# Birds is tough!



## tirediron (Apr 6, 2015)

I don't know how some of you folks get the bird images you do...  this is all I could come up with after about two hours of sitting like a statue.  My yard is like the Battle of Britain, but as soon as I step outside with a camera...  *crickets*


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## jsecordphoto (Apr 6, 2015)

A $30 hunting blind works wonders


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## astroNikon (Apr 6, 2015)

Love Hummingbirds.  I think you did great.

I have a hummingbird feeder I have to put up in my backyard. I saw some cardinals the other day and got some neat photos of a robin jumping flying and landing but my SS was too slow and aim was off.


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## DarkShadow (Apr 6, 2015)

Run people coming LOL.These are nice shots.I would love a crack at some Hummingbirds shots if I ever see them.


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## tirediron (Apr 6, 2015)

jsecordphoto said:


> A $30 hunting blind works wonders


Good idea, but you'd think with all the money I'd put out for sugar and water over the years a couple of minutes of posing wouldn't kill them! 


astroNikon said:


> Love Hummingbirds.  I think you did great.
> 
> I have a hummingbird feeder I have to put up in my backyard. I saw some cardinals the other day and got some neat photos of a robin jumping flying and landing but my SS was too slow and aim was off.


Thanks!  I bumped my ISO up to about a grand, and was shooting around 1/2500, and the wings are still motion blurred.  These guys MOVE!


DarkShadow said:


> Run people coming LOL.These are nice shots.I would love a crack at some Hummingbirds shots if I ever see them.


Thanks - you don't have hummers in your area?


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## sm4him (Apr 6, 2015)

On the other hand, you're WAY up north from me and you already have hummers!! They have arrived here, but I've yet to see one in my yard.

Give those two a little time, move slowly, and they'll get used to you. Last year, I managed to eventually get to where I could just set up my chair about 20 feet from the feeder and sit there and the hummers didn't care a bit.


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## DarkShadow (Apr 6, 2015)

There suppose to be hummers here been I have never seen them anywhere.


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## astroNikon (Apr 6, 2015)

I have Hummingbird Moths in my area too though I haven't seen one in a while.  I plan on planting their more favorite flowers. ==> Hummingbird hawk-moth - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia


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## baturn (Apr 6, 2015)

sm4him said:


> On the other hand, you're WAY up north from me and you already have hummers!! They have arrived here, but I've yet to see one in my yard.
> 
> Give those two a little time, move slowly, and they'll get used to you. Last year, I managed to eventually get to where I could just set up my chair about 20 feet from the feeder and sit there and the hummers didn't care a bit.


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## baturn (Apr 6, 2015)

We have one type of hummer that stays all winter ( Anna's Hummingbird). Most people keep feeders active all winter and bring them in if it is going to freeze. It's a PITA but worth to see them all year.

this was supposed to be up there^^^


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## tirediron (Apr 6, 2015)

baturn said:


> We have one type of hummer that stays all winter ( Anna's Hummingbird). Most people keep feeders active all winter and bring them in if it is going to freeze. It's a PITA but worth to see them all year.
> 
> this was supposed to be up there^^^


Yep... I have about a half-dozen 'Year-rounders' at my place.


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## baturn (Apr 7, 2015)

This guy(Rufous) returned about a week ago.
Not very good as they are huge crops.

1.





2.


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## fjrabon (Apr 7, 2015)

I've always felt that the hardest part about humming birds is locking focus.  They're tiny, move quickly and have those wings flapping in and out constantly, basically a recipe for disaster with autofocus, even on the best lenses.  what f/stop were you at?  I always give it a bit more depth of field than I'd ideally want and just deal with ISO 1600.  I mean that's why we buy modern cameras, right?


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## tirediron (Apr 7, 2015)

fjrabon said:


> I've always felt that the hardest part about humming birds is locking focus.  They're tiny, move quickly and have those wings flapping in and out constantly, basically a recipe for disaster with autofocus, even on the best lenses.  what f/stop were you at?  I always give it a bit more depth of field than I'd ideally want and just deal with ISO 1600.  I mean that's why we buy modern cameras, right?


