I was trying to take some shots of the Bird of Paradise flowers and into my field of vision came this hummingbird. He didn't fly into this frame - in fact that shot didn't turn out at all - but I did chase him around and managed to catch him in a few shots. It's not often that you can stop the wings.
What I learned in taking this photo: Sometimes your intended subject yields to another opportunity. Always be ready to take advantage of an alternative.
Outstanding action shot! The hummer is in such clear focus, and I love the vibrant pops of orange from the beautiful bird of paradise. Two wonderful subjects together in one frame. This is a fav for me.
You leave me a note, and I think, "So what's Ron got for us tonight?" Your photo revealed itself so slowly, I see orange...ok...Bird of Paradise...a bit more...and then there she was! Fabulous, Ron! And what a beauty at that! What a worthwhile purchase that camera was!!!
Fabulous Ron. I never got to see a hummingbird but then again, I didn't expect to see one. But one day Rohan yelled out that there was a humming bird out the back. Turns out there is one, Anna's Hummingbird, that stays in the Pacific NW for winter so we assumed it was one of them. It had gone again before anyone else got to see it.
Simply stunning timing, detail and wonderful colour Ron, timing is every thing and to get this photo bomber is fantastic, had to check the shutter speed to see how fast it was to freeze the action and get that superb wing detail, Fav:)
great capture, ron. the only close encounter i had with a hummingbird was at the zoo and it was as confused as i was because it kept hitting the glass door trying to get out when in fact it was already outside; me, with my camera in hand was trying to shoo it away from the glass door. i think my feathers were more ruffled than the hummingbird. i felt so bad for him, i ate ice cream afterwards. :-)
Lovely photo. As I am your Get Pushed partner I challenge you to take an architectural photo. I hope you can return the favour by challenging me to something.
@la_photographic Thank you Laura. I accept your challenge and in turn, how about attempting a photo using intentional camera movement? This should be fun for both of us. Thanks for the push!
@Weezilou Ha ha, thanks Louise. It's half and half, one half the new camera and the other half one of my old Nikon lenses. A real stroke of luck, really.
@onewing Thanks Babs. I actually was on a bit of a chase. They have these buses that the lazy types take through the park and I was right next to one when I was trying to capture this guy. I looked up and saw a bunch of them staring down at me with confusion on their faces. I concluded that they never spotted the little guy and just took me for some crazy local lunatic.....and they weren't far off!
@pcoulson Thanks Peter, yep that was a full 1/1000 shutter speed. I don't often shoot on shutter priority, but when the hummingbirds are present it's pretty much a necessity. Then again, it's fun to get a blur in the wings too. Thanks for the nice words and the fav.
@lyndemc Thanks Denise. They're actually getting pretty easy to spot in these parts. I think every one of my neighbors has a feeder and we have quite a few that nest in the neighborhood. Now catching them when you're camera is handy, well, that's another issue. Thanks for the kind words!
