Thank you Donald...for C&C

[IzzieK]

Yesterday while waiting for Bill to take me out to dinner, I grabbed my camera with the 70-300mm lens on it...I have been hummer-watching for a few days without taking the camera out and just enjoying them interacting with one another, chasing each other and of course the bees...I was finally able to get the bees out of their feeder -- with PAM cooking spray!! I guess the bees doesn't want to land on slippery slopes or something, but they stayed a few days trying to get to the feeder...Hummers are happy and bees stopped humming around me too...all is well. And these are the results...

1 feeding while flying...



2 Poopin' while keeping an eye on the feeder...two shots in one! Eureka!!! Actually both are one shot-wonders...



I thought it is funny that I should include the last one even though all of my 30 shots were clear sharp sort-ofs, I like this last one.

Anyway, thank you Donald for not giving up on me (referring to remark on Dave's post on Iron Cross). And also to others who has sweat critiquing my previous shots as I experiment on how to capture these hummers without extra equipment at all but my camera and my knee and of course my chair. This is afternoon light in the background around 6:30pm before the sun set...it serves as a backlight to its wings, without which I won't be able to get these fast birds with just a simple set-up...as far as I can remember, my metering is matrix (evaluative), F5.6, SS 1/1600 and ISO 1000, no flash...

Dave (overeasy) thank you too for bearing with me with your post "Iron Cross" ...I cannot imitate that yet but I will get there. I need more patience.

Thank you all for grinning and bearing my bad shots as I experiment on this. You know who you are...I will try to get as good as the other hummer shooters here one day...I appreciate any comments and feedbacks and critiques...how I learn so much from this forum! Thank you...thank you!!

[Donald]

Thank you. But I only wrote a few words. You're the one doing all the improving ... as is evidenced from the pics in this thread.

[IzzieK]

Thank you. But I only wrote a few words. You're the one doing all the improving ... as is evidenced from the pics in this thread.

Thanks...I think it was well worth it to give it another try...

[Marie Hass]

Dear Izzie,

Hummers are among my favorite beasties! Your settings are great for these images, as evidenced by the frozen poo in #2.

I do wonder about your PP in that the BG competes so with the little critters? Something appears overdone, but I cannot put my finger on it.

You were in the right place at the right time with these.

Marie

[Rita]

Nice improvement Izzie, keep at it. I do however agree with Marie, there is something about the BG, can't put my finger on it either.

[IzzieK]

Dear Izzie,

Hummers are among my favorite beasties! Your settings are great for these images, as evidenced by the frozen poo in #2.

I do wonder about your PP in that the BG competes so with the little critters? Something appears overdone, but I cannot put my finger on it.

You were in the right place at the right time with these.

Marie

Thank you, Marie...for passing by...the only thing I did was follow the advice of Dave Humphries about sharpening after cropping before submission. And oh, I forgot -- I went to Nik's Viveza to select the bright areas and lower them selectively. Not enough? It is the best hour to photograph these birdies because of the setting sun's backlighting on the area behind the tree...without that light, I would not have been able to produce the fast fluttering of the wings...I have tried on the past experiments and read up on hummer shooting extensively and most of them that I read said one cannot freeze the wings (which was my goal...) without flash all around. I had seen some set-ups which are really mindblowing, but I have just run out of gas trying to achieve that set-up without spending a lot of money. If my goal is just to achieve shooting hummers, then it is OK to spend that much and have a good set-up...I just bought a new lens for our trip to Florida next month and I am still struggling to use it out, so no money for an expensive-to-be set-up for the hummers, not for a few months at least...

I appreciate your comments and feedback....I cannot change my hummer feeder's location as I have an open deck right now after the storm blew away our set-up there a few weeks ago...

[IzzieK]

Nice improvement Izzie, keep at it. I do however agree with Marie, there is something about the BG, can't put my finger on it either.

I am sorry about the background..it is the best we have at the moment for the hummers...next spring onward they will have a better location...winter is when we do our renovations around here...they will have to wait a bit...

Thank you for your comment and feedback...I will do better next time. In the meantime, I am just enjoying their presence there and observing their silly fights is really fun...I appreciate your passing by, Rita...

[NorthernFocus]

Nicely done sticking with it, Izzie. I've never done any good with those little guys. Someday...

If you're going to keep shooting them it might be good to set up something that provided a clean BG.

[Marie Hass]

Dear Izzie,

Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying that you need to change your BG - only your treatment of the BG.

For instance, did you sharpen just the hummers or did you sharpen the entire image?

If anything, only the hummers may have needed sharpening, but certainly not the BG.

I have two pictures very similar to yours, facing the same issues. I posted them to CiC last year. Mike Buckley was instrumental with some tips. Maybe the other comments would help you, too?

Hummingbirds in black and white

Marie

[IzzieK]

Marie, I am sorry to be late in responding. I forgot this one when I was here last night and I dreamt of it so when Roxie woke me up I just have to respond to this...

Moving on, I saw your hummer. I didn't know why I missed that one. Btw, it is a beautiful shot! That the feeder is located where there is no adjacent background is great. That is my problem -- I have no way of moving my feeder unless I move it to the railing where the sun shines on it. I suppose I can do that for a day while I wait for my hummer since I have already gotten rid of the bees...then change my nectar...I have read that you can kill your hummers if their nectar goes yukky from sun exposure...

Answer to your question: only the hummer. I know I have a problem with my background because it is too close to the tree at the back. To be able to separate the hummer from the background I need a backlight, which is impossible to achieve in that location. Now that I saw your post and examine some other hummer posts here, I see that, without proper equipment, the only option I have is to move my feeder where there is sunshine as a backdrop to be able to trace and shine on the feathers and to be able to trace the whole hummer figure as it flutter its wings. I will try again in a few weeks when I un-busy myself with my project here at home...

I am sorry I did no read any of the comments there. I looked at your image and though beautiful as it may be, I studied the location of your feeder which is clear any background distraction...

Thank you for your further help...I will put your advice in mind...the only thing I need to do there is shoot with my long lens so I do not have to crop as hard but as this is still experimental, no matter how many clear shots I have I will need to do some more, like using my longer lens t eliminate obtrusive background. I am reserving that for last...as my lens is too heavy.,.

Dear Izzie,

Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying that you need to change your BG - only your treatment of the BG.

For instance, did you sharpen just the hummers or did you sharpen the entire image?

If anything, only the hummers may have needed sharpening, but certainly not the BG.

I have two pictures very similar to yours, facing the same issues. I posted them to CiC last year. Mike Buckley was instrumental with some tips. Maybe the other comments would help you, too?

Hummingbirds in black and white

Marie