49bentley

I would appreciate some ideas/help for shooting humming birds. I have a canon d7 mk II and a canon speedlite 600ex ii-rt. Will be out on a birding tour in Costa Rica and will not be able to use multi-flash system. Thanks in advance for any and all help. Chris

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Chris, Welcome to the forum.What lens will you be shooting with?.This will help you with tips. Have a great trip.

https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-hummingbirds/

Feiertag Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Have the sun to your back. Your shadow should be pointing toward your subject.

49bentley

I will be shooting with a canon 100-400 II lense.

d2b2 Loc: Catonsville, Maryland, USA

I am a Nikon guy, so I am uncertain about your equipment; but getting fair shots with ambient light - if the situation is bright enough - can be done fairly easily with hummers. Or, using one strobe can be worthwhile, but I use a cord and take the light off of the camera, in order to provide some depth and texture; otherwise, the shots can be flat. These were shot with a zoon set at about 100mm.

Patience is the key. Hummingbirds will come back to the same place, over and over again. Particularly if you have a feeder. So getting in position and staking them out with a cable or wireless shutter release is easy, once you get the behavioral pattern. A tripod is a must, in order to get the focus area set and positioned. If you do that, you can control your shots with some semblance of certainty.

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Feiertag Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Lovely shots.

49bentley

Thanks Feiertag.

49bentley

Thanks d2b2.

MikWar Loc: Chicago, Western Suburbs

I have the same equipment as you. This February I was in Costa Rica and shot hummers (and other birds). Looking over my pics I didn't use a flash, handheld, had a shutter speed around 1000 (varied from 125-2,000) and let the ISO float to wherever it wanted to be. Most of the places we visited had feeders to I was able to get pretty close to them. I could have used a flash on some of them because of the backlighting but I didn't because I was only 6 feet away. Good luck - post some of your pics upon return.

49bentley

Thanks MikWar.

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

Although a multi flash set up is ideal, you can still capture some very nice shots with a single flash. This is the set up I typically use:
1. Use as small f/stop as possible to get a good depth of field. Often I am at f/11-f/16. Your 100-400 will work well
2. Try to get set up in a natural setting. A hummer coming to a flower is much more appealing than one coming to a plastic feeder. Many of the Costa Rica lodges will help you with this. Some will even take nectar and place it in a flower (like a Bird-of-Paradise blossom) to attract the birds to a specific blossom
3. Under expose the ambient light by 3-4 stops. You want the flash to provide the light
4. Manually focus the lens to the desired spot and take the lens off AF
5. Set your flash on manual and read the screen to determine the distance to subject. Ideally shooting at 1/64 or 1/32 power is best for very short duration. I do not use a Better Beamer for this nor do I use a battery pack so it can be difficult for me to get fast recharging time for the flash
6. Take a test shot and adjust accordingly
7. A tripod is a must. A cable/remote release is ideal
8. Sit back and wait. When the bird arrives, shoot away in burst mode

Good luck. Costa Rica can be a magical place.

49bentley

Thanks bajadreamer.

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

You are welcome. The primary disadvantage of a single, on camera flash, is that you will get pretty flat looking photos that have obviously been taken with a flash, but I still like some of the birds I get with this technique. A multi flash set up will help eliminate this.
At many of the lodges they keep the feeders up at night. Use the same techniques to take pictures of the fruit bats that come at night. Usually you have to go to the feeders themselves rather than a flower blossom.

Tgbyrne

Check out rainforest_photo_tours on instagram. Jeff does hummingbirds and more in Costa Rica.

OllieFCR

I have your set-up exactly. I prefer to use natural light if at all possible and hand hold. Tripod works if you have a feeder but in the field where they can feed on any number of flowers you need to be mobile. The attached was taken at f5.6, 1/1600 and 1/5000, and ISO 800. The narrow depth of field will mean more rejections but better bokeh. I prefocus on the area they are feeding then wait for the hover, focus (back button), and fire a burst.