hummers please cc

[jamn4ex]

canon t2i 400 mm av5.6 tv 1/800 iso 1600

[ktuli]

James,

Knowing that any bird photography is difficult and that hummingbird photography has to be 10x harder than that, please consider my C&C is also paired with a ton of respect for anyone that manages shots like these.

That said - the biggest problem that jumps out at me on both photos is the large hot spots (particularly in the second photo). Usually I am able to ignore some hot spots, but in these shots, my eyes are definitely drawn to them. In the first shot, my eyes keep landing on the bird's neck, and in the second one my eyes keep going to to the feeder - which is bad because it draws my eyes away from the main subject.

If you cropped the first one, I think I'd prefer a bit more space added back to the right side of the frame so the bird can fly into the frame. It isn't horrible as is, but just seems the slightest bit cramped.

Your focus looks great though - there is so much detail in the feathers on both birds. And your background is very nicely blurred and you have some pleasing bokeh (even if it is a little on the large side).

Great shots!

- Bill

[Dave Humphries]

Hi James,

I really can't improve or add to Bill's critique.

Great shots, its a shame we don't get them here in the UK, I suspect our equivalent bird would be the kingfisher - and all I have ever managed of those is a blurry, shiny blue streak so you have my respect too.

[jamn4ex]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the criticism. The hotspots are bothering me and I am not sure what to do about them. When I see this bird in the shade I cant seem to get enough shutterspeed. I will try some more and hope for improvement. Thanks once more for viewing.

[ktuli]

James,

I think there is something you could do here with filters and layers in Photoshop and selectively darkening the background but leaving the bird exposed the way it is. You might be able to tone down those highlights on the bird as well.

But I'm not very good at PS, so I'm not going to try doing the edits for you. Perhaps Jiro can come to the rescue?

- Bill

[Frankie]

James,
Awesome shots! Hummingbirds are not easy to get! You've managed to get 2 great photos with incredible detail. The fact that we can see the actual feathers is amazing. Yes, the hotspots are an issue, and I don't really know what to say about them. I've had the same problems and I'm still learning a lot about post processing. But I do think you managed to capture two awesome shots.
I really love the first one because he is in flight. Keep up the good work and maybe one of these days you and I will master PP enough to deal with hotspots!
frankie

[FrankMi]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the criticism. The hotspots are bothering me and I am not sure what to do about them. When I see this bird in the shade I cant seem to get enough shutterspeed. I will try some more and hope for improvement. Thanks once more for viewing.

Hi James, excellent captures! If you are shooting RAW, you may have enough range to recover the detail in the highlights. If you aren't shooting RAW and have the software to do some post processing, give it a try. You'll have more options than with a JPEG file.

If you are interested, here is a link that describes the advantages of shooting RAW over JPEG:

http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/raw/raw.htm