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Behind The Lens
Location
This is one of my favorite shots of my hummingbirds. I took this photo in my front yard where I have all of my hummingbird nectar pots with flowers to attract the hummingbirds. I basically set a stage to photograph them.Time
I took this photo at 2:09 PM in the day.Lighting
Yes, there are only a few hours of the day to photograph the hummingbirds in my front yard that there is good enough light. It is between 12:30 to 4 PM and then the light shifts through the trees and so, I try to get a sunny day to shoot, because, otherwise, there isn't enough light.Equipment
I used a Canon 5D Mark III Camera with a Tamron 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Lens DiVC USD for Canon. I use a Manfrotto 190 CXPRO3 Carbon Fiber Tripod with a Oben BE-117 Ball Head.Inspiration
I love the hummingbirds and start from April to May staging photo shoots of them. They are fascinating to watch and they are so tiny, but so very fast. Because they are so territorial, they continually chase the other away so, it does take a lot of patience to capture a good photo of each of them.Editing
Yes, first, I take all of my raw photos through Lightroom 5 and do any global adjustments. I then took this photo into Photoshop and used a plug-in of Nik software called Define to take any noise out of the background on one layer. I then added another adjustment layer plugin for Nik software called Color Effects Pro 4, Tonal Contrasts and made adjustments to bring out more tonal contrast in the hummingbird. I also did a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer in Photoshop and pumped up the red color a bit.In my camera bag
My Canon5D Mark III, my Canon F/2.8L 100mm Macro lens, Canon 24-105mm f/4L Lens and my Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6Lens. My big Tamron 150-600 F/5-6.3, in it's own case…too big for camera bag, but is essential for closeups of the birds. I also take my Manfrotto 190 CX PRO3 Carbon Fiber Tripos with the Oben BE-117 Ball Head.Feedback
Yes, of course depending on where you live and the lighting that is available there…I start in early Spring around late April getting ready the stage to photograph the hummingbirds and photograph them through late September. As I said, I have to photograph them in my front yard to get enough light possibly for a few house of the day when the sun is bright enough. I need a lot of light to get a really fast shutter speed on my Tamron 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Lens. I have yet to get a f/5, so it is always a f/6.3 for the widest opening and to really focus on them and blur more of the background. I draw Hummingbirds to my yard by first getting a few pots of Red or Pink Mandavilla Vines for my flower cart. They are especially drawn to red flowers. I also have more decorative nectar pots that I fill with sugar water that I make fresh for them and fill up as need be and refrigerate the rest. I clean and wash out the little pots of nectar once or twice a week. I have these little decorative nectar pots hanging from standing black wrought iron hanging posts. I found this year at the Wild Bird Center, little water moats that I fill up with water and the ants cannot pass the water to get to the nectar. You hang the pots of nectar below the water moats and the other birds like to drink water from the moats as well. So, when I finish setting everything up it all looks attractive and lots of pretty decorative nectar pots make them happy to come to my little haven for them. The next thing of course is waiting and sometimes under a beach umbrella when the sun is intense and I either stand with my camera and lens on tripod or sit in a chair and try to be very still to capture the little darlings. They are worth the wait if you can capture a photo like this one :)