 Unfortunately I was at 2.8 - it was a cloudy day and I needed at least 1/2500 to have some hope of wing detail.  Ideally, I would have preferred to be at 5.6-8.


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## fjrabon (Apr 7, 2015)

tirediron said:


> fjrabon said:
> 
> 
> > I've always felt that the hardest part about humming birds is locking focus.  They're tiny, move quickly and have those wings flapping in and out constantly, basically a recipe for disaster with autofocus, even on the best lenses.  what f/stop were you at?  I always give it a bit more depth of field than I'd ideally want and just deal with ISO 1600.  I mean that's why we buy modern cameras, right?
> ...


Ah yeah, direct sunlight makes a world of difference with those suckers.


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## Don Kondra (Apr 7, 2015)

Careful John, them hummers are addictive 

And the longer lenses are expensive   

Pretty good shots for a start.  It's not unusual for me to spend an hour and come away with one image and multiple mosqito bites.  I did purchase a blind for this season but it is not necessary.  They get used to you being there.  Heck, they buzz me when I'm filling the feeder    The sound of their wings Makes My Day...   

I've been shooting them for a while now so I'm looking for that one Great pose.  Sharp eye, landing gear down, good wing position and the right light direction to show off the gorget on the males (throat color). 

The trick is to watch them for a bit and you will notice they take a sip.  Then they move back and hoover for a split second before moving back in for another sip.  That split second is when you zap them, he, he..

Another trick is to attach a natural branch close to the feeder.  It won't be long before they "stage" on the branch before and/or after feeding. 

I've found a good shutter speed is between 1/650 and 1/1000.  Even @ 1/4000 I've had wing blur.  You need to catch them in flight transition or use flash to freeze the wings.  I prefer some blur...

With your weather there (gentle dig)  another option is to plant hummingbird friendly plants and chase the little buggers around the yard 

Cheers, Don (who won't see the hummers here until the end of May, sigh)


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## waday (Apr 7, 2015)

baturn said:


> This guy(Rufous) returned about a week ago.


That is one. cute. bird.


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## sm4him (Apr 7, 2015)

I love seeing the different hummers. We pretty much only have Ruby-Throated here. Sometimes a Rufous will show up locally and create quite a stir with all the birders.
It's REALLY rare to have one over the winter here though. Might get them as late as October, and as early as mid-February.  A lot of people here DO keep their feeders out though, on the off chance that they'll be one of the lucky ones to get a winter hummer to take up residence!

Last year, I did get to see a REALLY rare sight--a leucistic hummingbird! This one was really close to being albino--almost all white. It was amazing!


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## astroNikon (Apr 7, 2015)

baturn said:


> This guy(Rufous) returned about a week ago.
> Not very good as they are huge crops.
> 
> 1.
> View attachment 98360


I have the same feeder.  I have to set mine up yet. I just don't know where.  I only really have one spot to put it.  Another spot is too close to the sidewalk and school playfield.
We'll see how it goes.


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## Derrel (Apr 7, 2015)

One of my favorite humming bird photos of mine is NOT very good technically, but for me it was a triumph. One summer day I was testing my old 400mm f/3.5 Nikkor manual focus telephoto, with its more-or-less "dedicated" Nikon TC-301 2x converter. I was using the Fuji S2 Pro camera at the time. So 400 x 2 = 800mm and then 800 x 1.5x FOV = the amazingly narrow angle of view of 1200mm effective focal length. So, we're eating an early dinner with the back door open when I hear a hummingbird outside in the back yard. It's June 4, 2003 and the day is heavily overcast. I pick up the camera from the kitchen counter and step toward the back door. There, outside, is a hummer, hovering in place near the butterfly bush. I bring the camera up to my eye, and try and find the bird, but the 400's massive front element and shade are blocking my view of the bird! The bird is so small,and so close, that I cannot actually SEE the bird unless I am looking through the camera. I focus, but am too close, and have to step backward to get the bird in-focus at the MFD of 4.5 meters. I fire off two frames, and the bird is gone. The shot's pretty underexposed at 1/500 second and whatever aperture the lens was at. All I can do is "salvage" the shot...this is what I got from like 14 feet away at 1200mm...I got the beak in focus!!! Woo-hoo!


