Shooting hummingbirds

I don't know much about hummingbirds, but we've had a feeder up for a few years. I've taken a few pictures of them in the past, like:



This weekend I decided to get a few more pictures, so I spent the evening hunting hummingbirds. I started out inside, shooting through the open screen door, with a 70mm lense:



Then I borrowed my wife's 300 mm lense and got this shot:



Then I started getting closer. I think that this is a male, based on the neck color:



This is shot at 1/100 of a second. You can get an idea of how fast these birds can move:



I decided to try the flash, which results in a better picture. I think that this one is a female. Notice the different color of the neck:



The flash startled this male. He and I both moved. I'm only including it because I like the lack of definition. It looks like an explosion of feathers:



These next few came out very clear, especially in the full-size originals (6MP). I was probably shooting at about three feet from the feeder.









This next one is interesting because it shows how fast the wing movement is. The shutter speed is 1/60 second with flash, but you can see that the wing makes at least one full flap in that time:



This one is without flash, 1/30 second, but is still fairly steady.



Another without flash and 1/30 second:



Here's the male sitting on a branch. It's not as dark as this picture makes it appear:





This one is my favorite of the night shots. It looks much better at full resolution compared to this:



I look forward to pictures of hummingbirds that others might post.

P.S. I'm using a photo site called Fotki to host these images. This is the maximum resolution available for shared photos.
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Hey great job, and pretty feeder too.

Great shots.

Thanks jinx. I like the way that feeder acts as a lense, inverting the trees and mountains across the canyon. Unfortunately, when the sun shines on it the water heats up and leaks out.

Here's a zoom of the last picture:

great camera work HLJ

It helps that I can get very close to them. I smear my body with honey and they can't smell me.

Only now I can't leave my house because of all the bears lying by the front door.

And bees!

Great shots, HLJ. Thanks again, for sharing those.

hlj, fantastic shots - love the stops on some of those close-ups.

what camera/lens were you shooting with? [/gearhead]

breakingnews;360812 wrote:

hlj, fantastic shots - love the stops on some of those close-ups.

what camera/lens were you shooting with? [/gearhead]

breakingnews -- thanks. These were taken with a Nikon D70 (digital). One or two were taken with the stock kit lense (18-70mm); the rest were taken with an aftermarket lense that I bought for my wife last year, but I can't think of the manufacturer right now. It's a ??-300 mm zoom. I'll try to remember to write it down tonight.

If you want Exif metadata for any of the shots, let me know.

Just awesome!

do you do much post processing? a little photoshop work and you could turn some of those shots into seriously crisp photographs. my fave is: DSC_5296-vi.jpg

i'd like to get a 300 or 500mm lens ... but i have absolutely no use for it. someday....

breakingnews;360862 wrote:

do you do much post processing? a little photoshop work and you could turn some of those shots into seriously crisp photographs. my fave is: DSC_5296-vi.jpg

i'd like to get a 300 or 500mm lens ... but i have absolutely no use for it. someday....

The only processing I did was a little cleanup on the last shot (Nightfeeding). There was some black dirt on the red nipple and I removed that. Otherwise they are just straight from the camera and compressed by the photo host (Fotki).

I looked at the lens this morning, but I didn't write down the model. I think it was a Tamron 28-300 XR Di, which is reviewed here. I bought it for my wife to use with her Nikon film camera and it wasn't very expensive. It seems to work just as well for digital and film, though I haven't taken too many shots at the wide end, where there might be some barrel distortion.

I hate it when there is dirt on the red nipple.

Your feeder looks like a planet. A tasty little planet...

thenewguy;360925 wrote:

I hate it when there is dirt on the red nipple.

I guess that's why Playboy uses so much air brush.

Flint;360938 wrote:

Your feeder looks like a planet. A tasty little planet...

It's crunchy on the outside, with a sweet liquid center!

Did you draw the GalactUT, or cut-and-paste? That's some fine art.

Thanks, but no, I didn't draw the Galactus image. I got it from a Google image search;
...he had a reddish background so I had to blend him into the background I built for your feeder planet.

I guess this is the pre-introduction of a character called Cellar Surfer. GalactUT is the only other character I have worked out, so far.

Edit: [/Threadjack] Sorry... very nice pics! Hummingbirds are nice to have around.

Edit:

Flint;360944 wrote:

I guess this is the pre-introduction of a character called Cellar Surfer.

You don't mean this dude, do you?

Wikipedia says that hummingbirds are only found in the Americas. I hadn't realized that before.

those are amazing pictures. i can hardly believe you got one sitting still.

They're territorial, too.

Got a few HBird pics

The largest hummingbird I ever saw was in Moji-Guacu Brazil. Beautiful creatures. I put up a feeder this year for the first time at this house. A few birds are coming, but alas, no pics to-date. I will endevour to get some to share.

Thanks for sharing your pics.

breakingnews;360862 wrote:

do you do much post processing? a little photoshop work and you could turn some of those shots into seriously crisp photographs. my fave is: DSC_5296-vi.jpg

i'd like to get a 300 or 500mm lens ... but i have absolutely no use for it. someday....

