ZZZZZZZs On The Wing

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J

JSD

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Opinions please, thank you.

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Great moment you captured there. The colors in the head and lit up gorget really grab the eye and the wing position is great. It's a shame that the eyes kind of disappear from this view and that his head wasn't cocked slightly one way or the other to show some catch light in at least one of the eyes.

The red channel appears to be blown out and clipped which costs you detail in those iridescent gorget feathers. . You might be able to recover some or all of that with careful raw processing but parts of the gorget are so bright that the detail is all but lost. The whites in the chest don't appear to be clipped but a bit of highlight recovery could likely be used to recover some detail there. The bright spots in the background also distract from the beautiful hummingbird but those could likely be carefully burned down so they don't pull the viewers eyes away from the main subject.

It's a very cool shot and the composition works nicely with the way you've framed it. The biggest issues I see are the inability to see at least one eye, the bright background areas and the overly bright areas that hide feather detail.
 
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DRwyoming said:
Great moment you captured there. The colors in the head and lit up gorget really grab the eye and the wing position is great. It's a shame that the eyes kind of disappear from this view and that his head wasn't cocked slightly one way or the other to show some catch light in at least one of the eyes.

The red channel appears to be blown out and clipped which costs you detail in those iridescent gorget feathers. . You might be able to recover some or all of that with careful raw processing but parts of the gorget are so bright that the detail is all but lost. The whites in the chest don't appear to be clipped but a bit of highlight recovery could likely be used to recover some detail there. The bright spots in the background also distract from the beautiful hummingbird but those could likely be carefully burned down so they don't pull the viewers eyes away from the main subject.

It's a very cool shot and the composition works nicely with the way you've framed it. The biggest issues I see are the inability to see at least one eye, the bright background areas and the overly bright areas that hide feather detail.
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Thanks for the constructive suggestions DRwyoming. I will certainly give it another close look with your points in mind.
 
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Capturingtheunseen.com said:
What DR mentioned, plus a little more depth of field would be nice. It looks like you were really close, so that isn't always possible. Nice shot.
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Yes, the never ending quest for DOF. It was shot near minimum focus distance with my 500 F4 G at ISO800 f5, 1/5000 on a D850. Perhaps I could have dropped the speed some and closed the aperture to get more. All the while keeping up with the high speed movement and ever-changing lighting conditions....all part of the fun! Thanks for the suggestions.
 
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Thanks KC. I would like to disagree with DRs suggestions in regards to the eyes. I feel that if the head were turned, or there was a catchlight, the delicacy and symmetry of the eyelashes would be diminished. It is those delicate little lashes that give this hummer a unique gesture. It’s a small detail, but the small details have great attraction to me. Thanks again to those who have taken time to make thoughtful suggestions.
 
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