[PICS] frustration of hummingbirds

"jimkramer" wrote in message
...
Welcome to the frustrating world of photographing hummingbirds.

http://www.jlkramer.net/Pictures/HB/morning.htm
-Jim



It needn't be so frustrating. Didn't you just move to Mississippi? If you
will put all your feeders within 10 feet of each other (and the First Nature
one that is in your photo is inexpensive and one of the best available) you
will, within the next two week or so, you will have too many hummingbirds to
photograph.

At that point set up a pancake style humminbird feeder (humzinger and Perky
Pet Oasis are two examples of this type) supported from the bottom and place
it about 30 feet away from the other feeders and in the shade. It will get
regular visits and will likely only get one hummer at a time (with some
fighting).

Get your flash off camera and set it to a manual setting of 1/2 or full
power. Put it at a height of about two feet above the feeder pointing at the
feeder at a downward and horizontal angle of about 45 degrees to the line of
sight from the camera. Use a small diffuser that does not send light in
directions leading away from the subject, such as the Westcott Micro Apollo
or the $5 foamcore one he

http://www.dyesscreek.com/hidden_pages/diffuser.html

What you don't want is a Gary Fong Lightsphere, cut alcohol bottle, Sto-Fen
Omni-Bounce or anything that will send your flash's light to places where
your subject isn't. If you two flashes, put one on either side of the bird,
again, pointing away from you and down at the bird at about a 45 degree
angle on both axes. If you don't have two flashes, use a piece of white
foamcore as a reflector on the opposite side of the bird.

Your camera should be at a level approximately six inches above the feeder,
which is the same level the bird will be most of the time that you shoot it.

Put thumbtacks in the holes of the feeder leaving only one open and orient
it such that you will get the side of the hummer that you want. Rotate the
feeder to get different "poses." Cut the perches off the feeder if it has
them and they cannot be removed any other way. After the hummingbird sips,
it will "back up" and hover for a moment before sipping again. Shoot it
while it is hovering in-between sips.

Let the wings blur. They look natural that way and the trade-offs are worth
it:

http://www.dyesscreek.com/birds/inde...r=hummingbirds

During mid-september, and especially after any big storm blows through, you
will be able to shoot hundreds of shots in one sitting.

Eric Miller
www.dyesscreek.com

"Eric Miller" wrote in message
. ..

"jimkramer" wrote in message
...
Welcome to the frustrating world of photographing hummingbirds.

http://www.jlkramer.net/Pictures/HB/morning.htm
-Jim



It needn't be so frustrating. Didn't you just move to Mississippi? If you
will put all your feeders within 10 feet of each other (and the First
Nature one that is in your photo is inexpensive and one of the best
available) you will, within the next two week or so, you will have too
many hummingbirds to photograph.

At that point set up a pancake style humminbird feeder (humzinger and
Perky Pet Oasis are two examples of this type) supported from the bottom
and place it about 30 feet away from the other feeders and in the shade.
It will get regular visits and will likely only get one hummer at a time
(with some fighting).

Get your flash off camera and set it to a manual setting of 1/2 or full
power. Put it at a height of about two feet above the feeder pointing at
the feeder at a downward and horizontal angle of about 45 degrees to the
line of sight from the camera. Use a small diffuser that does not send
light in directions leading away from the subject, such as the Westcott
Micro Apollo or the $5 foamcore one he

http://www.dyesscreek.com/hidden_pages/diffuser.html

What you don't want is a Gary Fong Lightsphere, cut alcohol bottle,
Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce or anything that will send your flash's light to
places where your subject isn't. If you two flashes, put one on either
side of the bird, again, pointing away from you and down at the bird at
about a 45 degree angle on both axes. If you don't have two flashes, use a
piece of white foamcore as a reflector on the opposite side of the bird.

Your camera should be at a level approximately six inches above the
feeder, which is the same level the bird will be most of the time that you
shoot it.

Put thumbtacks in the holes of the feeder leaving only one open and orient
it such that you will get the side of the hummer that you want. Rotate the
feeder to get different "poses." Cut the perches off the feeder if it has
them and they cannot be removed any other way. After the hummingbird sips,
it will "back up" and hover for a moment before sipping again. Shoot it
while it is hovering in-between sips.