What processing would you recommend? I don't have Photoshop, but I do have GIMP, which is about the same. I'll play with some of the pictures tonight, if we get rain.

We only get ruby throateds here in FL, but I love them. I'll try and get some pics when I get home.

When I first saw this thread title, I thought, "Sick bastard...and they must be really hard to hit, too. Probably using a shotgun."

Elspode;361373 wrote:

When I first saw this thread title, I thought, "Sick bastard...and they must be really hard to hit, too. Probably using a shotgun."

I think I could pick one off with an air rifle, and not even break the feeder.

But you wouldnt, would you? :eyebrow:

Hawaiian Kings had great capes made from those tiny iridescent feathers.

DucksNuts;361547 wrote:

But you wouldnt, would you? :eyebrow:

Of course I wouldn't. I spent Tuesday night trying to get two of them accustomed to me. Here are a few more pictures.

(1) If you look closely, you can see that his beak is open and his tongue is sticking out:



(2) Female drinking...


(3)Male blinking...


(4) Here's the male taking a break. He looks a lot different when he's sitting.



(5) These pictures are starting to look the same, so just two more.



(6) I'm trying to train them to perch on my hand. It's difficult to hold the camera and focus and take the picture with only one hand. This picture give you an idea how small the hummingbirds are.

xoxoxoBruce;361606 wrote:

Hawaiian Kings had great capes made from those tiny iridescent feathers.

That explains why there are no hummingbirds in Hawaii.

HLJ, I am so glad you decided to stick around. These pictures are spectacular. You don't mention what shutter speed you are using to get crisper wings on the birds. SO cool. Thanks!!


That last one looks like it belongs in a clone thread for NSFW.... :lol:

Laborah -- that's the second nicest thing you've ever said to me. Thanks.

Regarding the clone thread, I see exactly what you mean. That sounds like a photoshop job for Flint or LJ. (I can just imagine myself trying to stand outside on the stepladder trying to get the picture that you might have in mind.)

=============================
The camera automatically synchronizes to 1/60 second when using flash. Here's the Exif information for the finger picture:
[FONT=arial]
EXIF Image Details[/FONT]

Make: Nikon Corporation
Model: Nikon D70
Width: 3008 pixels
Height: 2000 pixels
Focal Length: 60.0mm
F-Number: F/13
Exposure Time: 0.0166 sec. 1/60
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Flash Mode: Auto, Fired, Return detected
Date: 2007-07-03 19:34:37

I was experimenting with different F stops to see what effect that has. I believe that a wider aperture results in less depth of field. This last set was taken with aperture settings of F/11 or F/13. The pictures in the first post were mostly taken with the aperture set at F/6.3, which is the largest aperture for that lens at full zoom. (If I've got that backward, I hope someone will correct me.)

Those are some outstanding shots there, HLJ!
I love hummers and try to attract them every year.
I thought the late freeze got them this year, but I've been seeing some
lately so they made it.
They are the 1st to go when fall comes, so enjoy them now!
I'd like to recommend feeders with perches for the little buzzers if I may. It gives them a resting place so they don't burn so much energy.
Did you know some of them fly entirely across the Gulf of Mexico non-stop when they migrate?

Thanks beauregaard,

We had a nice feeder with 3 little bottles, like perfume bottles, and it had little perches. Unfortunately, it was suspended by fishing line which broke one day, resulting in one of the bottles breaking. I'm trying to find another like that.

HLJ;361699 wrote:

That explains why there are no hummingbirds in Hawaii.

No not Hummingbirds, Iiwi, Apapane and Anianiau... tiny little honey creepers. Thousands and thousands to make one cape.

I stored all of these pictures in Fotki. They just sent me a note saying that my "trial membership" was expired, but they didn't tell me when I signed up that it was a trial membership. They switched me over to a free membership, but the links that I used are no longer valid.

Now, after all that work - uploading the pictures to Fotki, linking them to posts and adding comments - they are all gone.

Sorry. A Quality Images thread without the images isn't very interesting. I don't know if I can put the pictures somewhere else (like PhotoBucket) and fix the links because the edit window has closed.

Hummingbirds are trying to fatten up and head south, and they are being *very* defensive of their feeders.
I've had a feeder in the back yard all summer that has attracted at least a couple, male and female. I suspect they mated, but they still try to run each other off.
I hung another in the corner of the house, out of sight from the 1st one, and the female found it within a couple of hours! There is also a juvenile (I think) that the female seems to tolerate a little more, but it still gets run off after a bit. They'll perch on a twig in a tree and keep an eye on the feeder. When another hummer approaches it gets dive-bombed. Their flight is very similar to a bumblebee's.
They are going through the sugar-water (1 part sugar to 4 parts water) in a flash!
btw, in this hot weather, avoid the temptation to put out a big feeder full because it can sour and go bad quickly. It's better to use a small feeder and re-fill every other day.
Feeders with perches are better so they can rest while feeding.
Also feeders with yellow are more attractive to insects, so avoid those.

