When I was at the physical therapist yesterday I got this picture of a hummingbird moth. Not the best picture because the moth never lit anywhere. This is a crop out of a bigger picture. My dilemma is how do you capture something like that with my limited lens range (55-105 ). I searched on "hummingbirdmoth" and only came up with one other posting. Would it be better to take it off auto focus. I'd like to sneak over there this weekend and try again. But I need some advice. You were all so wonderful helping with the focus on Tom Thumb and I now realize I need to back off sometimes even when my camera is saying it is in focus. I had my polarize lens on as it was a bright sunny day.
Your pic is pretty good already but you could try taking the polarizer filter off which will allow you to use a faster shutter speed for the same aperture setting. This would help freeze the action and perhaps allow a tighter crop. Hope this helps.
These guys are so fascinating! I cannot speak to camera stuff, but sat outside last year by the petunias and got some shots of them. I had never seen one before and had to Google it.
I think you are on the money with the manual focus. You can get fairly close with a 55mm setting, then just adjust the focus while you move towards the subject to get as close as you can. Also remember to use the lowest f stop number to allow as much light in as possible, bump up the ISO a bit and you should be able to use a fast shutter speed to capture the motion.
Hi Joan -- these guys are very hard to catch. My advice is the same as Robin's. I find I need a much higher shutter speed (all my shots this year of things like hummingbirds are just a blur). And manual focus (or single point focus if you can set up your camera that way) makes it easier for you to control what will be the focal point in the image. The camera often misjudges. Good luck!
This was confusing to me....it looks just like one I took in my yard and the same background. spooooky! It is a lovely image ...I am not really so qualified to give advice but know that those that did are surely qualified.!!
@eyesmile You know that has happened to me before. Or I see one that one person post and then another one that looks so similar by someone else and I get confused as to where I am in my commenting.
Yikes! Well, I got the part about the polarizing filter and I will try that myself. I find that I get lost easily when I read camera jargon and I am sad about that. So, I set my setting to aperture, fool around with ISO and Fstop, take a dozen photos and if fails, set it to auto.
I think Robin has some good advice also liked the single shot as opposed to the multifunction. Make sure the focus is on the moth. I have to check your
EXIF information to see how far out you were. Focus at a lower mm then zoom in on the subject. If you can't get a clear focus you are probably too close. Step back gradually at the 55 until you car see it clearly in focus them zoom in for the shot. I had trouble getting clear focus with a zoom lens till I discovered this trick.
@janiskay@joansmor. Whether or not the 'focus then reframe' method will work depends on the camera/lens combination. With some lenses the focus point will remain constant regardless of the zoom setting but with many this is not the case. In this 'photo the focus point appears to be the background siding: where the intended subject is small with regard to the total scene, you will normally get best results by using a single focus point and positioning it directly over the subject... and for fast moving subjects like this, switch to continuous focussing. I'll comment further off-line later today Joan.
@janiskay Jan I would focus on him and then he zoomed away, I couldn't even find him in the viewer half the time. They are faster then the bees. It kept moving and if I tried to follow it would take forever for auto focus to work. BUt maybe your trick combine with the auto focus off might work. I will probably go tomorrow. Weather permitting. Too many obligations today.
@vignouse Yeah it moved and I think I tried to follow and the focus ended up in the wrong spot, or maybe my back made me jerk. I was beginning to have problem bending over. Half the time the thing moved behind the flower.
@joansmor Macro shots of fast-moving insects are one of the hardest things to do well - I know how to, but my success rate is very low ;-( It helps to set the camera for burst shooting and take several shots at a time.
Great shot and work capturing this hummingbird moth. My advice is IMO to push up a little the iso up to 400 or 500 a set speed to 1/640 or 1/800 keeping f:5.6. You need to set M mode, the change "Single shot mode (S) for Cl or Ch". This will let shot many pictures at time. Then try to focuss on moth through viewfinder, not using live view, because through viewfinder is more accurate. It is so difficult to catch subjects in movement and require patience and practice, don't give up ;)
patience and luck, too! Photographing insects, children, animials (plus other subjects) reminds me of the hunters talking. Most of huntinng, I have learned,involves sitting very still in the same place for a long period of time. I have noticed that foraging insects/birds often return to the same places.
@vignouse didn't know that. But it does work with my lens. I usually do shoot continuous when photographing birds and I have a feature that allowed me to follow a flying bird and keep it in focus. Have,'t used it in forever so will have to reinvestigate it.
@joansmor yes I know they are tiny. I only saw one once and never did get a decent shot of it. Listen to Richard he knows more then I ever will. I just threw in what worked for me.
