Hummingbirds in Flight: I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 and I really want to photograph a hummingbird in flight but without the wings being blurry. Can anyone help me with step by...

dsherwood3

I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 and I really want to photograph a hummingbird in flight but without the wings being blurry. Can anyone help me with step by step instructions. I would truly appreciate any help I can get.

jimni2001 Loc: Sierra Vista, Arizona, USA

Fast shutter speed. Try 1/1000 of a second. If you can't adjust your speed try your flash.

dsherwood3

Thanks. I get that. What f-stop? I am trying to learn; that's why I joined this forum. I love it here.

jimni2001 Loc: Sierra Vista, Arizona, USA

I have had luck with f8-f11. I really do not know much (anything) about your camera so it is hard for me to give you much advice. Mybe someone who shoots with that camera can give you some more help.

dsherwood3

Thanks. I will give it a go.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

dsherwood3 wrote:

I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 and I really want to photograph a hummingbird in flight but without the wings being blurry. Can anyone help me with step by step instructions. I would truly appreciate any help I can get.

You might need more than a fast shutter speed. Do a Google search. I think you will also need a flash.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

dsherwood3 wrote:

I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 and I really want to photograph a hummingbird in flight but without the wings being blurry. Can anyone help me with step by step instructions. I would truly appreciate any help I can get.

You have bitten off quite a large chunk on this idea. The main idea here is to freeze something moving very rapidly. Keep in mind the the birds wing works somewhat differently than other species. Most birds wing movement is aft of the joint supporting the wing. Hummer's wing work both fore and aft, and at incredible speed. That speed varies by specie but will fall in the range of 25 beats/second up to 75 beats/second. I have many shots taken at 1/1000 and faster that vividly show blurred wings.

I captured a Ruby Throated hummer at 1/4000 sec. The wings are frozen to the naked eye. Technology allows me to see how slow my selected shutter speed turned out to be.

Other factors to consider is what specie you are shooting, from what distance, how many birds are immediately near, amount and directing of prevailing sunlight, and probably many others. Professionals have been trying to photograph hummers for many years. High speed cameras have been fairly successful. The overall cost/effort is incredibly high.

Best of luck to you. Please let us enjoy your efforts.

jimni2001 Loc: Sierra Vista, Arizona, USA

mdorn wrote:

You might need more than a fast shutter speed. Do a Google search. I think you will also need a flash.

I have had no need for a flash and I have a lot of photos with the wings stopped. However you can use a slower shutter speed when you use a flash.

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

Practice, practice, practice, luck

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Here are my hummingbird photographs from last Spring. All efix info posted with each photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonian72/sets/72157629826993261

To minimize cropping, I recommend a lens longer than 200-mm. I found small central Auto-Focus spot most helpful.

I encourage other photographers to post SUCCESSFUL Hummers-In-Flight photographs, with all capture data.

Hand-held Nikon D5000 at ISO 1000, with Nikkor 55-200 zoom at 200-mm, 1/4000-sec at f/8, full sun.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

jimni2001 wrote:

I have had no need for a flash and I have a lot of photos with the wings stopped. However you can use a slower shutter speed when you use a flash.

I was referring to this article I read about humming bird photography:

http://www.rpphoto.com/howto/hummer/humguide1.asp

Just FYI... I have not done this type of photography, so I don't really know, but this article makes sense to me. Of course, it's clear that others are successfully doing this without a flash. However, the images on this site are worth checking out if you are into this sort of photography.

dsherwood3

Thanks everyone. If I get a good shot, I will post it.

juicesqueezer Loc: Okeechobee, Florida

Nikonian72 wrote:

Here are my hummingbird photographs from last Spring. All efix info posted with each photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonian72/sets/72157629826993261

To minimize cropping, I recommend a lens longer than 200-mm. I found small central Auto-Focus spot most helpful.

I encourage other photographers to post SUCCESSFUL Hummers-In-Flight photographs, with all capture data.

Assume job Nikonian! And thanks for the info on the shot. My daughter has lots of hummingbirds at her home in TN and I will be heading up there soon and give this a try. Have the 5100, so wish me luck!

dsherwood3

Hi Nikonian72. I looked at your pictures of hummingbirds and they are beautiful. You give me inspiration. Thank you.

saxkiwi Loc: New Zealand

dsherwood3 wrote:

I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 and I really want to photograph a hummingbird in flight but without the wings being blurry. Can anyone help me with step by step instructions. I would truly appreciate any help I can get.

You really need a flash that can be set to manuel 1/64 or 1/32 power which will render a flash speed of around 1/20,000th of flash speed duration. The shutter speed on your camera doesn't matter just as long as you are using the flash sync speed.