Natural Light Hummer

Gallery: AvianPosted August 12, 20181,618 views7 comments

While most of my hummingbird photography is done via multi-flash, yesterday I went out to see what I could capture with natural light.

Here's one of the images I captured.

Olympus EM-1 Mark II
Olympus 300mm f/4
1/500 @ f/6.3, ISO 1000

Larger version provided.

Small crop from the top.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on August 12, 2018 at 5:13 PM

Excellent detail, pose, and floral arrangement. Superb image. I prefer the natural light to the flash set up with respect to color palette. But I suppose that is just personal preference. To me, the wing blur makes the natural light image more dynamic.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on August 12, 2018 at 5:32 PM

Good stuff, Keith. I have to say that this is a refreshing change from all the setup for clunkers like me who never use flash. 1/500 worked really well to get the blur of the wings, which gives it a nice sense of motion. And the focus on the head and host plant are spot-on. Most excellent !

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on August 12, 2018 at 5:58 PM

Excellent, Keith. I tend to prefer the blurred wings, so this appeals to me. You have an excellent composition and perfect dof.

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

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on August 12, 2018 at 6:52 PM

Ditto what all the other guys said. I like this much more than flash, perhaps because I have gotten by this long without it. I will be trying it at some time in the future.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Minish on August 13, 2018 at 1:46 AM

Great hummingbird capture, especially for natural light, Keith! The beautiful bouquet of flowers really makes this composition special. The clarity of the bird and the flowers is impressive (except for the blurred wings, of course).

Registered on February 4, 2006, 625 Posts, 3583 Comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on August 13, 2018 at 10:42 AM

Outstanding composition with superb detail and color. I like the wing position, almost framing the flowers. Nice to know great hummingbird photos can be obtained without a flash setup.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by S Govindarajan on August 13, 2018 at 12:19 PM

Great setup and capture, Keith. I really like the overall composition and the color palette in the image. I too like to shoot in natural light as much as possible, as I am not sure how birds view flashes.

Registered on April 19, 2008, 115 Posts, 1921 Comments