In honor of Prince, I’m going to make this an all purple week, starting with this hummingbird — a velvet purple coronet. I took this one in the cloud forest of Ecuador, and the flash really brings out the iridescence in the wings. Without flash, they appear almost black. You can see a nice bit of purple just below the throat. Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 350mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/2000th of a second, two Nikon SB-900 flash units
Technicolor! I suppose about the only way one can hope to stop the action of a hummingbird is to use a flash so the shutter speed equals or exceeds 1/2000 of a second. Rats! I just discovered my SB800 is likely gone due to corrosion when I failed to yank the batteries after last using it. Poisonal problems aside, well done, Sean! : )
Hi Sue, true on freezing the action with flash rather than shutter. The best way to freeze the wings of a hummingbird is to lower the flash power and shoot at a normal flash shutter speed like 1/250th of a second . Most people say lowering the flash to about 1/16th of normal strength works best. This produces a very fast burst of light. Much faster than the top shutter speed of most good cameras which max out at 1/8000th of a second. But that assumes you can control all other variables like ambient light, flash positioning and distance from subject. When working with feeders in the backyard you can control all those things but not necessarily when working in the wild.
Thanks for the info on using a flash, Sean. One of these days I will replace the SB800 with the latest version. I don’t reach for a flash often, but they do come in handy at times. I probably should spend more time experimenting with one as I know you often rely on one or more and get stellar results with them.
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In honor of Prince, I’m going to make this an all purple week, starting with this hummingbird — a velvet purple coronet. I took this one in the cloud forest of Ecuador, and the flash really brings out the iridescence in the wings. Without flash, they appear almost black. You can see a nice bit of purple just below the throat.
Technicolor! I suppose about the only way one can hope to stop the action of a hummingbird is to use a flash so the shutter speed equals or exceeds 1/2000 of a second. Rats! I just discovered my SB800 is likely gone due to corrosion when I failed to yank the batteries after last using it. Poisonal problems aside, well done, Sean! : )
Hi Sue, true on freezing the action with flash rather than shutter. The best way to freeze the wings of a hummingbird is to lower the flash power and shoot at a normal flash shutter speed like 1/250th of a second . Most people say lowering the flash to about 1/16th of normal strength works best. This produces a very fast burst of light. Much faster than the top shutter speed of most good cameras which max out at 1/8000th of a second. But that assumes you can control all other variables like ambient light, flash positioning and distance from subject. When working with feeders in the backyard you can control all those things but not necessarily when working in the wild.
Thanks for the info on using a flash, Sean. One of these days I will replace the SB800 with the latest version. I don’t reach for a flash often, but they do come in handy at times. I probably should spend more time experimenting with one as I know you often rely on one or more and get stellar results with them.
great pic. today.
—– Dancing at skys edge
—– Capture techniques permit
—– Regalities glimpse.
Love the sentiment AND the photo!
LOVE!!!!
Because of your photographs, I love the birds.
Purple week. Nice idea.
I love it.
Thanks so much for all your beautiful pictures as an amateur photographer I so enjoy and thanks for letting the Prince Tribute go on I was a huge fan
So wonderful!!!