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## sm4him (Apr 7, 2015)

astroNikon said:


> baturn said:
> 
> 
> > This guy(Rufous) returned about a week ago.
> ...


If you only really have one spot to put it, seems that deciding where to put it shouldn't be too big of a strain. 
It's best if you can put it somewhere where they have a nice landing spot nearby. That tends to help them stay at a particular feeder more.

I have three feeders, well four now. I added a new one this year, a little mini-feeder for them.  I've only put out the mini- and one regular size one so far. Need to go ahead and put the other two out as well now.


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## astroNikon (Apr 7, 2015)

sm4him said:


> astroNikon said:
> 
> 
> > baturn said:
> ...


Well, I was thinking of making a hat out of it and then taking self-portraits with the hummers.  So 2 places
I could also use the corner of the garage ... 3


The one spot I'm going to make a mini-habitate for the hummingbird moth and butterflies plants and flowers.  Should be interesting.


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## fjrabon (Apr 7, 2015)

Derrel said:


> View attachment 98377
> 
> One of my favorite humming bird photos of mine is NOT very good technically, but for me it was a triumph. One summer day I was testing my old 400mm f/3.5 Nikkor manual focus telephoto, with its more-or-less "dedicated" Nikon TC-301 2x converter. I was using the Fuji S2 Pro camera at the time. So 400 x 2 = 800mm and then 800 x 1.5x FOV = the amazingly narrow angle of view of 1200mm effective focal length. So, we're eating an early dinner with the back door open when I hear a hummingbird outside in the back yard. It's June 4, 2003 and the day is heavily overcast. I pick up the camera from the kitchen counter and step toward the back door. There, outside, is a hummer, hovering in place near the butterfly bush. I bring the camera up to my eye, and try and find the bird, but the 400's massive front element and shade are blocking my view of the bird! The bird is so small,and so close, that I cannot actually SEE the bird unless I am looking through the camera. I focus, but am too close, and have to step backward to get the bird in-focus at the MFD of 4.5 meters. I fire off two frames, and the bird is gone. The shot's pretty underexposed at 1/500 second and whatever aperture the lens was at. All I can do is "salvage" the shot...this is what I got from like 14 feet away at 1200mm...I got the beak in focus!!! Woo-hoo!


whoa, I love this.


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## Mr.Photo (Apr 7, 2015)

Here's a shot I got of my parents female humming bird a couple summers ago.  I was playing around with flash and got this awesome shot with the background completely blacked out.  I was using my Tamron 70-300 VC lens on my D7000 for this shot.  They can be tricky, but the more they get used to you the closer they will get.  I was only at 190mm for this shot, and only about 5-6ft from the feeder.  My father has had birds land on him to wait for him to finish filling the feeders.






and here's a crop of the above shot.


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## MSnowy (Apr 7, 2015)

tirediron said:


> I don't know how some of you folks get the bird images you do...  this is all I could come up with after about two hours of sitting like a statue.  My yard is like the Battle of Britain, but as soon as I step outside with a camera...  *crickets*




John I was expecting a shot of you fighting a bird in the studio. Nice shots, welcome to the Nature & Wildlife section.


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## annamaria (Apr 7, 2015)

Nice shots.  Did not see any last year, hopefully this year I'll have better luck.  Love these little guys.


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## BillM (Apr 7, 2015)

Just watch them and learn their habits. You can also plug up all but one of the flowers on a feeder to force them to the one you want them to feed from. Then focus on that flower then just click away as they approach it. They are just too fast for auto focus to grab at any acceptable rate.

Or just wait for them to land lol


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