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Hey Sharks, I am really wanting to find how I can improve with swiftly moving wildlife photography. This image was taken with a Canon 60D and a Canon 70-300mm IS lens hand held.
f/5.0, ISO 2000, 1/640, 165mm (minimal cropping, as I was only 6 feet away while enjoying my dinner on the deck). It was around 7:30pm here in the Northeastern U.S. so the light was fading fast. I can see the noise from the high ISO. Is there software to fix that? I have noise reduction in Apple Aperture, but honestly I can’t see it make any difference when I play with it. Is it better to go higher in the ISO so the shutter can be quicker avoiding the birds shaky behind, or is the extra noise not worth it? I added a tad vignette to showcase the bird, as I thought the flowers were overpowering the image. Too much? Thanks for your time!
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You’re tackling one of the optimum photographic challenges here (photographing hovering hummingbirds). These birds’ wings flap amazingly fast and I know that one of the techniques to freeze them is by using slow sync flash mode – preferrably with multiple flashes (this will not be feasible for candid shots like yours, of course).
The 60D usually does not handle high ISO’s too badly (although 2000 is pushing it). LR has reasonable noise removal capabilities (although it tends to soften your sharpness). PS has nice selective noise removal features (e.g. for removing noise only from the background). Ironically you might have gone a little higher on ISO’s (over expose just a tad) and brought back the exposure in pp, which would have removed some noise.
I think your background was your worst enemy here because it was of similar colour than your bird – a lighter background (even better if of different colour) might have made the noise much less of an issue.
Here’s a nice discussion on photographing these little creatures: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Photography-Tips/Hummingbird-Photography-Tips.aspx.
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Thank you for your reply @tobiepsg. I never would have thought to use flash! I wonder if it would freak them out. The tutorial you sent is quite informative. I loved seeing the set up as well! I might need to get some better software too. Thanks again!
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This is a very good image. I have come back to look at it a few times and thought I would post. Your bokeh is perfect. It gives you a great backdrop without competing with the bird or flowers. That and the colors are very very nice. The only item that can take away from all of this is the fact that you do not have the bird in perfect profile. We are looking at him from under his wing.
@karamen I think you have a great pic here. And last, Nik has some noise reduction software that works well. It is within the Define 2 group.Nice work.
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Excellent capture.i agree with @nikon-nut that background set s off the bird beautifully.
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Nice shot!
The tutorial shared by @tobiepsg is very good and comprehensive.
I recently wrote a review of the Yongnuo 560 III flash unit that has a built in radio receiver, it would be a good choice for that type of set up.
The example shots in the tutorial show how flash can be used to freeze the wings but the flowers look terrible when lit that way and I think the frozen wing look is kind of clinical
I think if you combine your flowers and background with a bit of flash pop to freeze the birds body you’ll have a better shot than the ones shown in the tutorial.
Depending on what equipment you have, or are willing to buy, you could try one flash in a small softbox for the flowers and another flash with a grid spot (Rogue does a good one) pointing at where the bird will be.
Another possibility would be to do some shots of the flowers without the flash and then drop the flash lit bird in with PS.
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@karamen I’ve read a thread on a forum where the birds were actually attracted by the flash and they came closer to investigate! 🙂
@aarongeis I’m using the Yongnuo 568ex ii – IR instead of radio signal, but with the advantage that it’s driven by the camera’s built-in flash Commander so no extra costs needed for a ‘trigger’. Nifty accessory! -
Thank you so much @caimi, @tobiepsg, and @driverv!! Believe it or not, the flowers are almost gone, and this was taken just a few days ago. The honeysuckle should bloom again later in Summer. Although the bird is still visiting, I am too busy to do any set-up! I have a canon 430EX speed light, but I am still trying to learn how to use it. It’s a great tutorial, @tobiepsg, and yet I agree about the images in the tutorial, @aarongeis, but was too insecure to say it. Thanks again! Perfect profile…I will be hoping for that, @nikon-nut! @admin, how do I get back to this thread say a month from now? Do I just bookmark this page to reference all the advice? I guess I will try that.
