Barbara Mallon
July 2025 - Hummingbird and Sage
About the Image(s)
Being confined in travels because of husband's Alzheimer's, so I need to find household stuff for photos. So I washed my window and have been taking photos of humming birds outside. This is one and I did considerable background blurring. Need advice on the blurry far wing. Taken with a mirrorless R5 Mark2 with 100400 l EOS lens. Also used a 1.4 extender and the adaptor. I am considering buying a 200 to 800 lens for my mirrorless R5 Mark2. My current combination is great for closer ups so am not sure.
7 comments posted
What is the shutter speed? Do you not think that a much higher shutter speed would have leave less blurry wings? The background blur is ok.The sharpness ofthe flowers is ok. Posted: 07/09/2025 11:17:22
(Groups 21 & 48 & 71)
Barbara, Excellent composition, and all technical aspects to me are outstanding except the movement of the wings unless you wanted to show movement. Hummingbirds move their wings from 80 times per second all the way up to over 200 times per second. To stop them cold you need to shoot 1/4000 per second or higher and even that may not do it. A friend of mine that is way more proficient than I am at stopping the action of their wings uses a flash and sometimes several flashes, he has very good luck. Still a gorgeous image. Posted: 07/09/2025 14:19:52
Barbara,
Your ability to continue with your passion vis-à-vis your personal challenges is beyond admirable, God bless. To begin, I am amazed at the quality of this image vis-à-vis the description you gave of how you shot this, although I'm a bit unclear if you shot this through a window.
I do a bit of judging at various photo clubs, so I'm going to assess this image as I would if in a competition, and I'll begin by saying, photographing hummingbirds requires a good degree of skill, which you've aptly demonstrated. The strengths of the image are in the two most important aspects of wildlife photography; you've captured tack sharp eyes (and even got some catchlight) and you've separated a compelling subject from its background - kudos. Its weaknesses are its inconsistent lighting and a soft flower in parts of the image. So, on a 1 to 5 scale, I would award this image a 4, i.e., a damn good image that needs minor corrections.
Your settings were (ISO 2500 - f10 - 1/2000th second) with a focal length of 560mm, i.e., 400mm x 1.4 teleconverter. You did not indicate whether or not you used a tripod, but I assume you did because the part of the flower on the same plane with the subject is tack sharp.
The issue with the soft flower is due to an inadequate DOF - and you needed f22 instead of f10 - that's two and a half stops too shallow. Meanwhile, I think this is an Anna hummingbird whose wings flap at roughly 40-50 beats per second, which requires a shutter speed of 1/4000th second to 1/8000th second to freeze, but to be safe, I would use 1/8000th second, which is two stops too little. So, to get the proper exposure you would have to increase your ISO by 4.5 stops i.e., raise it to roughly 70,000, which you're not going to do with an R5.
The best way to do this is with a flash, or in this case a series of linked flashes as you really need a minimum of 4 linked flashes to really capture a meaningful hummingbird shot.
The following settings would work (in a shaded area or at least out of the bright sunlight) if you used flash instead of shutter speed to freeze the wings- ISO 400 - f22 - 1/125th second with the flashes set at 1/64th power. Here's the rational
You need f22 to capture tack sharp wingtip to wingtip plus the flowers and stems not in the same plane as the subject, and a flash set at 1/64th power which emits light for approximately 1/20,000th second, which WILL freeze all motion.
If you send me your email address I'll gladly send you a more detailed step-by-step description.
Posted: 07/09/2025 17:10:02
Your ability to continue with your passion vis-à-vis your personal challenges is beyond admirable, God bless. To begin, I am amazed at the quality of this image vis-à-vis the description you gave of how you shot this, although I'm a bit unclear if you shot this through a window.
I do a bit of judging at various photo clubs, so I'm going to assess this image as I would if in a competition, and I'll begin by saying, photographing hummingbirds requires a good degree of skill, which you've aptly demonstrated. The strengths of the image are in the two most important aspects of wildlife photography; you've captured tack sharp eyes (and even got some catchlight) and you've separated a compelling subject from its background - kudos. Its weaknesses are its inconsistent lighting and a soft flower in parts of the image. So, on a 1 to 5 scale, I would award this image a 4, i.e., a damn good image that needs minor corrections.
Your settings were (ISO 2500 - f10 - 1/2000th second) with a focal length of 560mm, i.e., 400mm x 1.4 teleconverter. You did not indicate whether or not you used a tripod, but I assume you did because the part of the flower on the same plane with the subject is tack sharp.
The issue with the soft flower is due to an inadequate DOF - and you needed f22 instead of f10 - that's two and a half stops too shallow. Meanwhile, I think this is an Anna hummingbird whose wings flap at roughly 40-50 beats per second, which requires a shutter speed of 1/4000th second to 1/8000th second to freeze, but to be safe, I would use 1/8000th second, which is two stops too little. So, to get the proper exposure you would have to increase your ISO by 4.5 stops i.e., raise it to roughly 70,000, which you're not going to do with an R5.
The best way to do this is with a flash, or in this case a series of linked flashes as you really need a minimum of 4 linked flashes to really capture a meaningful hummingbird shot.
The following settings would work (in a shaded area or at least out of the bright sunlight) if you used flash instead of shutter speed to freeze the wings- ISO 400 - f22 - 1/125th second with the flashes set at 1/64th power. Here's the rational
You need f22 to capture tack sharp wingtip to wingtip plus the flowers and stems not in the same plane as the subject, and a flash set at 1/64th power which emits light for approximately 1/20,000th second, which WILL freeze all motion.
If you send me your email address I'll gladly send you a more detailed step-by-step description.
Posted: 07/09/2025 17:10:02
You are fortunate to have such a beautiful backyard with hummingbirds. The hummingbird body and the flower it is going to are super sharp, even with a catch light in the eye. The background is great. I am I don't believe that the back wing is blurry because of movement. The front wing is pretty sharp with only a bit of blur to show movement. Thinking that both wings are going at about the same speed, then the back wing is blurry because of depth of field. If you are at f10, then you don't have much room to correct this.
I did reverse the image, as I think that has better composition. Posted: 07/10/2025 20:10:21
I did reverse the image, as I think that has better composition. Posted: 07/10/2025 20:10:21
I enjoy this image as I have the same bush in my backyard that is often visited by hummingbirds. I have not attempted the set up it would take to get a shot like this, well done. You can even see the long tongue of the bird, aren't they amazing? The separation of subject from background is great. From other's comments, the challenge is to try again with greater depth of field and try the flashes.
I also have the 100-400. I often wonder if the 200-800 would be worth trying, or invest in a better 150-600 or good 600. Perhaps try renting one if available? Posted: 07/20/2025 15:21:15
I also have the 100-400. I often wonder if the 200-800 would be worth trying, or invest in a better 150-600 or good 600. Perhaps try renting one if available? Posted: 07/20/2025 15:21:15
Here ia substitute a less blurry wing. I took t from another photo. Dies it look real? Do you like it better? Posted: 07/28/2025 22:31:16
I like Tom's reversal! too! I am not sure I want to use flash as the window I shoot through would be a problem. Also I don't want to hurt the bird's eyesight. Posted: 07/28/2025 22:34:35