Feeding
Humingbird feeding children
Humingbird feeding children
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Jun, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This Photo was taken near home. I was lucky, as you know it is very difficult to get this type of situation, birds are on the move. It all happened in the school where my wife worked. She realized that a lot of kids cluttered around a tree staring at a nest. She called me, I grabbed my equipment and headed in that direction with the expectation of taking a lot of picturesTime
This was a bit before noon. It took me a bit longer than an hour to get there after my wife called me. The sun was strong, but the tree leaves reduced the harsh day light. We had to manage alternate staring at the nest because at the school it was obvious that teaching some lessons could be the take out so kids ... and I... were taking turnsLighting
As I was saying, light was harsh but the tree leaves softened fairly. However, the challenge was the wind, as it moved leaves and then light and shadows changed continuously. Needed to average or act very fast and burst a lot of pictures. Lots of outcomes...Equipment
This was on a Nikon D800. It was brand new, but no FX lenses, so I used a VR 18-200, f/3.5-5.6G, DX which helped in the zoom, but with a cropped image. I also used a Manfrotto tripod. Interesting to note is that the mother was not at the nest all the time... she was flying around recognizing the area. Sometimes she stepped on a branch assessing the danger or how to approach, so it took a bit longerInspiration
I always wanted to take pictures of hummingbirds, and had done it while on the move, very difficult and honestly not very good pictures. So once I received the call from my wife I decided to leave everything (i should say with permission from my boss as I was working) and head home, pick up the equipment and go to the place. I had so many ideas in my head figuring out size, distance, set up, etc. Once at the place I had to begin again ... once I was ready, I did not know if just just wanted stare at this nature marvels or take a picture. Fortunately I was able to experience both.Editing
Well, not much, except for enhancing a bit the color, and a bit of sharpening and cropping.In my camera bag
Nikon D800, 24-70 f/2.8G (FX), filters (UV, circular polarizer, ND's), Sigma Art 50mm f1.4; Sigma VR 70-200 f/2.8; Sigma VR 105 f/2.8 Macro; Samyang 14mm f/2.8-1.4DFeedback
Well, first thing is luck and patience. Very hard to encounter this type of scenes. I was lucky. These birds are very sensitive and need to feel confidence they can approach the little ones in the nest. Then where the nest is, usually is "covered", camouflaged, and lighting conditions (and tree leaves) can vary very fast. A long fast lens. A tripod.
