photographing Hummingbirds (1 Viewer)

Ok I just started photography and i'm LOST so i'm gonna ask a bunch of stupid qustions about taking pictures hummingbirds. First when taking photos of hummingbirds what speed film would you use? Second what is your opinion, should the wings be froze of blured? some people say blured some people say froze. Third what should my shutter speed be? What is depth of field? What about your flashes how do YOU set them up? PLEASE HELP every time i use a flash the hummingbird turns white and when i dont use one the picture is very dark and there is no detail in the photo. Any one that has some time to post some tips for a beginner i would appreceiate it. Thanks

OWWWWWWWW MY HEAD HURTS

Hi Cris - and welcome to bird photography.
I'll try to help a bit - as much as i can, and you'll probably get many more advice from more experienced photographers here.
1- photographing hummingbirds is a very big challenge for starters- it's a small, elusive and fast bird -.
2- Catching the bird in the right exposure is also very tricky but here are some hints: If you shoot the picture and the sky is the background - then you have to get the EV to +0.7 at least so as to lighten up the bird in contrast to the sky ( or else it will be dark ).
3- The higher the shutter speed ( which will give you a sharper picture and "frozen " wings ) - you'll need more light . So if you have a good fast lense - that's fine . Otherwise - crank up the ISO to 400 at least and open the aperture to maximum .( the picture will get "noisy " but it can be taken care of later with a good software ).
4- Getting the wings blurred or frozen - well i find that a personal preference - depending on the picture's composition etc..
5- As to using a flash - i suggest you first learn to shoot without it and later get into flash photography- it's a whole world by itself.
As to your specific questions: Shoot at high resolutions ( preferably RAW ) , Iso -400, Shutter speed : 1\1000 or higher if possible ,F: depends on the lense- 2.8, 3.5 ,5.6 etc ( or higher ), EV + 0.7 ( when shooting at the sky or into a dark bush ), WB - set it at Auto but it can also help if you know how to use it ( WB -1 or -2 )
Try to shoot with a tripod ( when using long lense )
And finally - Try , try and try again and again and again. It takes time, a LOT of patience and a lot of trial & error .
You can look into my gallery where ther are a few humminbird shots ( and others of course ).
http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/39424/sort/1/cat/500/page/2
http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/page/2/sort/1/perpage/24/ppuser/6414
BTW - what camera and lense do you have ?
Doc

Thanks for the tips Doc. The camera im using is a old nikon F and the lens is a vivitar series 1 70-210mm 1:3.5 macro focusing auto zoom and a canon AV-1 with a vivitar 70-150mm 1:3.8 macro focusing zoom are these lenses too small? what do you reccomend me purchasing thats in a fair price range?

Cris,
A 210 mm lens will do if you can get fairly close to the hummers (ie set up near a feeder). A few "tricks" that might help get you started:
Find a food source the hummer returns to (feeders work great for this).
Set up so that the hummer is in the shade, not direct sun. Then use 100 ISO film (or whatever you want) and a flash (on camera is OK to start, later, multiple flashes are what get the fantastic results). Shutter speed should be flash sync speed. It's the short burst of the flash that freezes the wings, not the shutter speed.

I would probably support going without a flash for starters, until you have gotten used to your camera. When you go flash, remember that in addition to setting the shutter speed to the sync speed (often 1/60 or 1/125) you have to close down the lens to avoid over-exposure. Closing down means higher f-number. Often the flash has an automatic sensor, and if you set the aperture (f-number) to the value given on the flash, that is a good place to start.

For this type of photography, you will want to visit a second-hand bookstore to look for an old book on photography, preferably on nature photography. The newest books deal with digital photos, which will not help you a whole lot with your current cameras.

HTH
Niels

Thanks for the replys everyone. I'm going to the libary soon does anyone know of any good books to read that are basic enough for a beginner. I think i'll stay away from flashes for a while (thats what makes my head hurt . ) once again thanks for all the replys.

Ugh I just accidentally deleted a two page reply to this when I hit the wrong button and went "back" instead of deleting a typo. A briefed version of the response follows.

1) I'd use a flash. Not using one will bring you disappointing results for a lot of reasons: Lack of depth in the image, lack of catchlight in the eye, lack of sparkle on the gorget/other irridescent feathers.

2) You can't fully stop the wings crisply without multiple flashes. You can however get decent results with semi-blurred wings with a single flash. This can be done by setting the camera shutter speed to max flash sync, setting the flash to manual mode at 1/16th power.

3) I posted an essay about multi-flash photography in the photography techniques forum which might be of interest to you. I don't actually own 4 or 5 or 6 flashes myself, but it isn't hard to rent some, and actually not that pricey. I know Calumet rents 550EX Canon flashes at 17$/week.

4) As far as equipment, I don't know what you consider "fair priced" in terms of your budget, but I'd recommend getting a DSLR such as a Canon 20D or a Nikon D70. As far as a lens for Hummingbird photography, either manufacturers 70-200 f/2.8 lenses are perfect for it, add a 1.4x or 1.7x(for Nikon as Canon doesn't have the 1.7 yet) teleconverter and that will give you extra reach for smaller hummingbirds. I'd not use a 2x Teleconverter on either lens as you will get less than desirable results (again people will tell me this isn't true, but i'm not one to accept average results, and both lenses are very poor performers sharpness wise, contrast wise, etc with a 2x teleconverter, as are all zoom lenses. Most aren't even any good with a 1.4x, however the two I mentioned are superb lenses and can handle a 1.4xTC ok). I think you'd find long term that learning will be quicker and less painful with a DSLR. You don't have to be conservative about shooting, as if you don't like what you get, you can just delete it later, without paying a cost to see those results. I've shot some 40,000 images in the last 2 years with my DSLRS. I've paid a total of 500$ for the compact flash cards I currently have. Equivalent costs for 40,000+ images in developing costs and film costs would be staggering (Probably on the order of 10,000$+)

Feel free to PM me or ask any further questions in replies to this post and i'll try to answer them. See my gallery for examples of what can be done with the precise suggestion I made in #4 above (Canon 20D, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 USM).

cfagyal said:

1) I'd use a flash...

2) You can't fully stop the wings crisply without multiple flashes. You can however get decent results with semi-blurred wings with a single flash. This can be done by setting the camera shutter speed to max flash sync, setting the flash to manual mode at 1/16th power.

Click to expand...

If you want some blurr, use an (auto) flash on full power... the less power you use, the shorter the flash - look at the spec.

If you do not use a flash, use a reflector to get some shadow fill-in.

I have a nice Metz two flash auto-remote system, which would be ideal with a pro camerthat suports it, but this is expencive specialist gear.

If there is power availiable, you could use a low-cost studio flash setup.