Hummers -- Share Your Hummingbird Images

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Not a Hummingbird however at first glance you would think so.
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From early last week.. I swear he was playing hide 'n seek. Mom stopped by for a quick sip too.
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One more for the evening, this little guy hung around all evening so I decided to pull out the 600mm f/4 to see what I could do in the fading twilight. A 36mm extension tube helped to reduce the minimum focusing distance allowing me to shoot from roughly the same place I'd shot the 500mm PF images.

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The quality of work in this thread is fantastic. I struggle mightily with skittish ruby-throated hummingbirds.

Is it easier to wait and shoot hand held, or are most of you set on a support and sort of pre-focused to a specific area, waiting for the HB to go to that spot? I find that the more I move around the less likely they are to hang around me, even sitting just at 8-10' distance with my 200-500...

I nabbed this one handheld on a porch in northern Michigan. Not terribly sharp (this did go through Facebook mangling however)
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D500 + Nikon 200-500mm ED VR, 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec, ISO 4000
 
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Soopahmahn said:
Is it easier to wait and shoot hand held, or are most of you set on a support and sort of pre-focused to a specific area, waiting for the HB to go to that spot? I find that the more I move around the less likely they are to hang around me, even sitting just at 8-10' distance with my 200-500...
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Most of my hummingbird images are shot hand held but I start by seeing when the birds are active and what flowers, plants or feeders they seem most interested in. If I see the birds repeatedly visiting a particular area I'll set up close to that area and wait. If the birds are active or perching on trees or bushes near the house I'll often shoot out of an open window, that's how the initial image that started this thread was shot with a young hummingbird that perched on our crab apple tree and was there for hours stretching its wings and just hanging out within easy shot of the open window.

For perched shots I'm usually just hand holding as I never know where they'll land and I just try to move slowly to avoid scaring them away. The younger hummingbirds tend to be more tolerant and stay perched longer as I get shots than the adults.

That's how I normally operate but this year the birds have seemed more skittish than ever so the three images I posted yesterday were all shot from an actual photo blind I temporarily set up in the front yard in front of our garden with a variety of flowers and a hummingbird feeder set down near flower level. The lens was mounted on a tripod and framed so the feeder was just outside the edge of the frame and then I waited until the birds fed a bit and then backed out away from the feeder.

Years ago I spent time doing the whole multi-flash thing with feeders hidden behind flowers or sugar water dropped onto flowers with an eyedropper but overall I prefer shooting in soft light and letting the wings blur a bit and it's a heck of a lot easier than dealing with a bunch of flashes and remote triggers and trying to get the background as well as subject lighting right but the flashes do make it easier to light up the bright gorget on the males. We had high clouds and afternoon storms yesterday which is often the kind of light I look for when photographing a wide range of subjects including hummingbirds, it pushes up the ISO but also minimizes hard shadows.

Of course all of this starts with getting birds to come to the yard or taking advantage of natural feeding areas that hummingbirds frequent when out in the field so as soon as things warm up in the spring I hang feeders and keep them stocked with clean sugar water mix until the birds migrate away in the fall. And when out in the field I don't really go chasing after the first hummer I see but if I see a few that seem to be heavily feeding in an area and coming back time and again I might set up to capture some images.
 
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Soopahmahn said:
DR -- thank you for the information!
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No worries, hope that helps.

Here's one from this morning. Woke up to foggy overcast skies after it rained all day yesterday. Not the warmest summer day but good diffuse light for some morning hummingbird shots.

Male Rufous in the garden:
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Colleen said:
Not 100% sure, but think this may be a female Rufous. It does have a small ruby spot on the front of the neck if the light hits it just right.
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I'd guess an immature male Rufous if it has any brightly colored gorget spots. If so, it will likely transition to more brown color as the gorget grows in.

Either way it's a beautiful image, nicely done!
 
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DRwyoming said:
I'd guess an immature male Rufous if it has any brightly colored gorget spots. If so, it will likely transition to more brown color as the gorget grows in.

Either way it's a beautiful image, nicely done!
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Thank you and thanks for the information. He has been hanging around for a couple of days and doesn't seem to mind me if I am sitting still. I actually wish the minimum focus on the 500 pf was a little better, I've missed a few shots when the bird was too close.
 
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Colleen said:
Thank you and thanks for the information. He has been hanging around for a couple of days and doesn't seem to mind me if I am sitting still. I actually wish the minimum focus on the 500 pf was a little better, I've missed a few shots when the bird was too close.
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FWIW, I've been shooting hummers in the yard with the 500mm PF and 600mm f/4 lately and I add a short macro extension tube to either of those lenses to slightly reduce the minimum focusing distance for hummingbirds as they do sometimes feed in a bit closer than expected. When I shoot with the 300mm f/4 (often with a 1.4xTC) the MFD isn't a problem but with the longer lenses it can be.
 
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Not anywhere in the league of the superb shots here; Yet, I shot these female ruby throated hummers our on our back deck area. I just got a new 500pf lens and wanted to try some test shots. My first image stabilization lens and it is just awesome!! John

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Colleen said:
Thank you and thanks for the information. He has been hanging around for a couple of days and doesn't seem to mind me if I am sitting still. I actually wish the minimum focus on the 500 pf was a little better, I've missed a few shots when the bird was too close.
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I bought some empty barrels for allowing closer pictures than the lens usually allows for. I bought four sizes. Send me an address and I will send one of them to you to try with your 500. You can send it back and get one for yourself if you like it...
 
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