When High SS Isn't High Enough
May 16, 2022 17:09:21 #
A hummingbird at the feeder only about 8-10 feet away. I was sitting in a lawn chair holding my camera thinking nice friendly thoughts, movements all slow and smooth. The hummers came and ignored me, two even used my head for a racing pylon playing "chase the birdie" over whose turn it was at the feeder. They circled my head under the brim of my hat and I felt the air from their wings on my ear.
Since I wanted the most feather detail I could get and was so close I was using my Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.
This is a fairly radical crop, even at 8-10 feet this little guy was tiny. So I went out and bought a 180 macro lens for doing this in the future.
As you can see I got good detail on the body and even the base of the wing but as you look out along the wing towards the tip the wing is moving faster to make its arc so that even 1/3200 SS wasn't high enough. There is one photographer on another forum who spent a whole summer doing hummers and used multiple high speed flash units to freeze the motion so he got even the wing tips sharp but that was at 1/14000 to 1/20000 flash duration for the flash on the bird. This Anna's Hummingbird the consensus is the wing tips move at least 60mph when hovering. They can hit at least 50mph in straight flight which in terms of body lengths if you scaled them up to the size of a jet fighter the Anna's would be moving faster. And when diving and pulling up to show off during courtship the males go even faster and can hit at least 9 Gs when pulling up at the bottom of the dive. The pull up is so fast that the air through the feathers of their fanned out tail makes a short, sharp chirping sound.
Canon 7DII, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens, 1/3200 @ f/4.5, ISO-400
8-10 feet, hand held sitting in a lawn chair on a bright sunny day at aprx 3:21 PM with afternoon light from behind me
Surprisingly a lot of the info on speed I found on line was by UK Ornithologists working at campuses of the UC system. They don't have hummingbirds in Europe so to study these little speed demons they have to come work here.
Since I wanted the most feather detail I could get and was so close I was using my Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.
This is a fairly radical crop, even at 8-10 feet this little guy was tiny. So I went out and bought a 180 macro lens for doing this in the future.
As you can see I got good detail on the body and even the base of the wing but as you look out along the wing towards the tip the wing is moving faster to make its arc so that even 1/3200 SS wasn't high enough. There is one photographer on another forum who spent a whole summer doing hummers and used multiple high speed flash units to freeze the motion so he got even the wing tips sharp but that was at 1/14000 to 1/20000 flash duration for the flash on the bird. This Anna's Hummingbird the consensus is the wing tips move at least 60mph when hovering. They can hit at least 50mph in straight flight which in terms of body lengths if you scaled them up to the size of a jet fighter the Anna's would be moving faster. And when diving and pulling up to show off during courtship the males go even faster and can hit at least 9 Gs when pulling up at the bottom of the dive. The pull up is so fast that the air through the feathers of their fanned out tail makes a short, sharp chirping sound.
Canon 7DII, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens, 1/3200 @ f/4.5, ISO-400
8-10 feet, hand held sitting in a lawn chair on a bright sunny day at aprx 3:21 PM with afternoon light from behind me
Surprisingly a lot of the info on speed I found on line was by UK Ornithologists working at campuses of the UC system. They don't have hummingbirds in Europe so to study these little speed demons they have to come work here.
May 16, 2022 17:15:05 #
Hmmm, 100mm macro for Humming birds - Great shot ! .......thanks for sharing
May 16, 2022 17:23:34 #
May 16, 2022 22:31:36 #
imagemeister wrote:
Hmmm, 100mm macro for Humming birds - Great shot ! .......thanks for sharing
Yep, a 100mm macro, now I have a 180 macro and can sit further away like, 10-12 feet instead of 8 feet or so. That way I can sit in the middle between the two feeders in the back yard and get shots at both.
May 17, 2022 08:28:52 #
robertjerl wrote:
A hummingbird at the feeder only about 8-10 feet a... (show quote)
Robert, your definition of "high" might be a sticking point, 1/3200 isn't really "fast." I salute you sir for your outstanding working conditions, lawn chairs, bright sunny day, afternoon DElight! Tough conditions, BUT somebody has to do it! I shoot hummers in my woods and sunlight that offers 1/3200 SS also allows has to allow for 1/5000 SS. Since you take this work as seriously as do I, I will share something with you. Not all of the hummer's wing moves at the same speed! The bird's shoulder is moving one speed while the tip of its wing is moving at another. This is similar to what makes a whip "crack" when it is flexed. The whip's tip is moving at a significantly higher rate of speed. Hummers can also "reverse" their wings resulting in seeing the bottom of the wing on top. They know how and what they are doing, so I just observe. Hummers are so much fun some politicians want to ban them! Register hummers and make them get a license! Keep up your usual good work!!!
May 17, 2022 09:10:20 #
Really great shot! I used to spend a lot of time chasing these guys in Arizona. Was using pretty primitive equipment compared to today's stuff. I still do it some with my digital stuff with a lot higher keeper rate. I purposely choose a shutter speed to allow wing movement. I don't see frozen wings with my eyes and don't want to see frozen wings in my photos.
Like David said. Don't make them too nice and let the politicians get hold of them!!
Like David said. Don't make them too nice and let the politicians get hold of them!!
May 17, 2022 09:10:42 #
May 17, 2022 16:11:29 #
davidrb wrote:
Robert, your definition of "high" might ... (show quote)
Yes, and according to some of the sources I found there are some hummers that can actually fly upside down for very short times, not just do the hover and go backward thing.
And the male Anna's (this shot is a female) does dive and pull up, then hover in front of the lady during courtship where they reach some stupendous "body length per second" speed that they calculated if you scaled the bird and its speed up to the size of a jet fighter the bird would make the jet look like it was dragging an anchor.
May 17, 2022 16:14:06 #
Retired CPO wrote:
Really great shot! I used to spend a lot of time chasing these guys in Arizona. Was using pretty primitive equipment compared to today's stuff. I still do it some with my digital stuff with a lot higher keeper rate. I purposely choose a shutter speed to allow wing movement. I don't see frozen wings with my eyes and don't want to see frozen wings in my photos.
Like David said. Don't make them too nice and let the politicians get hold of them!!
Like David said. Don't make them too nice and let the politicians get hold of them!!
Thank you.
If they ever invent a fighter plane that can duplicate a hummingbird the nation that has it will rule the air.
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