Showering Hummingbird

Gallery: AvianPosted January 10, 2010117 views8 comments

One of the most fantastic places to see and photograph Hummingbirds in Costa Rica is Rancho Naturalista. They have this great veranda surrounded by feeders and thus by numerous Hummingbirds.
On a rainy afternoon we sat photographing Hummingbirds here and it was so dark that I had to use my flash. The images turned out to be a bit strange, the hummingbirds completely changed colors. Still I quite like this one, you can see that the bird is really showering with its bill upright and all its feathers fluffy and its wings open. It was very funny to see.

D300, nikkor18-200VR@200, 1/60, F6.3, ISO500.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on January 10, 2010 at 12:05 PM

Ellen,
an interesting pose, great detail and rich colors.
The background is a little busy but it doesn't bother me. I can see some shadows in the URC. Did you clone anything out?
Overall a great shot!

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Harbour on January 10, 2010 at 1:19 PM

I like the action pose and the detail in the feathers showing the spots of iridescence

Registered on January 4, 2008, 113 Posts, 2416 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Dubois on January 10, 2010 at 2:23 PM

I really like the pose and the action in this image Ellen. You could burn in some of the background bright areas to tone them down a little to make them a little less visually grabbing.

Registered on February 22, 2005, 129 Posts, 4739 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on January 10, 2010 at 3:53 PM

Flashes do sometimes change the iridescent patterns on hummingbirds. A very nice behavior capture. If it were mine, I'd tinker with the white balance a bit to make the whites just a bit warmer and a little less obviously flashed.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on January 10, 2010 at 6:45 PM

Truly Beautiful. I'd try to run a noise reduction on the background.

- Luke

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on January 10, 2010 at 7:51 PM

I love behavioral images Ellen and this is a very interesting one for me.

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

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on January 10, 2010 at 9:04 PM

Really love the action Ellen!

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

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on January 10, 2010 at 9:24 PM

Really cute pose. The flash seemed to work but there is one circle of light or water I found distracting near the birds point of the chest. I more noticed it in the larger image

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