The Provocateur
This is my muse. The Rufous Hummingbird loved to chase away the Anna's from the yard and sometimes even other birds that would come into the yard. He is a ...
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This is my muse. The Rufous Hummingbird loved to chase away the Anna's from the yard and sometimes even other birds that would come into the yard. He is a true rabble-rouser! A fierce competitor.
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Jul, 2016Views
399
Likes
Awards
People's Choice in Humming Birds in Motion Photo Challenge
Absolute Masterpiece
All Star
Top Choice
Genius
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Superior Skill
Top Ranks
Top 30 rank week 2
Top 20 rankTop 10 rank week 3
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 2Categories
Platinum
hiyahercfarm
August 09, 2016
Beautiful shot! Congratulations on winning the Hummingbirds in Motion Challenge.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in my backyard in Redmond, Washington, USA.Time
The photograph was taken at 7:45pm on July 9, 2016. In Redmond at this time, there is still plenty of daylight left with the sun setting around 9pm in July.Lighting
While the photograph is taken in daylight, I am using strobes so the exposure is set to remove all the ambient light and therefore the only light that is in the photograph comes from the strobes. This results in the black background. Since this is during daylight, and the strobes are not set to their full power, the strobes don't adversely impact the hummingbirds.Equipment
I shoot with a Canon 5DS R, an EF 70-200mm Lens, on a Tripod with a wireless remote and off camera strobes.Inspiration
I love hummingbirds. They live in Redmond year round! They are one of my favorite subjects and I am always trying different techniques and tools to capture them in photographs. I don't always try to freeze the motion of their wings, but when I do want to achieve that look, there are essentially two ways to freeze their motion - using a fast shutter, or using strobes. Shooting with a fast shutter invariably means opening up the aperture and living with a reduced depth of field. For this shoot, I wanted to maximize my depth of field and decided to try using strobes to freeze the motion of their wings.Editing
I always process my images in Lightroom. I always shoot RAW so processing is always a requirement! I never restrict myself when it comes to post processing. In these images, if the feeder tube is showing in the photograph, I will remove it with cropping and sometimes with Photoshop.In my camera bag
I almost always have a few ND filters, my EF100-400, 24-105, and my 70-200. The wonderful thing about this combination of lenses is that they all utilize the same filter size of 77mm! For my wildlife photography I have the Tamron 150-600mm for a little more reach than my 100-400 can give me. And, I will often bring along a few strobes depending on the situation. It never hurts to have the option to shoot with flash.Feedback
Patience, patience, and more patience. If you want to photograph hummingbirds you have to have patience. You need to spend a lot of time sitting and waiting for them to come. It helps to provide feeding stations to get the hummingbirds accustomed to visiting specific locations, but in the end there is a lot of waiting for the hummingbirds to come.
