Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Cropped
May, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in Windsor, ON during the spring bird migration at a well known birding hotspot.Time
It was approaching noon and threatening to rain any minute.Lighting
Due to the threat of impending rain and the fast moving cloud cover than came with it, I had to constantly keep an eye out, adjusting my shutter speed and turning my flash either on or off depending upon how dark the area I was in became. Luckily, this little boy flew in while there was a hint of sunlight through the tree cover and it turned out quite well.Equipment
This image was shot hand held with a Nikon D7100 and a Sigma 70-200mm, F2.8 Lens @ 175mm, F4, ISO 125, 1/500thInspiration
When I saw the hummingbirds coming into this particular spot I was immediately attracted to it because I would be able to isolate a bird in flight without too many obstructions in my shot. I liked the mostly green background and the absence of any man-made structures, feeders or flowers nearby.Editing
Not very much post-processing was done to this image. I used the Vivid color setting in Nikon's software as I felt it was well suited to the image, adjusted contrast, removed a few "dirty sensor" spots, cropped and reduced the noise level using Photoshop.In my camera bag
My equipment is always varied but I almost never leave home without a tripod, shutter release, polarizers and ND filters. If I can reasonably use a tripod for what I'm trying to capture, I will use it. If I have to be completely honest, I secretly hate using it but it really does make a huge difference.Feedback
This is a fortunate shot where the motion of the bird's wings aren't overly distracting. Ideally, someone would want to experiment in better lighting conditions with a much faster shutter speed, perhaps 1/4000th or faster and a higher ISO if they really wanted to "freeze" the motion of a hummingbird in flight.