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Hi Karen @karamen. To me the easiest way would be to save one of the emails that notify you that someone has posted in this thread. I use hotmail for my email. I can create categories that I use to save emails with information or something I want to do at a later time. Just create a category and put one of these notifications there. You could also bookmark this page. When you type in lightstalking it will bring up saved and bookmarked urls. However, it may have a large list because of many different times that you come to this site. You would have to sort threw all of them (maybe) to get here.
I am sure Rob @admin will have a quick and dirty method.
I am looking forward to seeing more posts from you using flash. I have some night photos that I want to do with a flash partially hidden. I need a remote trigger for that. Someday…….
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Back in my hummingbird phase (before the drought changed their migration patterns), I spent a lot of time with a 600mm lens on a tripod and a single off camera flash trying to capture a pair fighting as they fell (almost) to the ground. Never happened. Much later I figured out that I needed multiple flashes set on low power to ever have a prayer of stopping the wings. I never tried it though I almost hauled a 4×6 softbox and a Photogenic PL1000DR, 1000 w/S studio strobe out to the yard. I decided that I didn’t want to risk the wind sending my stuff into the neighbors yard (1/2 mile away). It’s windy up here on the hill. Anyway… the point of all of that is that it’s best to keep it simple. A single speedlight, off camera, and triggered remotely will help a lot.
BTW- the flash caused them to jump if they were perched. After a while they tolerated me being close enough that I could use a 70-200 hand held.
So if you try a speedlight make sure you pick up a diffuser. Something like a Stofen (cheap and easy to use).
Cheap remote triggers abound. These are pretty highly rated:
I’m a Pocket Wizard snob (and if I was smart I would invest in them) so I can’t tell you if the Yongnuo triggers are very good. A lot of people brag on them. If you want the latest and greatest ETTL toy, Pocket Wizard makes the Mini TT1 and Flex TT5. You can use ETTL remotely with that setup. I’m slowly warming up to ETTL. If it’s good enough for Joe McNally I guess it’ll do for me. Canon makes an ETTL transmitter but you have to upgrade to their 600EX-RT to use it.
Remote triggers let you position the flash off axis of the lens. I didn’t read the tutorial but I imagine that they discuss using multiple speed lights at low power because the duration of the flash is lowest at low power and that gives you better odds at stopping the wings. But… do you need to stop the wings to get a good Hummingbird image? I don’t think so. I’ll take a good, well lit image with a little blur in the wings over the cost of setting up a bunch of strobes.
There are workshops in Costa Rica where they have 6 and 8 light setups plus feeders, perches, etc. All you have to do is plug in the supplied trigger to your hot shoe and be reasonably good at focusing.
You can pick up a pair of 600EX-RT’s or SB900’s and the hardware for remote ETTL for a lot less than the cost of the workshop and still go to Costa Rica but blow off shooting little high speed birds until you get back home… it’s Costa Rica for gods sake…
The really cool benefit is that once you teach yourself how to use off camera flash you’ll have friends and relatives come out of the woodwork asking for free portraits, weddings, etc. Woo hoo. Actually…. off camera flash can be a lot of fun.
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LOL…thank you, @berniew!
@Michael-lloyd, I really appreciate all this info from your personal experiences. You are a great encourager! I am not really into setting up strobes at this point for hummingbirds, but I am thankful for all the great advice on how to improve my image one step at a time. Thanks all! -
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Thanks, @falx! That’s a great idea, but I don’t think I can do that with apple aperture?? Can I? They have levels and curves adjustment, but every time I toy with them I seem to wreck the image. When I use the shadow and highlights adjustment it seems to adjust the whole image, not selective objects. Do I need lightroom or photoshop for that? If so, they can be my new best friends! 🙂
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@karamen Karen I have never used Aperture but if it has masking ability then you can do it. When you want to brighten or darken a specific area of your photo one of the most fundamental tools is the mask. With the proper mask applied you can work on the bird, invert the mask and work on the other areas. I have seen many of your pics and they are lovely. If Aperture does not have masking and layers ability then I would highly recommend moving to Adobe. (Lightroom or PS). Adobe currently has both available for $9.99 per month. I love it. It is a bear to get your head around but once you are there you can do whatever you want to do.
