It sounds so simple but in application, it just isn’t!
Photographing critters at their level brings on a whole new feel to the photo but often can put the critter on alert or worse, scare them off. That’s because they are looking for predators at their level which is why moving our feet has to be done with care. Taking the time to get down flat with a critter watching is something few will tolerate. That’s why I love the flip out monitor!
This was a real simple click taken at the Big Hole Nat’l Battlefield of a Red Squirrel finishing off a mushroom it had found. I slowly bent over looking at the monitor to frame up the shot. I moved sideways a tad to get the grass the way I wanted it and then when click. Bending over put me at it’s level so I could see eye to eye.
When you think about the story you want to tell with your photograph, how much weight do you give the background? It is actually something I think about all the time when I stop and put the camera up to my eye. No matter the subject, no matter its size in the frame, that background is everything. So much so that it directly influences the lens I’m going to shoot with every time I shoot. The subject size is often controlled my zooming with my feet, the background is controlled by the angle of view of the lens. Case in point.
Here’s a Pine Siskin, a small bird a tad smaller than your thumb. They’re waiting in line for the water feature we’ve created at The Ranch. They are so friendly, seriously, they land on me and my iPhone while I’m cleaning the water feature! So a long lens is not needed for image size, but it sure it for controlling the background. That’s why I went with the D6 / 800f5.6 w/TC-12.5. The branch you see it perched on is really long and they scoot up it as they wait their turn to get their drink. By simply moving the whole tripod just three inches, I can go from the dark background to the light one. That minimal movement won’t scare the critter but will permit you to be a better storyteller. A better photograph could be just a matter of inches away.
There is a special time when critters like to come out, just before sunrise and right after sunset. This light is incredibly soft, non-directional, and nearly shadowless. It is also mostly blue. That color cast, cold color cast can either be a plus or a minus depending on the story you want to tell about your subject. In this case, it’s a minus.
There is one odd thing about my vision, I see that blue color cast when I’m out shooting. Real old training from the days of film and using CC filters. When I see this, I tend to change my White Balance in camera to get the photo right with that click (In this case setting it to 8200k). That’s because when the image comes up in PhotoMechanic, I want to see the correct image, not the image before it need to be corrected.
If you move the slider back and forth above, imagine if all you saw the “cold” photo, a whole bunch of them in your image browser. What would your opinion of those “blue” images? Now move the slider to the “warm” shot in the camera correct image. How do you feel now about that photo, a whole browser full of cute Bambis?
While you have the twilight blues when you’re shooting, there is no reason why you have to have them when you look at those images in your browser. The call is all yours :-)
Photographing hummers is a favorite pastime of mine, one I don’t get to do often enough. There are some great images out there waiting for us all and I want to pass along what I’ve gleaned in the hopes you to get taken with the little jewels. The video covers the biology, technology, and shooting strategies I’ve picked up over the years leading me to my greatest success so far, but not to my best. I hope you take what I have provided and run with it, creating even better photographs of hummers you share with the world!
Broad-billed Hummingbird captured by D6 / 180-400VR / 2x SB-5000
Hummers are just fun to watch! Their speed, their flying, their character, and the way they think every feeder belongs to just them. And apparently, they have this “possession” complex right from the start. Here, an immature Broad-billed Hummer, not more than two months old is challenging an adult for the right to be at the feeder. Now they eat half their body weight each day in “sugar” to keep that 50 beats a second wings going. But you think they could eat less if they didn’t always fight over the feeder. And in this case, there were FIVE feeders, enough for everyone but no, this one was his, dang it!
Photographically, I love the challenge of getting more than one hummer in the frame. That is challenging enough but getting them both in focus, well, I’ve only gotten close so far to that goal (and you know what they say about close, atom bombs and the like). I shot this with the D6 / 180-400VR & 2x SB-5000 which is my dream rig. Photographing hummers for 40 years, this rig definitely made it the easiest and funniest experience. And I got closer to my photographic goals. I shot a video on the whole process I’ll be posting soon. Good times, good times.
Broad-billed Hummingbird captured by D6 / 18-400VR / 2x SB-5000
These flying jewels can entertain us for hours on end and all they are doing is, eating! In the summer down in Arizona on the border, there is a special canyon where the hummers come by the hundreds to the feeders consuming half their body weight in a day on just nector. If you sit yourself down as I have with a D6 / 180-400VR / 2x SB-5000 and you’re lucky, you’ll get a shot of two of this activity to take home with you. It’s actually not easy, takes time and patience but well, it’s just about one of the funniest thing I know of in wildlife photography!