Let the wings blur. They look natural that way and the trade-offs are
worth it:

http://www.dyesscreek.com/birds/inde...r=hummingbirds

During mid-september, and especially after any big storm blows through,
you will be able to shoot hundreds of shots in one sitting.

Eric Miller
www.dyesscreek.com


Thanks for the pointers Eric.

I put up two feeders and am now going through just over a gallon of sugar
water in a week. The feeders each have ten holes and I have seen as many as
eight on a feeder used at one time, not for long mind you. :-)



I've counted well over 20 at once in air and on feeder. There was just a
mass hatching as there are lots of juvenile males (oxymoron?) that are just
coming in to colors. They are fairly tame, you can stand with in 2 feet of
the feeders and they will still come up to feed, just don’t move quickly.



My goal is to make Bret furious by getting set up to shoot them with the
MP-E 65. :-)



Have you tried flashing from the underside to get the gorget to flare?



Any flower recommendations?

-Jim

Eric Miller wrote,on my timestamp of 28/08/2008 1:37 AM:



Put thumbtacks in the holes of the feeder leaving only one open and orient
it such that you will get the side of the hummer that you want. Rotate the
feeder to get different "poses." Cut the perches off the feeder if it has
them and they cannot be removed any other way. After the hummingbird sips,
it will "back up" and hover for a moment before sipping again. Shoot it
while it is hovering in-between sips.

and don't forget to paste in a few blossoms to replace
that ugly feeder...

So tell me something: how do you get blurred wings
with two flashes? Do you slow down lightspeed as
well? Last time I looked, the exposure time of a flash
burst will freeze solid any moving wings.


Let the wings blur. They look natural that way and the trade-offs are worth
it:

or just photoslop them in from another shot, blur and all.
Bret would.

Eric Miller wrote:

directions leading away from the subject, such as the Westcott Micro Apollo
or the $5 foamcore one he

http://www.dyesscreek.com/hidden_pages/diffuser.html


(This is not about hummingbirds.) I'm wondering if I'm confused about
the point you are making in the link above. I actually prefer the
lighting in the second photo without the diffuser. Or is that the point?

Russell

BTW, you hummingbird photos are awesome.

jimkramer wrote:

Any flower recommendations?

A friend tells me this salvia is their favorite target in his garden:
http://edgehill.net/California/Bay-A...y/full-set/pg2
It makes 3-foot long spikes like that (only about 3 inches are shown)
and stands about 5 feet tall.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

all google groups messages filtered due to spam

"Russell D." wrote in message
...
Eric Miller wrote:

directions leading away from the subject, such as the Westcott Micro
Apollo
or the $5 foamcore one he

http://www.dyesscreek.com/hidden_pages/diffuser.html


(This is not about hummingbirds.) I'm wondering if I'm confused about
the point you are making in the link above. I actually prefer the
lighting in the second photo without the diffuser. Or is that the point?

Russell

BTW, you hummingbird photos are awesome.


OOPS! Wrong link. The diffuser link that I wanted to post is the following:

http://www.dyesscreek.com/hummingbir...box/index.html

The one that was posted was on a different subject entirely and used the
wrong type of diffuser for hummingbird photography.

Eric Miller
www.dyesscreek.com

"Eric Miller" wrote in message
...

"Russell D." wrote in message
...
Eric Miller wrote:

directions leading away from the subject, such as the Westcott Micro
Apollo
or the $5 foamcore one he

http://www.dyesscreek.com/hidden_pages/diffuser.html


(This is not about hummingbirds.) I'm wondering if I'm confused about
the point you are making in the link above. I actually prefer the
lighting in the second photo without the diffuser. Or is that the point?

Russell

BTW, you hummingbird photos are awesome.


OOPS! Wrong link. The diffuser link that I wanted to post is the
following:

http://www.dyesscreek.com/hummingbir...box/index.html

just not your day for links--- htm not html
http://www.dyesscreek.com/hummingbir...tbox/index.htm

The one that was posted was on a different subject entirely and used the
wrong type of diffuser for hummingbird photography.

Eric Miller
www.dyesscreek.com

"jimkramer" wrote in message
...