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Bad news for Aperture
Borrowed from a post on G+
BREAKING NEWS: Apple confirms that Aperture is dead
So is iPhoto. Both to be replaced with Photos app in the next Mac OS (the app they demo’d at WWDC). Wow!!! Kinda stunned. Here’s the link to the story: http://9to5mac.com
It doesn’t mean you won’t be able to use it (unless you upgrade your OS) but they’ll stop supporting it, whatever that means. The $9.99 a month thing is a pretty good deal.
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Wowsa @michael-lloyd! Thanks for the heads up. I wonder what this means for all the images I have edited on Aperture? It is definitely time for me to move up anyway. Some days, I think I am getting too old for this learning new stuff, but my heart tells me keep going! 😉
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If you’re a Google Plus user Scott Kelby just put a post up about how to make the switch to LR5 from Aperture easy
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@michael-lloyd, @falx, @nikon-nut, @driverv, @aarongeis
@karamen I don’t use my speedlight much (because I’m lazy!), specially externally. But – sometimes if one wants to take extraordinary pics then you simply have no coice.I saw this and then thought of your post (unfortunately it does not explain in detail how it was done but I think you’ve had something like this in mind when you started this thread):
http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/121317-Violet-Sabrewing-(multi-flash-set-up)
(PS: if you want to experience ST to the power of 10, then you post something in that forum)
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@tobiepsg I have posted there many times. I even got IOTW (Image of the Week) a couple of times. I’ve never met Artie but we’ve had more than a couple of conversations and one friendly discussion about the use of a Better Beemer when there are a lot of other photographers around (I’m not a fan of that but it happens). I have a lot of respect for his skills as a photographer and his intensity. I’ve come to know, in the web sense, a lot of the mods there. I’ve met a couple in person at Bosque de Apache. There is a core group there that is very passionate about photography. I enjoy that. If you want to learn about bird photography… that is the place to go. If you can’t take the heat though… I wouldn’t go there. It does not matter what you post there, someone will find something to “fix” or change :o)
The poster in the link leads Costa Rica workshops… “One more image that I made recently while leading a photo workshop here in Costa Rica. ” He noted that he used 4 speed lights but no details. Bummer. I wish he could’ve put an image of the setup online but it’s a one image per post forum. At least it used to be.
They are getting soft lol nobody griped about the hots spots on the wing and flowers.
Side note- If you ever need a bird identification there is a site called Whatbird that blows my mind. It never takes longer than a few minutes to get a good id with confirmations. I used to spend hours sometimes trying to figure out what I had photographed. Now I just upload to Whatbird…
http://www.whatbird.com/ click the forum link and navigate to the ID forum.
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@michael-lloyd I can just say “ditto” on your last comment. Their Wildlife forum is way ‘stricter’ than the Avian forum – sometimes I think crossing the ‘unreasonable’ line. But as you say – if you can’t take the heat, rather stay away… a good sight for developing your shooting skills and to get frank & honest feedback, though!
Thanks for the whatbird link. I’ll definitely try to remember it because I’m still new to bird shooting and it might just come in handy.
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@michael-lloyd whatbird appears to be for North America only?
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I’m not sure. If it is North America only I’ll bet they would add an international section. I think they have an international version of their Whatbird app
The wildlife forum has one mod that I have interacted with that loves to pixel peep. It’s fun to put something there that he can’t find a pixel to complain about… but… it’s pretty hard to accomplish LOL
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I think this is beautiful! I’ve never tried to photograph anything this fast, so don’t have much to say on that front, but the colors, the flower and the background are all beautiful. I actually think the image is really enhanced but the similar colors of the hummingbird and the background. My eye goes back and forth between it and the flower. Lovely…
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@falx and @jennifer-nease, Thank you for your encouraging comments. My apologies for not responding sooner, I have been in Paris for the week. My first time…what an Amazing city! @micheal-lloyd, Aperture doesn’t have masking capabilities, so I will have to upgrade to LR. Thanks again for all the links, @tobiepsg! I will have a look after I edit my 600 Paris images. LOL
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@karamen Don’t forget to show us some Paris pics!
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I will try to keep it to a minimum, @tobiepsg. LOL
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