Yes, I am still taking pictures of this male Anna's Hummingbird. It seems like he has provided me with most of my picture taking opportunities these last 4 months. It sort of indicates how cooped up around my home I've been this past winter! Regardless, this little guy has helped me to bone up on flash use with birds (though this image does not use flash).
The sun came out for a few moments this past Sunday to reward me with some great opportunities to get pics of the hummingbird's great iridescent gorget. I didn't increase the saturation at all in PP, so the colors you see are what I saw through the viewfinder. I did clone out some annoying few out of focus leaves at left bottom.
HI, beautiful bird and it seems he sat long enough for you to take this colorful picture, and are these the ones hanging around my humming bird feeder that look dull colored out of the direct sunlight? Cliff
Hi Cliff - yes, this time of year this is probably the variety you've got in your yard. Unless the light hits them just right, they will indeed look very plain looking. Thanks for looking!
And thank you for the info! I have them fighting at the bird feeder all day long into the late evening.
Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 8, 2008 at 10:24 PM
Cliff, you're lucky to have so many at your feeders. We'd have more than just this one except this guy has decided to make my entire backyard (and parts each neighbor's to either side) part of his territory. He oversees the territory from a high perch in 3 or 4 different trees all day long and any other hummingbird that comes close gets chased away pronto! It's quite a sight.
Posted by Larry Gloth on April 8, 2008 at 10:27 PM
Beautiful shot. Perfectly positioned bird. Fantastic color and detail. Great light.
Posted by Ned Fenimore on April 8, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Wow, Bud, that is one of your finest pics to date! You really did well with this one...
Yeeow, but that's beautiful! Great shot, Geoff. And the light was perfect for you to capture that fantastic magenta "collar."
Posted by AJ Montgomery on April 9, 2008 at 12:17 AM
Super! I have many Rufous HB's that frequent my feeders and cannot wait to see an Anna's that I can get some shots of. Your recent images of them are stunning.
Posted by John Williams on April 9, 2008 at 12:44 AM
A true jaw dropper of a photo Geoff! I liked the "anna in the magnolia" photo, but I really, really like this one.
Honestly, this bird has been kind of frustrating over the last 4 months. He's been resident on my property so that's been a plus. But he is also fleeting and I must have taken 1500 or more images of him over that time and out of that many shots I'd estimate that I have perhaps 20 or so images that would be worth working on and out of that maybe 5 that are really worth printing. Recently I've resorted to placing a 10 foot ladder about 12 feet away from one of his favorite perches. If I see him on his perch I'll quietly climb the ladder so I'm able to shoot pics at his level. Many times he'll just move to another perch but often enough he will sit there and pose. Most of my images end up with the bird either not in good light or just a blur of movement or with leaves or branches in distracting areas of the photo. It seems all worth it when I can get a photo like this one.
Oh, I hear you, Geoff, and feel both the pain and the pleasure. Such difficult subjects to shoot in a natural environment. I've heard of people who set up elaborate lighting and flash systems with remote triggers at perches and feeding sites. But you accepted the challenge of finding him au naturale. The number of shots to keepers sounds about right. That factors into the JOY of getting one like you show us here. Way to persevere!
Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 11, 2008 at 12:57 AM
Thank you, Catherine! I have experimented with using fill flash with the hummingbird images and I have never been totally satisfied with the results I've gotten. I find that I much prefer the appearance of the bird and surroundings under natural light so more optimal conditions with natural light is what I tend to wait for. Perhaps it takes longer to get that keeper image but I think the results are worth waiting for.
Discussion
12 repliesThe sun came out for a few moments this past Sunday to reward me with some great opportunities to get pics of the hummingbird's great iridescent gorget. I didn't increase the saturation at all in PP, so the colors you see are what I saw through the viewfinder. I did clone out some annoying few out of focus leaves at left bottom.
20D, 300/4L IS + 1.4x, 1/200 @ f6.3, ISO 400
Honestly, this bird has been kind of frustrating over the last 4 months. He's been resident on my property so that's been a plus. But he is also fleeting and I must have taken 1500 or more images of him over that time and out of that many shots I'd estimate that I have perhaps 20 or so images that would be worth working on and out of that maybe 5 that are really worth printing. Recently I've resorted to placing a 10 foot ladder about 12 feet away from one of his favorite perches. If I see him on his perch I'll quietly climb the ladder so I'm able to shoot pics at his level. Many times he'll just move to another perch but often enough he will sit there and pose. Most of my images end up with the bird either not in good light or just a blur of movement or with leaves or branches in distracting areas of the photo. It seems all worth it when I can get a photo like this one.