Gallery: AvianPosted March 27, 2012263 views11 comments
Another image of Peru's marvelous spatuletail hummingbird. Photographed in a lek in January.
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 500mm f/4 IS
ISO 800
1/80th
f/4
Max
Comments
11 comments
Comment posted by Tonia Graves on March 28, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Wow, very cool hummer and I like your choice of comps here.
Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments
Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 28, 2012 at 12:03 AM
Amazing bird and pose here Max, I like the pano comp as well. I would have liked more dof
Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments
Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on March 28, 2012 at 11:09 AM
Very cool, Max.
Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments
Comment posted by Steven Clark on March 28, 2012 at 11:59 AM
Great image! Never seen a photo of this Hummer before those are some serious rudders.
Registered on February 9, 2012, 4 Posts, 18 Comments
Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on March 28, 2012 at 1:13 PM
Great job with the composition, Max. That pano really works well. Congrats on capturing this really cool species. I am wishing for more DOF but I see from your techs, this was some extremely low light.
Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments
Comment posted by Anand Narayanan on March 28, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Awesome looking bird ! Love the tails dangling on each side
Registered on October 25, 2009, 110 Posts, 835 Comments
Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on March 28, 2012 at 2:05 PM
Wow, what a comp. Love the bird and the tail and the complementary colors in the BG. I agree just a bit more DOF would have been nice for the tail but not sure what that would have done to the BG. Would have needed flash to get it too given the already very slow SS.
Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments
Comment posted by Max Waugh on March 28, 2012 at 5:32 PM
Thanks for the feedback. It was very low light, as mentioned. The lek was stationed inside a thicket of vines and branches. I alternated between shooting with and without flash. Even with the flash, I couldn't crank the DoF all that much, and it definitely altered the image, making the background a bit more prominent (and distracting, IMO) and altering the colors a bit. I preferred this soft background for most of the shots.
On the plus side, the flash did bring out a few more of the colors in the bird's plumage, including some shiny gold in the underside that I otherwise would not have noticed. I may eventually post a shot or two with flash, which should offer a good comparison.
Max
Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments
Comment posted by Rick Turner on March 28, 2012 at 7:43 PM
Very, very nice. Bravo
Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments
Comment posted by KC Choo on March 28, 2012 at 10:40 PM
This is now on my most-wanted list! I like everything about this!
Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments
Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 29, 2012 at 3:15 AM
Super cool bird and killer photo of him. Sweet Photo Max
Ken Archer
Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments
Comments
11 commentsOn the plus side, the flash did bring out a few more of the colors in the bird's plumage, including some shiny gold in the underside that I otherwise would not have noticed. I may eventually post a shot or two with flash, which should offer a good comparison.
Max
Ken Archer