appreciate it.

[IzzieK]

Izzie can't help with what lens to use, not my thing.

My guess is the most important thing to catching hummers at the feeder is where the feeder is placed. You want the right light at the right time.

I do enjoy my hummer feeder each and every year.

Yes, thanks Ziggy -- my first batch was a disaster because of the wrong light...no much I can do there but toss them all out...I wasn't experimenting with the lens, I just thought I want to use that 70-300mm instead... that was what was in my camera when I first took it out...I wasn't ready to deal with the lighting condition. So I took out my 150-500mm and I had not been sorry because I was able to eliminate the little brighter light in between the trees. But with the longer lens, I have gone closer without having to worry about it...

And I did intended to shot the hummer near the feeder even if one of them went very near to my face...to near that even my shortest lens will not have caught it...I was wearing a long red dress... and despite the warm condition, I put a red towel on top of my head...they obviously like the red colour.

Staying near the feeder and not interacting with them help them get used to me...I have my feeder out for quite sometime in the Spring as soon as I saw my first hummer for the season but I changed the position so it does not go in direct sunshine. Obviously they like the feeder in the shade...sun can be sweltering here at times...

Thanks for commenting and your feedback...I truly appreciate it a lot...

[Acorn]

I suspected, Izzie, you were shooting in not the best of light conditions and your subsequent posting has confirmed this. As for grain (noise), I have a tendency when photographing birds never to go above 800asa, but quite recently took a number of shots of a woodpecker in poor light using a 150-500 lens. I bit the bullet and upped the rating to 1200 and was amazed at the absence of grain even with a substantial crop. The subject was about 20ft away and I was using a gimbal mounted D7000.

[IzzieK]

Hi Izzie- I haven't shot Hummingbirds for a while, but they were a very educational phase for me.

Lessons learned- They are predictable; they frequently approach along the same path and at a regular interval

They will usually hover for a few seconds before approaching the feeder, often in the same spot. I liked this as I was able to achieve a better background.

They are fearless; I have had them hover off the tip of my nose, follow me to my car, and bounce off the back of my head to remind me to refill the feeder.

Now.....What were your settings, how much did you crop.....exactly where is that noise coming from?

Not much cropping...I think I have my aperture at F8 or F9 and my SS at 1/1600 ... should have been 1/2000 or 1/2500 to catch that wing freezing thingie but the cloudy condition was so erratically long I got tired of waiting for it to brighten up even just a little bit...but at the time I was able to set up my birdie lens it has brighten up a bit. I got 9 shots and came in for the day to do some other stuffs in the house before doing my processing.

I was laughing at your encounter...yes, they are fearless...and really reminded me too to fill up the feeder when the bees has gobbled up the first and second batch...and yes, they are very demanding little critters....they get really too close to my face, it was impossible to shoot them as they are too fast...mine was trying to avoid the bees more so it changes position...I will remember to focus on the same spot next time. I turned the feeder inwards so I can take a better angle on them..my problem was more on the weather condition...hot, humid, dark and I didn't want to use my flash...in fact I left my flash inside...

Thanks for the added comments and feedback...I will try to learn how to tackle them tomorrow if it doesn't rain...we have quite some harsh weather last night...I hope that was the end for a while...

Appreciate your passing by...and thanks again...

[IzzieK]

Hi Izzie, I don't anything about humming birds, but the settings in the exif suggest to me you may need to increase your depth of field. If I am reading the data right, then you took these at F/9.0 @ 400mm from about 3m back from the subject. According to my DoF calculator, those numbers would give you a depth of field of about 20mm. You could keep your f/9 @ 400mm and try standing back a few metres further, or stay at 3m and decrease your focal length significantly.

No, I have my setting at 1/1600 at ISO 800 as I remember either Grahame or somebody else who told me to keep my ISO low to get more sharper image instead of keeping it at AutoISO...so I chose my speed at 1/1600 I thought was enough for the freezing and not blur my subjects. I should have done 1/2000 or 1/2500 instead as I can do it...AutoISO kept telling me ISO 3200 or sometimes higher because of the darkish cloudy conditions....that was at nearly 9AM. I stuck to my guns on ISO 800 and got it somehow...I will keep experimenting on getting closer without spooking them with either me or something else...the bees are getting too friendly too when I was closer at 4 feet... damn bees...!!! I counted 7 slats on my deck to get a bit closer tomorrow morning...

Thanks for passing by and giving me some feedback and hints...I appreciate it very much...

[IzzieK]

Hi Izzie, you did quit well on these. Like others have said, if you can get your camera closer it would be a bonus and I also agree that the noise is an issue.

The noise was my pp...I should had stuck to Photoshop as I am more used to it..I think I was overthinking my pp when it could have been much more simpler to stick to what I know...yes, tomorrow I will get closer...they get too close to my face once they get used to your presence...and I had done that practice of getting to closer to them without my camera so I thought it was camera time yesterday. Weather and lighting condition was my enemy yesterday...hopefully not today...I will try again in the morning. I really enjoyed just watching them for a while...it is like watching an airshow, they are quick to disappear and quick to come and go as they pleased...maybe I can train it to stay like a doggie...that will be the day of great miracle for me....

Thank you for your kind comment and feedback...I truly appreciate it very much...

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Izzie,

I applaud your first (OK, second) efforts - yes, they're not as good as they might be, but they are a starting point. I also support your initial observation phase.

My observations;
Your globally applied sharpening has grabbed a hold of the noise in the background, but its sounds like you have that in hand.

One thing I noticed from the EXIF (of first shot) was that you were shooting Manual exposure, but had +7/3 EC = + 2 and 1/3 stops Exposure Compensation - I am not sure if you were paying any attention to the meter, or setting exposure by review of the histogram (as I often do) - but if you were using the meter, you should be aware that having EC set in Manual (with Auto-ISO off) will bias the meter* and, in this case; encourage you to under expose.

* This is true of Nikon cameras, not Canon (before anyone says).

Anyway, if you were using the meter and the shots came out underexposed and had to be increased in PP, this may go some way to explaining why so there is much noise at 800 iso (in addition to the sharpening problem).


The shots of the birds in free flight (4 - 7) are more appealing to me than the ones with the feeder visible, although 3 is very nice. Personally, I don't think it is even worth shooting the side of the feeder with the pole in shot (1 and 2) in future.

I hope those thoughts and observations are helpful, Dave

[pnodrog]

Like the colours. I find the black post/pole in the first two a bit distracting. I prefer photographs #3 to #5.

The noise pattern reminds me of a problem I had using too much clarity on a very large print I did recently. Whatever is causing it, it will be worth your while sorting it out.