|
|
Almost everyone likes pictures of Hummingbirds. They're so small and fast moving, it's hard to get a good look at them. When you show pictures of hummingbirds, people are impressed, because they can see all of the wonderful details. Details like the iridescent feathers, the long sharp claws, and the tiny black eyelashes become more visible than when they are flitting around the yard, showing flashes of color.
So whats it take to capture a hummingbird in flight full frame in all its detail? Mostly patience and a bit of setup first thing you need is Hummingbirds now if you don't live in the Americas your out of luck there a new world bird only but if there around where you live set up a feeder and they will come use 4 parts water to 1 part sugar clean weekly more often in hot weather.
What kind of feeder, well they seem to like those bright red feeders with the four flowers and the little perches but there not very good for picture taking they will sit on the perches and you won't get much of an opportunity for pictures, you can remove the perches but then they will always use the spout that is farthest from you so next you can remove all the spouts except one then tape them over so they won't use them but they will remember that there where spouts and perches there and keep trying to use them so those are great feeders for attracting the birds but not so great for pictures. The reason is the birds are so fast moving only a small percentage of your pictures will have an interesting capture there will be lots of tail feathers, wings covering the face and face stuck in the feeder or no bird at all so you want to maximize your opportunities so the single spout feeders work the best that way the bird will come in and hover in the same spot each time and you will get a chance for a picture. Other Hummingbird attractions are running water like a small fish pond with a water fall they will love to bathe in it they don't use birdbaths also lots of flowers and vines and perching areas so they can watch the feeders. And as the picture below shows a Sapsucker tree with lots of fresh sap which is a favorite.
Now for lenses you will need something that will almost fill the frame from five feet away since that's about as close as they will let you get when your moving around with a camera. I use a 70-300 lens and it works fine some longer lens won't have a close enough focusing distance so an extension tube will need to be added to shorten the closest focusing distance.
How close can you position yourself to the feeder? It depends on the bird but its the movement they don't like and the sound of the camera but if you find that there not coming in to feed your either to close or moving around too much move back six inches and they might start coming in.
Okay now what kind super fast shutter speed do you need to freeze hummingbird motion, well it doesn't matter shutter speed is mostly irrelevant for freezing motion when using flash when the flash is the overriding light source. Flash duration is very short in the thousands of a second at reduced outputs like 1/16th.
Any old flash will work it doesn't need to be dedicated brand flashes all you need are manual flashes that can triggered with an optical slave or sync cord and you can adjust the power output to the 1/16th 1/32 range. You will need multiple flashes because that will give a more even light and to make up for the lower output the lower output means shorter flash duration that freezes the action. The flashes will have to be very close about two to three feet from the feeder you can fine tune there output by moving them farther away or closer.
You will want a background also or you will get just black, hanging baskets, shrubs or foam core all work well place a flash pointed at the background also to eliminate any shadows cast by the feeder and bird.
Here are some important tips and behaviors.
The first thing is make your self comfortable where you are waiting I sit in a chair and usually hand hold the camera so I can be quick enough to get the different out of the ordinary shots, but I will place something on the arms of the chair so I can rest my arms.
Don't just take in flight pictures place a branch near the feeder so the birds will perch where you can see them and capture them preening, sticking out there tongue and other behaviors.
I usually use auto focus since it helps getting those special shots with a bigger aperture and tighter depth of field, I will prefocus on the center of the feeder so there only has to be slight focus adjustments, manual focus works also just prefocus on something in the same plane and use smaller aperture for the bigger depth of field also use a tripod to make sure you stay focused on the right stop.
Take time to enjoy the little birds make your yard attractive for them with lots of colorful plants, a water source and feeders. Watch for there mating behaviors since its very interesting the male does a series of dives with an upside down arc at the bottom, at the same time flashing his colors and making calls the female just can't resist.
There pretty smart birds and remember from year to year where the feeders and food sources are also even when you don't see them there still around watching from up high on cooler wet days they will stay close to the feeds and you can see them perching.
I was taking pictures of the birds out of my back sliding doors but they stopped coming to the back feeder and staying at the feeder in the front so I watched what was going on they were flying to the side of the house looking in the window seeing me sitting there and turning around so I closed the blinds and they started coming to the back again.
They are attracted to red so place red objects on your camera equipment and they will fly up to it to check it out.
Once they have found a feeder you can move it around since they know it was there and if they don't find it in the exact same spot they will start looking for it I once took down a four spout feeder and placed a single spout feeder in the same spout and put the four spout feeder under the table on the deck, it didn't take long and they where standing on the deck under the table feeding out of the feeder.
Practice taking pictures of the hummers even if its through the windows just to learn to predict there movements and learn your equipment.
That's enough information for one article it was a very interesting experience learning how to capture a difficult subject, I knew nothing, about flashes and very little about my camera when I started but I dedicated myself to learning about the equipment needed and learning the behaviors of our local Hummingbirds and what I learned can be used on my next photographic project but come spring I will ready to apply all I learned this year to capturing Hummingbirds again.
|
|