Leslie Larson
September 2023 - Broad-tailed Hummingbird at Hollyhock
About the Image(s)
This month I've been practicing with my new Canon R5 mirrorless on my hummingbird visitors. What a steep learning curve! This was one of my favorites. f/7.1, 1/2500, ISO 1000, 300mm.
7 comments posted
A very pretty shot, great use of a compositional basic: shart tonality, light and dark. Wings frozen at 1/2500. Good job Posted: 09/04/2023 20:23:18
I like the wings. The photo is soft for some reason. Posted: 09/05/2023 07:06:27
Leslie, this is a very strong composition. Like the flower being sharp and stem/buds being soft. Body of the Hummer is sharp but the wings are not. Very hard no matter what speed you shoot at. A friend of mine does amazing hummingbirds and he uses three to five syncronized flashes because the strobe are so fast. Still a very nice high key image. Posted: 09/05/2023 08:06:14
The hollyhock isn't as sharp as I'd like due to the aperture setting. I rather like the wings showing some motion, complete stop motion I don't think would have the same feel. But it was the composition that made this photo for me, plus the blank sky background. Posted: 09/05/2023 16:28:37
Super shot, with a background that doesn't distract. I am happy with your sharpness, and to alter sharpness on the flower could oversharp the bird. I might suggest a small amount of shadow lightening to increase the beautiful patterns on the bird. Posted: 09/09/2023 06:12:51
Well done, Leslie. It is very difficult to get the wings of a hummingbird sharp except with a powerful multi-flash setup. Try doing some selective sharpening in a plug-in such as Topaz, masking out the bird so it doesn't get overdone. Posted: 09/18/2023 11:00:26
I may have to bite the bullet and buy Topaz. So many of my friends use it and swear by it. Posted: 09/18/2023 15:42:52