Catch of the day..............

[Steve S]

Thought i would get a few with some background for a change...................

[JPS]

Hi Steve,
these are a great set of pictures, I would not change a thing. Well done.

[Bobobird]

Hi Steve,
these are a great set of pictures, I would not change a thing. Well done.

Ditto that, wonderful series.

[Geoff F]

Yes, everything working perfectly with these.

[MFCA]

Nice catch Steve, I hope one day I can "catch" a few of those nice photos

[Daisy Mae]

Exquisite.

[Bootsy]

lovely set

[Dave Humphries]

Great set Steve,

There's really nothing useful to suggest to improve them

[Steve S]

Thanks Everyone!! I'm glad you liked them.

For anyone who wants to try some shots like this, it's not really too difficult. Just takes a little prep work.


First you will need a couple small feeders. I bought mine at Lowe's. They are single hole feeders that only hold about 4 oz. of nectar, or sugar water. You'll have to leave them out till you get a few hummers using them regularly.

I set up a small ground blind next to the feeder ( about 6 feet away).

Hung the feeder in the shade of a tree , low to the ground .( eye level from a seated position) The background was sunlit and about 10 feet behind the feeder (helps with background blur).

Pushed a small stick into the ground , below the feeder. Next, i wire tied some flowers on the stick , hiding the feeder from view of the camera, but still allowing the humming birds to feed from it. (gives the illusion they are feeding from the flowers, but they are really feeding from the feeder)

I set a flash 2 feet from the feeder, on a tripod. The flash was bounced off a bounce card.

Set up my camera and flash exposure, and waited for the hummers to show, while i drank my morning coffee.



Going to have to hit the flower store and get a few different kinds of flowers to shoot next time. Maybe even dream up a few strange things for them to drink out of.

[botspur]

Well done Steve I really like this set. Thanks for the setup tips could be useful in the future.

[Nat]

Very nice photos indeed. I did something similar, but I set it all up outside my window about 6 feet from the open window, set the camera on a tripod with a remote trigger, and drove a rod into the ground with a vase taped to it, with water and flowers, and sprayed the flower a bit with the nectar....they actually came to the flowers and licked at them, too. Was a bit of fun....I could sit at my computer and keep an eye on the feeder.....the only problem was the sun was too bright sometimes and the shadows were on the wrong side of the hummer. But still was worth a play...Yours are better than mine, I must admit. Butterflies also came to the flowers.

[terrib]

Lovely photos. I like the color of the background, too. Thanks for the details on how it was done.