I put up two feeders and am now going through just over a gallon of sugar
water in a week. The feeders each have ten holes and I have seen as many
as eight on a feeder used at one time, not for long mind you. :-)



Soon you will have many more birds coming through and a lot of adult males
will lead the crowd.

There was just a mass hatching as there are lots of juvenile males
(oxymoron?) . . .


"Truism" is the word I think you are looking for if my wife is correct.


My goal is to make Bret furious by getting set up to shoot them with the
MP-E 65. :-)



Good luck with that. Give a 70-200 with a 1.4x teleconverter a try if you
just want to get close. For filling the frame, my lens of choice is a 400mm
5.6 (Canon's EF 400 5/5.6L) with an extension tube, somewhere around 35mm
length.


Have you tried flashing from the underside to get the gorget to flare?



No. But I have tested lighting from different angles but never got around to
posting a web page on that subject. My verdict is: illuminate from above. A
rubythroat's gorget will light up best if illuminated from above while the
bird is facing you. Of course, this is foiled by the bird sometimes because
they can apparently control whether the red shows or not. After testing by
placing the flash at different angles to the feeder and rotating the feeder
to change the position of the birds, it dawned on me that I probably should
have known this anyway since that is where their light comes when not being
photographed. Anyway, this photo shows the bird with light hitting the bird
at an approximate 45 degree downward angle and from about the same angle to
the right and left of the line from the lens to the bird:

http://www.dyesscreek.com/birds/inde...2Fcrw_6372.jpg


Any flower recommendations?


For attracting them to the yard, the three most successful plants that I
have a

Mimosa a.k.a. Silk Tree - when this blooms in spring, my hummingbird numbers
grow significantly.

Turk's Cap - when this blooms in late summer and fall (right now) the birds
will ignore the feeders until they have drained this plant first.

Coral Honeysuckle - another plant that the birds will feed from before the
feeder.


Eric Miller
www.dyesscreek.com

Annika1980 wrote,on my timestamp of 28/08/2008 10:45 AM:

So tell me something: how do you get blurred wings
with two flashes? Do you slow down lightspeed as
well? Last time I looked, the exposure time of a flash
burst will freeze solid any moving wings.

Not unless you have a VERY high-speed flash unit.
Hummingbird wings beat so fast you'd need about 1/15,000 of a second
to freeze it totally.


Just to prove what sort of a liar you a
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/MarkLevin.shtml

If you take a flash to a spinning airplane propeller,
you'll freeze the action right there. Even 1/1000 will do it.
Hummingbirds beat their wings much, much slower than
a spinning propeller, at around 60Hz.
That's why they are called "humming": the noise
from their wings is a low pitch "hum".

Or in photo terms, around 1/60 second.
If you used the default synch speed of your camera
of around 1/200, the wings would be nearly frozen solid.
So how come the hummie bodies show evidence of flash
light reflection but the wings are blurred?
Strange flash you have, that has a flash burst speed of
less than 1/60. May I suggest you try to sell it
in epay? Must be worth a fortune!

Like I said: nothing like letting a liar like
you talk. It shows straight away what you
claim is nothing but crap. But everyone already
knew that, it's only you who can't fathom how silly
you really make yourself look.

"Annika1980" wrote in message
...
On Aug 28, 9:08 am, Noons wrote:

Or in photo terms, around 1/60 second.
If you used the default synch speed of your camera
of around 1/200, the wings would be nearly frozen solid.
So how come the hummie bodies show evidence of flash
light reflection but the wings are blurred?

You are an idiot.

If a hummer beats his wings at 50 beats per second then the wings will
make one full cycle of motion in 1/50 of a second. At a shutter speed
of 1/200 of a second the wings will go through 1/4 of their total
cycle of motion. In other words they'll move a couple of inches in
the time that the shutter is open. So tell us again how 1/200 is
going to freeze the motion? Better yet, provide us ANY examples of
that happening without the use of high-speed flash.


The difference between someone that is just ignorant and someone that is
just an idiot; you can teach the ignorance away, not so with the idiotcy.
You have clearly identified the problem; the only logical course of action
should also be painfully apparent, lest we begin to categorize you as
well. -Jim