Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Here are a few of the photos I took yesterday.

HOT Texas Loc: From the Heart of Texas

Very Good :thumbup:

ggiaphotos Loc: Iowa

Those are some awesome shots, I like them a lot

RaydancePhoto

Those are amazing. I shoot them almost every day, I have noting even close to the quality of your pics.

krashzmom Loc: Columbia, SC

Those are great. I'm trying my luck at them and I got some pretty good shots but they have the bushes and grass, etc. as the backdrop. How do people do these? I'm not great at photoshop yet.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Thank you everyone. And now one to blow your socks off! I love it when they do acrobatic tricks. This is one of my favorites so I took the time to process it so you can see more detail when you download it. Note the limited depth of field. It's left shoulder is the only thing that's in true sharp focus. Also note the detail in the colors and texture of the feathers.

I have hundreds of these. It's hard to pick my favorites. Some of you asked how it's done.

1) I happen to own a great lens, the Sony 300mm f/2.8

2) I plan the shots and make it happen.

3) A lot of trial and error. I get just a little better with each mistake.

A favorite, download this one to see color and detail

vicksart Loc: Novato, CA -earthquake country

WOW! They're all excellent, but the last one makes you look longer just to figure out which way the bird is twisting.

Kathie Loc: OC, Ca

All are amazing!

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

I love the white background, because you can then merge any hummer photo with a sky background, or a floral backdrop, or even merge two hummingbirds into one photo.

So, how do you arrange for a pure white background everytime?

LittleRedFish Loc: Naw'lens (New Orleans)

Those are beautiful!

Now, how did you get the background white?

Please tell what setting you use, and the situation of the surrounding at the time of the shots.

JENNIFER Loc: CT.

Yes please, I've been stalking my feeder, now I know what they can look like! Wow , that last one is spectacular! Jen :) :)

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

LOL, Yep that is exactly what I intend to do. These are the first step. The next step is layers in PhotoShop with flower shots with the same lens and fill flash lighting so it looks believable when I do the merge.

As to how I get the pure white background: I have a big white plastic florescent bulb cover. They are called "cloud covers." The are about six feet long by two feet wide. I have one standing up on end supported by a step ladder. On the steps of the ladder I have two powerful slave flashes aimed at the back side of the plastic lamp shade. They fire the same time my other flashes fire that light up the bird. If you look at the eye in the bird above you will see three big white spots and a tiny forth one. The three spots are from the front side flashes. The small one, I think, is from the two Mylar foil reflectors that capture some light and reflect it back at the subject. Yesterday I purchased a painters clear plastic drop cloth and used masking tape to cover the big hole of my open window. I then cut a hole in the drop cloth that my big lens just fits into. This keeps the heat and bugs from entering my air conditioned house. I sit in total comfort in a dark corner looking past my camera at the feeder. When a bird comes to feed I press my radio remote that controls my camera. My camera is in the house with me. All five of my slave flashes are outside within about a foot of the subject. When the "master/control" flash on the camera fires, it's light passes through the clear plastic drop cloth signaling all the slaves to fire at the same time. All the slaves are in a manual mode set to 1/32 power. This results in an intense but very short lived burst of light that hits the bird from all sides. This burst of synchronized light only lasts for about 1/50,000 of a second and stops all action. Two of these light are aimed directly at the lens but first diffused by the lamp shade. This overdrives the background into pure white! Now it's trivial to select just the bird for pasting over a flower. Any white that happens to cling to the edges just looks like back lighting, which in fact, is exactly what it really is!

Glad I was able to impress you. I admire your work.

Dave

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

LOL, Yep that is exactly what I intend to do. These are the first step. The next step is layers in PhotoShop with flower shots with the same lens and fill flash lighting so it looks believable when I do the merge.

As to how I get the pure white background: I have a big white plastic florescent bulb cover. They are called "cloud covers." The are about six feet long by two feet wide. I have one standing up on end supported by a step ladder. On the steps of the ladder I have two powerful slave flashes aimed at the back side of the plastic lamp shade. They fire the same time my other flashes fire that light up the bird. If you look at the eye in the bird above you will see three big white spots and a tiny forth one. The three spots are from the front side flashes. The small one, I think, is from the two Mylar foil reflectors that capture some light and reflect it back at the subject. Yesterday I purchased a painters clear plastic drop cloth and used masking tape to cover the big hole of my open window. I then cut a hole in the drop cloth that my big lens just fits into. This keeps the heat and bugs from entering my air conditioned house. I sit in total comfort in a dark corner looking past my camera at the feeder. When a bird comes to feed I press my radio remote that controls my camera. My camera is in the house with me. All five of my slave flashes are outside within about a foot of the subject. When the "master/control" flash on the camera fires, it's light passes through the clear plastic drop cloth signaling all the slaves to fire at the same time. All the slaves are in a manual mode set to 1/32 power. This results in an intense but very short lived burst of light that hits the bird from all sides. This burst of synchronized light only lasts for about 1/50,000 of a second and stops all action. Two of these light are aimed directly at the lens but first diffused by the lamp shade. This overdrives the background into pure white! Now it's trivial to select just the bird for pasting over a flower. Any white that happens to cling to the edges just looks like back lighting, which in fact, is exactly what it really is!

Glad I was able to impress you. I admire your work.

Dave

alf85 Loc: Northumberland, UK.

A superb set of images, well done.
Alf.

Perilin Loc: Ohio

Great photos.