Problem with fill flash for hummingbird photography

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Abinoone

Abinoone

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I'm having a bit of trouble using my Nikon SB700 flashgun (with a Better Beamer extender) to photograph hummingbirds. My main objectives are to have a fast shutter speed (e.g. 1/3200 sec) and acceptably low ISO for the exposures. When I look through the viewfinder, ISO is shown at 320 with flash attached and active. The flash fires fine, but when I check the actual images the ISO is 10,000. What am I doing wrong? I have ISO set to Auto ISO in the camera - is this the problem? I don't often use fill flash, so I'm a bit of a novice. Any advice you might have would be much appreciated.
 
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I will be watching this. I have only been able to use TTL for fill flash, ie less than the main light. When flash is the main light I shoot in full manual mode and lock the iso to 64, I have more than enough power for that. I use a Sekonic flash meter to get close and a histogram to confirm. The camera only seems to truly lock the iso with the flash trigger mounted and on. The camera is a Z7ii and works great in the studio if you play by it's rules.
 
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When photographing hummers, I shoot fully manual.....no auto ISO.

When I shot hummers with flash in 2009 in British Columbia, I used the flash synch speed of 1/250 and f18-20. That is how the pro told me to do it! LOL! All the images in this gallery were shot using flash except the first two images which were shot in natural light. You can click on an image, then click the "i" (information) in the upper left corner to see the capture details.

In 2023 I shot hummers in Costa Rica using flash with two different approaches. Some with very fast shutter speeds - and some with 1/200-250 shutter speeds. You can view the capture data for each image.

HOWEVER, my favorite hummer images were taken in 2018 using NATURAL LIGHT! Capture details are there also.
 
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Flash on axis with the lens produces flat light, off axis gives you more modeling.

TTL works great to fill shadows like photographing people in a gallery where tops of heads are well lit but faces are in shadow and the flash is less than the main light. I have shot auto iso with the TTL flash set 1/3 stop below the ambient light.
 
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Yes, as posted above switch to full manual mode when using flash.

Basically the camera's metering doesn't take into account how much additional light the flash will add, it meters on the ambient light and when shooting in auto ISO will then jack up the ISO to try to properly expose the scene based on that ambient light.

FWIW, unless you're just trying to light up the hummingbird's gorget to get those iridescent feathers to glow you're not really shooting 'Fill Flash' you're shooting total flash and not just filling the darker shadows. When shooting total flash lighting you don't really want the camera to try to properly expose the scene based on ambient light and then layer flash on top of it. The easiest way to do that is to shoot in full manual mode and then either shoot the flash in iTTL mode to let the system adjust power (flash duration) as needed or shoot in full manual plus manual flash power and do some test shots to get the flash power right.

Beware, flash photography for hummers can be a deep rabbit hole as you start going down the multi-flash route to properly expose the hummer, its gorget, the flowers its feeding on and then the background. One flash for total illumination of the hummer itself is simpler but then we typically end up with a decently exposed bird flying in the dark as the light fall off from the flash with increasing distance makes it hard to light the whole scene well with a single flash so most hummingbird photography that's completely flash lit ends up being a multi-flash setup with synchronized flash units which is a fun project but it gets involved fast.

I used to do a lot of multi-flash hummer work especially back in the film and early DSLR days where ISO was really limited. These days I shoot most of my hummers with ambient light and overall I'm much happier with the images as it's much easier to follow them around and shoot images as they feed on flowers. Also you generally don't need crazy high shutter speeds for feeding hummers unless you really want to totally freeze their wings. As they feed and hover near foliage their bodies are quite still for a few moments at a time and you can get away with much lower shutter speeds than you might guess though the wings will blur. I personally like a bit of that wing blur as it suggests motion. I usually start out around 1/1000" if there's plenty of light and have shot down to 1/250" or less with surprisingly good results but again I'm not trying to track them as they zip around but mostly trying to shoot as they hover.
 
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When I shoot hummingbirds with my SB-700 flash I'm at 1/125 or 1/200 (which is my camera's sync speed) and ISO 200 or 400 and f13 - f16. Even though 1/200 seems low, the flash is what will freeze their wings. This is an image from many years ago. I really got into using 3 flashes and pocket wizards to set them off.
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Abinoone said:
I'm having a bit of trouble using my Nikon SB700 flashgun (with a Better Beamer extender) to photograph hummingbirds. My main objectives are to have a fast shutter speed (e.g. 1/3200 sec) and acceptably low ISO for the exposures. When I look through the viewfinder, ISO is shown at 320 with flash attached and active. The flash fires fine, but when I check the actual images the ISO is 10,000. What am I doing wrong? I have ISO set to Auto ISO in the camera - is this the problem? I don't often use fill flash, so I'm a bit of a novice. Any advice you might have would be much appreciated.
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I’m been a bit frustrated shooting these guys because my shooting opportunities are in a shaded area. The iridescent feathers would be more striking illuminated. Fast glass with shallow depth of field has been hit or miss…😕 I want to follow your progress with flash…..
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Apologies if this is considered hijacking the thread... If you just want to illuminate the gorget - what is the recommended method? I was going to experiment with the flash on axis and put it in manual mode on a low power and then bump up the power until the gorget lights up. Does that sound about right? Or maybe use high speed sync?

