Iron Cross

[OverEasy]

Lately I've been chasing these little birds around the backyard trying to capture them in their element...
Not so easy to say the least. But even though in this file the birds face isn't in view, the overall shape
is attractive still.
Comments are welcome

[Donald]

That's beautiful. Got to look at it full size in the Lightbox. You nailed it. Excellent conversion to B & W.

[Stagecoach]

Well done Dave, an excellent result.

[John 2]

Brave decision to go mono but it works and works well.

[KimC]

Beautiful and what a PERFECT title!

[DanK]

a great capture and a very appealing end result.

[purplehaze]

Terrific, Dave!

[FootLoose]

Great detail in there, Dave, well done.

[Ziggy]

The question is how long can he hold it?

Fantastic capture Dave.

[Wandjina]

A great shot, Dave. I tried photographing humming birds when I was travelling through Pennsylvania earlier this year. They are tiny, never stay in the same place for more than a second or two and are more difficult to photograph than one might imagine. Well done

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[csa mt]

Dave, I also agree, this image really nails it! The silvery hue on the feathers is amazing.

[IzzieK]

I am just content to watch them on my feeders. I know I cannot achieve this kind of shot...yet...but at least I know how to get the blasted bees out of their feeders. They are a delight to have in the garden...

[Donald]

I know I cannot achieve this kind of shot...yet...

'Yet' being the important bit. You can and you will.

[JohnRostron]

Great detail in there, Dave, well done.

Yes, it is the texture that the B&W seems to bring out.

John

[Loose Canon]

This shot rocks Dave! Nice job!

[OverEasy]

Hi Izzie, and All,
There's always luck and tons of shots. Having the birds cooperate is always nice too. The bird in the photo was about 3 feet away from the feeder. I was seated about 10' away. My camera settings were iso 2500 7.1@1/1250. 200-400@ 280mm. as you know changes constantly.
The larger depth of field for as much wiggle room as possible. Set your AF area to large. I use 21 or 51 pts.
You have noticed, I'm sure that these birds have a perch nearby to keep an eye on their treasure, "your feeder," so you can anticipate their arrival time to some degree at least, and be ready.
I will focus on the feeder, hold my focus lock button, and wait. Everyone's different but I find leaving both eyes open really helps me track the birds even when their not in the frame, and is more relaxing too.
Happily the active time for the birds happens to coincide with the best light, early and late so we have that going for us.
Best of luck to you,
Dave

[Rebel]

love it!

[GBO25]

Just fabulous.

[IzzieK]

Hi Izzie, and All,
There's always luck and tons of shots. Having the birds cooperate is always nice too. The bird in the photo was about 3 feet away from the feeder. I was seated about 10' away. My camera settings were iso 2500 7.1@1/1250. 200-400@ 280mm. as you know changes constantly.

Yes...I know of three places where they keep a watch on their feeder (and me)...and one of them is just behind or beside or on top of the feeder itself...I am wondering if I can connect my 150-500mm to my D300s and a tripod, while I have my FF on my 70-300mm because they seem to start playing around almost at the top of my head then fly off, like they were teasing me...because I do not have my camera with me...this week will be a good week to shoot because we have straight no-rain weather...and at around 82°F it will just be pleasant...

The larger depth of field for as much wiggle room as possible. Set your AF area to large. I use 21 or 51 pts.

I set mine to Matrix and the lowest points. I will change it to 51 to help the focus around...thanks for the tip.

You have noticed, I'm sure that these birds have a perch nearby to keep an eye on their treasure, "your feeder," so you can anticipate their arrival time to some degree at least, and be ready.
I will focus on the feeder, hold my focus lock button, and wait. Everyone's different but I find leaving both eyes open really helps me track the birds even when their not in the frame, and is more relaxing too.
Happily the active time for the birds happens to coincide with the best light, early and late so we have that going for us.
Best of luck to you,
Dave

I always notice them coming from the spruce tree and then they fly off to the pines but most of the time they are on a branch near their feeder...and keeping both eyes open is certain a bit hard because one of my eye is in the viewer and the other one is nakedly watching. I always want to attach my camera to an electrical outlet at the deck but I keep forgetting to do it once my camera is set up outside...and yesterday morning was a bummer! It was so muggy, I have to wipe off my lens a few times when I saw those spiderwebs...and forgot about everything else. just watching how the spider sort its victim was so interesting...

I do wake up at 7 most of the time now or at around 6:30am to watch them come for their first taste of nectar...they are a playful lot. A few days ago, I noticed that my feeders were all empty in the morning so I started putting them inside the house for two nights now and so another excuse to take out the feeder before 7am...

Thank you for the tips. I will try and try some more...

Oh P.S. -- did you use flash for that shot you did here?