We bought two new feeders a few weeks ago. They both have perches, as you suggested earlier.

We will take them down soon, so the HBs start heading south and aren't tempted to stay around too long.

LabRat;361722 wrote:

shutter speed you are using to get crisper wings on the birds.

I thought we only ate IotDs? Now, who was looking for hotwing recipes? ;)

HungLikeJesus;380254 wrote:

We will take them down soon, so the HBs start heading south and aren't tempted to stay around too long.

From what I've read, that is a fallacy.
The urge to head south is much stronger than the urge to feed. Some have been known to stay for the winter, but it may be because they are at the end of their life span or too sick to head south.
Some don't naturally head south till November, usually juveniles, so leave them up.
There is lots of good info at
<hummingbirds.net>

btw, what are aspirsions?
and how far can they be cast?

Well, they're mostly gone.
I've only seen a couple in the last few days.
Just 2 weeks ago there were at least 1/2 a dozen dive-bombing and zipping by so close we'd duck while sitting on the porch to watch!
BTW, now is a good time to buy feeders for next year.
I went by KMart and all their bird feeders and seed were on sale at 20% off!

Thanks. We just bought two new feeders at the end of July. We haven't seen any hummingbirds in the last few weeks.

HungLikeJesus;361725 wrote:

I was experimenting with different F stops to see what effect that has. I believe that a wider aperture results in less depth of field. This last set was taken with aperture settings of F/11 or F/13. The pictures in the first post were mostly taken with the aperture set at F/6.3, which is the largest aperture for that lens at full zoom. (If I've got that backward, I hope someone will correct me.)

You are correct. The smaller#/wider/"larger" aperture will give you the shallowest depth of field making only a select portion of the image in focus. Whereas the larger#/narrower/"smaller" aperture will give yo a larger depth of field making more of the image in focus. The "sweet spot" for each lens to get the sharpest image is different, but usually is around the f/8-11 range. Not to say that your images of larger or smaller aperture will be soft, just that most lenses are sharpest around that range. Using a shallower depth of field and good composure will better isolate your close subjects and bring more of the viewer's attention to the part of the image that you want.

I have learned a ton of information from Nikonians.org and NikonCafe.com (forum member at both places: BullittMan), so I humbly invite you to join in and get ready for more photography info than you will ever have time to read.

Photobucket is a very easy image hosting site to use btw, free and very easy to use. It's what I use to post images to various forums, and keep the Smugmug for my "personal portfolio" if you will.

Bullitt - thanks. I'll have to save those sites for later - but maybe you can clear up the distinction between depth of field and depth of focus.

They're basically one in the same.
A very good but probably overly long explanation is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field
Ignore the formula section, that's going a bit too far into the subject IMO.

Very good. I thought one was the distance from the film plain to the actual point of focus.

HungLikeJesus;362984 wrote:

I stored all of these pictures in Fotki. They just sent me a note saying that my "trial membership" was expired, but they didn't tell me when I signed up that it was a trial membership. They switched me over to a free membership, but the links that I used are no longer valid.

Now, after all that work - uploading the pictures to Fotki, linking them to posts and adding comments - they are all gone.

Sorry. A Quality Images thread without the images isn't very interesting. I don't know if I can put the pictures somewhere else (like PhotoBucket) and fix the links because the edit window has closed.

I just opened this thread and all the pictures have returned (they had all disappeared about a year ago). I don't know what's going on.

We haven't put up our feeders yet this year. The hummingbirds fly to where the feeders were, then fly to the window, as if to say, "Hey, get busily!"

HungLikeJesus;469970 wrote:

We haven't put up our feeders yet this year. The hummingbirds fly to where the feeders were, then fly to the window, as if to say, "Hey, get busily!"

That's *exactly* what they're saying! It is common behavior for hummers to go look in the exact same spot where the feeder use to be. I had one hanging outside my window and when I'd take it down to clean and re-fill, sometimes they'd hit the window to let me know they were waiting!
Remember, don't use colored nectar, just pure cane sugar in a 1 to 4 ratio with water. Boil the water 1st, then mix in the sugar, and let cool.
The sugar water can go bad fast in hot weather, so don't waste it by filling up a large feeder. Small feeders re-filled frequently assures fresh go-juice for them.
ByTheWay, MalWart had some really well made, easy to clean feeders in combo pack that were Made In America!
Check and see if they still have some, they make a great gift.

How is it, do you think, that these tiny birds, with their tiny bird brains, can fly all the way to Mexico, spend the winter drinking strawberry margaritas, fly all the way back to Colorado, and find the same spot where they spent last summer?

I can't remember where I parked my car this morning, and I haven't even left the house yet.

P.S. I should have credited lumberjim for the "get busily" comment.

A few old hummingbird shots...

Momdigr actually punched the button on this hummer.

What's that plant just behind him?

Brilliant camera work HLJ one of few peoples work that is good

Japanese Maple

;)