Humming Birds

As a Photographer, I have this unofficial (undeveloped) list of things that I want to take pictures of that I haven't yet. A humming bird was on the list. Humming birds are pretty awesome because they flap their wings so fast that they can hover in one place for a long time (without wind). Something not to many birds can boast. After Christmas I was at my Dad's in Rocklin California for a few days visiting. He has a humming bird feeder, so I figured I should get the shot I have been after.

The Shot



The Info
To get this shot I used my fastest lens, the Canon 85 mm 1.8. I set the ISO at 200 to make the senor a little more sensitive to light/speed, and picked a wide aperture of 2.2 all in an effort to bring the most important element of shutter speed in this picture to 1/3200th of a second (so I could stop the wings). I picked this as my favorite shot as he is still in flight, is in sharp focus (thank you canon lens), and has his focus on that sweet nectar inside the fake red flower. I also like that his landing gear is out and ready.

The Outtakes
Just for fun I thought I would post some of the outtakes as well. Pictures that I liked but that didn't quite make the cut. Here they are.


While I really liked this guys wings, but he wasn't in as sharp of focus (hard to do with such a narrow depth of field with how quickly they move), you couldn't see his feet, and the sky in the background was all blown out.


I liked the shape of his wings, but he wasn't as interested in the fake red flower.


This little guy was very cute, and flapping his wings, but was not in flight.


Oh yet . . .
One more thing. While we were there, there were wild turkey's walking down my Dad's street. Thanksgiving, anyone?