I would like to propose an idea (and practical solutions) to reach an unusual technique for unusual photo subjects.
We all know about wildlife photography. Most of us have seen nice pictures taken of hummingbirds (their colors are often impressive and changing with light). Most photographers will try and make good images of a flying hummingbird (not easy with these little speed demons!). But did you notice how pretty their feather are?
Why not try and do macro-photography of the plumage of these birds always in movement and whose wings flap 50 times per second? It would be nice picture, wouldn’t it? It can’t be too hard, right? Right? Oo maybe it’s a bit difficult…
I won’t forget that hummingbirds are only present in the Americas (Sorry! none in Europe, Africa or Asia) and mostly hiding in the tropical forests (though you may find them in cities and up to Canada).
For my own first successful trials, I worked from hummingbird refuges in Ecuador forests. It’s always easier when your models are present in large numbers.
Also, Ecuador has the advantage of hosting many locations where the hummingbirds are not too afraid of human presence.
Also notice that in most Ecuador locations, hummingbirds are not too easily afraid of human beings. They would not leave the place for hours when you appear. This is important because the photographer will introduce a significant perturbation as you will see.
The general rule is that we want to bring the bird to the camera, not the opposite (it would be useless trying to run after a hummingbird to try and stick your lens in its face). So, we will use a location the bird loves to go to and set our “photo trap” up, before waiting for the model to jump into the camera field.
All hummingbirds need to feed nearly continuously and they prefer very high energy drinks, flower nectar or the next best thing: Sugar water delivered in feeders installed by their human friends in a garden.
One of the big hurdles is ensure that the bird is staying right where you need it to be. I would never try this with a branch or a flower. But you can use a feeder. Just be sure to choose one where the bird can easily stand while drinking (like on the left) and not one where the bird will need to hover in front of the drinking holes (like on the right).
In the second case, the bird may appear stationary at first. But it really keeps moving slightly, making your focusing ever so slightly more difficult. And you don’t need this additional trouble!
If you observe hummingbirds, you will notice that when they will stop at a feeder to drink, there are a limited number of “feeding holes” (you can temporarily limit this with tape) and this means a limited number of preset positions for the bird.
Setup your camera and macro lens (or even better, your long focal lens attached in front of a macro extender) on a robust tripod. Pre-focus where the head of the bird will appear when it lands on the feeder. Then wait.
Several things will quickly appear critical at this juncture. Let’s go through them.
- Hummingbirds are attracted to red and orange colors. Avoid wearing these colors. It may confuse them, or distract them.
- Your movements must ALWAYS be very slow. You are so big and so near! The aim is to look like a rock, not a huge predator.
- Your tripod head must be set to allow minor side movements: You want to be able to reframe easily, and you cannot move a hand, just a slight push on the camera.
- Here, a pendular head (Wimberley-type) becomes a real asset.
- Whatever happens, don’t move for at least ten minutes. The hummingbirds must get used to your presence.
From this point, you will (merely) have to do with the “usual” difficulties of macrophotography (mostly a lack of depth of field – you will need to wait for the sun shining on the feeder ; don’t move the feeder, let the sun come to the feeder).
Then, you should be able to produce some interesting photos showing the marvelous details of the minuscule feathers of the small hummingbirds.
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