Sparkling Violetear

Gallery: AvianPosted August 21, 2009707 views18 comments

This trip to Ecuador was the first time that I had attempted any multiple flash, high speed flash hummingbird photography. I got a lot of exercise carrying the equipment back and forth from my various lodge rooms! This was taken at Alambi Lodge This is cropped to about 85% of FF

Canon MkIII 500F4, 4 flashes

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Dethan Punalur on August 21, 2009 at 1:09 AM

Hi Nate,
Wonderful..! great details and very creative work..well done!

Dethan Punalur,
Coonoor, India.

Registered on October 12, 2006, 410 Posts, 562 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on August 21, 2009 at 3:00 AM

You couldn't have got this better - the perfect position of the wings, the beak dipped just so into the flower, the catchlight, the slight motion blur in the wings.......sigh! This is beautiful, Nate!

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on August 21, 2009 at 7:32 AM

Wow, Nate. This is super nice. I have no experience with multiple flash set-ups, but obviously you do and did it well. The image looks very natural. Well done.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on August 21, 2009 at 8:17 AM

Excellent Nate. The colors are very striking and that is one sharp hummer in flight! I spent some time trying to shoot hummingbirds yesterday and I'm getting a feel for how difficult they can be.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on August 21, 2009 at 8:37 AM

Nate,

I can sure see why this species got its name, the violet in the image is beautiful and the plumage certainly sparkles. I love how the tiny feet are curled & visible

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on August 21, 2009 at 10:24 AM

A piece of art !!!

Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 21, 2009 at 10:45 AM

Nice job on the flash, Nate, and a beautiful bird. I'm still not really sold on flash for hummingbirds, though I must admit it brings out the iridescence. Great wing position.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Avi Hirschfield on August 21, 2009 at 10:52 AM

fantastic action ,I like the contrasting colours

Registered on November 1, 2003, 518 Posts, 2114 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on August 21, 2009 at 4:05 PM

Nate, another amazing capture

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Larry Reitz on August 21, 2009 at 6:46 PM

Exquisite!!

How about a "how to" article for NPN?

Larry Reitz

Registered on September 7, 2007, 32 Posts, 335 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on August 21, 2009 at 10:09 PM

Excellent! the multiple flash set-ups are not easy, are they?

Great colors, position, and wing freeze.
Sandy r

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on August 21, 2009 at 10:54 PM

Nate: Nice image. Looks like you have pretty good sharpness throughout. You didn't mention the aperture you used. The back wing is not as crisp as the front. When I shoot these I'm usually at f/16 or f/18 at around 1/200. Obviously those values depend on the placement of the flashes. The small shadow on the back wing is a minor distraction for me. I really enjoy high speed hummer photography. Great fun!!

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on August 21, 2009 at 11:04 PM

Thanks Keith, I never shot below F16, the techs on this shot are 1/250 F20, iso 250. I shot this at 1/8 power on the flashes so I'm thinking it may be a bit of wing blur rather than not having sufficient dof. On some of my high speed shots I was trying for a little more natural look (with wing blur and shadows) than the typical high speed hummer shot.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on August 22, 2009 at 5:23 PM

Beautiful capture, Nate. The colors are great and I consider any wing blur evident as negligible.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Sandipan Dutta on August 23, 2009 at 2:40 AM

Brilliant work...

Registered on March 9, 2009, 171 Posts, 493 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on August 23, 2009 at 3:20 PM

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. And did I say the colors, flight pose, flower, everything is right on.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on August 23, 2009 at 4:09 PM

Nate, this is a real keeper. If you got more like this on your trip it was well worth carrying the gear around. Lovely comp here, too.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel Barton on August 24, 2009 at 4:28 PM

Love this. Not bad for a first attempt at the multiple flash thing?!

Registered on October 17, 2008, 14 Posts, 77 Comments