About the Image(s)

If you like photographic challenges, hummingbirds are the ticket. I’m not talking at a feeder where they will eat out of your hand, but on a complicated firebush plant. With the male, the goal is to get its gorget, that colorful reddish/orange neck it sports, to light up. That requires it to face the sun. The problem is that when it’s feeding, the gorget only lights up when it’s behind the flower. If it’s perpendicular to the camera, you can see a bit of the color but not the full show. Sometimes it will hold still in the air, the most difficult shot to get, as it’s there and gone by the time you swing the lens to that position. Also, because of the bird’s small size the camera often has a hard time focusing on the bird which necessitates using a small focus area. Having a small focus area on a small bird that stays in place for milliseconds, is a trick. Anyway, “Mike, stop your whining get on with it!” You’re welcome. This guy gave me a good look and I’m partial, as my friend Lu will attest, to dark images, so this one appeals to me. I did have to use some photoshop magic on the lower left to remove an out of focus firebush bloom made a semi-transparent red blob over the bottom of the plant part shown here. (Ruby-throated Hummingbird ??“ Archilochus colubris) (Sony a1M2, 400mm lens with a 1.4 extender providing 560mm, 1/4000 second, f/4, ISO 1600)