I say I was "going to" because I only had one or two males show up early this summer this year and never at a time I could set things up.
 
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dupcak said:
Apologies if this is considered hijacking the thread... If you just want to illuminate the gorget - what is the recommended method? I was going to experiment with the flash on axis and put it in manual mode on a low power and then bump up the power until the gorget lights up. Does that sound about right? Or maybe use high speed sync?

I say I was "going to" because I only had one or two males show up early this summer this year and never at a time I could set things up.
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My best results with consistently lighting the gorget is to have the flash a bit off axis to the lens laterally and below but angled up towards where you expect the birds to feed.
 
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DRwyoming said:
My best results with consistently lighting the gorget is to have the flash a bit off axis to the lens laterally and below but angled up towards where you expect the birds to feed.
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Thanks! I hadn't thought about that option. Hope I'll have the ability to test that out next year (provided I can remember this).
 
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dupcak said:
Apologies if this is considered hijacking the thread... If you just want to illuminate the gorget - what is the recommended method? I was going to experiment with the flash on axis and put it in manual mode on a low power and then bump up the power until the gorget lights up. Does that sound about right? Or maybe use high speed sync?

I say I was "going to" because I only had one or two males show up early this summer this year and never at a time I could set things up.
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I think that you will have to use HSS or the top shutter speed you can use is 1/320. Be aware that HSS does reduce the power of the flash and will cause overheating if lots of long bursts are taken.
 
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I have not yet read all of the responses or looked at the videos. Here is one thing I have learned about Nikon flash with my Nikon DSLRs and Z9.

Do not use Auto ISO!!! Turn it Off. When I do flash I usually use Aperture Priority on my camera and use either TTL/BL or just TTL for flash.

Settings will vary with the camera you are using and the flash and the setting might be made on the camera or the flash. It would be helpful to know exactly what camera you are using and what flash model.

On your camera set Rear Curtain synch (second curtain). Set high speed flash. Auto FP.

For hummingbirds, with fill flash, I set minus flash exposure compensation. I may start at -3.0 and then experiment.

I have found that with my Z9 I rarely need flash any ore as the dynamic range of the sensor is so good that fill flash may ot be needed.

One reason I buy and recommend Thom Hogan's guides to Nikon camera bodies is that he has a separate detailed section on flash photography with settings for different flashes.

Greg Basco flash guides are also very good. He does mostly macro photography with third party flashes. Check out his books at deep green photogrphy.

www.deepgreenphotography.com

Flash for the Nature Photographer — Deep Green Photography

Books and e-books by Gregory Basco of Deep Green Photography
www.deepgreenphotography.com www.deepgreenphotography.com
 
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At 1/3200th you will need to set your flash for HSS (high speed sync). Doing this will greatly reduce the distance that your flash is effective, even with the better Beamer. I think by the time you get that far (1/3200j over your sync speed you may be down to around to a couple of feet of effective light at iso 320 with a Speedlight.
 
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In the Military, my PIO Sergeant told me "Burn 'em up!" That was with a Graphic 4X5 press camera, no light meter and flashbulbs the size of a hundred watt incandescent light bulb...remember those? Now, with more electronics in our cameras than a WWII Destroyer had, "P"...Program...or "Professional":sneaky: mode, and flash set at TTLBL,
( Through The Lens, Balanced) the camera does the hard work and will figure out how to balance ambient light and flash. In Aperture, Shutter or Manual mode, (no BL) a flash compensation of - 1.7 will be a good, close place to start. Adjust (as necessary) from there.
 
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buggz said:
I don't understnad the need to flash birds, or any other wildlife.
Okay, hate me, for hating flashing birds...
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Why was explained in the videos, to bring out the colors.
How is important. This is Fill Flash, less than the existing daylight.
Hate is a bit strong, my first impulse was Ignore.
Moose seems to take care with his subjects, adds nutrients to the nectar, avoids food color. I'm fine with his approach.
 
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Larry S. said:
Piggy bank 🏦 blues…. 😢 maybe flood lights w/extension cords…
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The flashes for hummingbirds are usually set up in manual mode for 1/32 or 1/16 power. I had seven. Getting them used from e-bay, KEH over a period of years you don't need the Profoto A10's. (I started with three) They do need to be the same make/model so that the flash duration on any power setting is the same other wise you will most likely will get ghosting. I eventually made some homemade brackets to hold two flashes so that I could use a smaller aperture. To freeze the hummingbird wings I would keep the flash duration between 1/10000, and 1/20000. Its really pretty easy, the big issue for my location is getting subjects.


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