Hummers...

[Bobobird]

Some "non-standard poses/behaviour" that were captured last summer.

1.


2.


3.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Bobo,

Were #2 and #3 shot on some kind of water feature in your garden?

You're right, I have not seen them do this before.

Cheers, Dave

[Kaye Leggett]

Really like the first - beautiful use of colour.

[John 2]

Really like the first - beautiful use of colour.

Nice set but +1.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Dave A]

#2 is amazing, well done.

Dave

[Bobobird]

Thanks Dave, Kaye, the 2 Johns, Dave.

These were taken at a local park. On a previous visit had noticed that on really hot days the birds would cool off at a cascading water feature so went there again on a really hot day and was not disappointed. Actually I did not think the hummers would still be around and did not see any the previous time. But...

[bnnrcn]

Very nice series, #1 is special for me

[Wavelength]

Superb series... but i was expecting a fourth, where the bird rejoice splashing water.... didn't you get a chance???

[Brownbear]

All wonderful. The 1st is amazing but I also adore the 2nd (just beautiful) and the 3rd simply because the moment is so special, and also unique. Actually they are all unique.

[Donald]

You really should have got it to pose further away in the third one, so that it was clear of that out-of-focus foreground! Capturing that behaviour is something very special. Just a pity about that foreground.

The second one is simply outstanding. Nothing else to say really. Wildlife photography straight out of the top drawer.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Binnur, Nandakumar, Christina, Donald.

"got it to" - come on Donald, don't we all wish we had that kind of ability. The water feature is quite steep and there was very little room to move around. Went back a couple of times but weather had turned pretty cold already so there were no more bathing. actually no more hummingbirds to be seen.

Nandakumar - splashing shots, yes some but it had turned its back to me so...

Couple more...

4.


5.


Then it went off to grab a bite to eat.

6.


Then it went for a nap.

7.


8.

[Brownbear]

Wonderful additions. I especially love #4, all of the same special series (2,3 my faves). Taking a nap

[Daisy Mae]

Ohhh..I love 6 ..so glad you included it.

[IzzieK]

I love #3 in the first batch -- I have not seen that pose before...I can's push nor pull any favourites on the second batch. I dearly love them all very much...I am envious really. All great shots! What was your process here can you remember? Did you use flash? How far away were you from the birds? Did you use a remote? So many questions...

[Jeff Blakemore]

Wonderful shots Bobo!!! All of them are so great, but that first one, I just love that.

What was your focal length for these?

[Bobobird]

Thanks again Christina.
Thanks Sharon, glad there was one you liked.

Thanks Izzie and Jeff. Will try to answer both questions jointly.

But before that I have just noticed that the EXIF is not coming through TinyPic but that data is intact in my uploads. Hmmm.

All shots were taken with the 7D2 and the 100-400 Mk2 lens. Being really tiny birds, the focal length would be 400 at all times (with the implied magnification of a crop camera that would be about 640).
No flash.

Light was not great and the flight shots were taken between iso2000-32000, 1/1250, mostly around f5.6-f6.3. Normally a much faster speed is required but that day really had no choice or would have been hitting really high isos. Could go down to around iso 640, 1/500 on the statics.

Distance-wise not far around 15-20 feet, could not get closer due to the water feature being in the way. Statics were closer, probably 10 feet.

I do not like to mess around too much with post-processing and usually it is just processed through ACR to get the base image right. In photoshop there was probably a curves adjustment here and there, noise reduction, sharpening and a crop.

[IzzieK]

I have seen the EXIFs on all of them in your post here....I am just asking about flash and all that elaborate settings I have seen in the internet that some do. I have experimented on hummers a few months ago and I was about 8-10 feet away but they are so small I have to zoom in in pp and completely lost the plot...now they are all gone for winter. Hence I asked.

[bnnrcn]

Thanks for the additional images, #6 looks lovely

[Wavelength]

O, just what......simply magical