Anna's Hummingbird

[bdosserman]

These little guys have been all over, but until last week I'd been failing miserably at getting a good shot. This shot was a learning experience -- until then, I had always been focused on trying to get them in direct sunlight. But the color came out a lot better than I expected (minimal PP), and more even than I've been getting in sunlight, thanks I guess to the more diffuse lighting.

What do you think of it? I'd have liked a little more space on the bottom, but that's where the bottom of the frame was.

Thanks,

Brian

[AFairley]

It's a heck of a shot, but...  The body of the bird blends into the backgound a little too much and tends to get lost, and the color of the ruby feathers at the top and back is sort of dying.  That said, it's easy to be a critic, but I couldn't get a shot like that in a 100 years   

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I agree. It's a remarkable capture.
I think it's worth a good bit of time and effort in post-processing. I would be tempted to increase Clarity or local contrast some, perhaps up the saturation a little (but not enough to become garish). But most importantly see if you can lighten the background (masking and dodging?) somehow so the bird stands out more, as Afairley suggests.

[wolfnowl]

We have a hummingbird feeder attached to our kitchen window, and consequently have Anna's Hummingbirds (and others) dropping by daily.  This is a great shot but my first thought was, "What happened to the greens?  The Anna's flanks, back and top of the head is green, and it's not showing up here.  It is mostly from the front/bottom and the belly and underwings are pretty muted, so that may be a part of it.

Mike.

[brandtb]

Wonderful colors...and the effect painterly/beautiful. I think you're definitely right about the bottom space...you might try looking at some slightly different crops. /B

[bdosserman]

Hi everyone,
   Thanks for the comments and suggestions. In hindsight, the square crop (which has become my default for most bird shots) was just not right for the photo, so here's a new version, which gives it a bit more room to breath. I also upped the clarity and saturation very slightly -- I don't want to overdo it, but I could see a bit more could be helpful. How does it look?
   Sadly, at the moment I don't have the time, software, or expertise for something like masking and dodging, so I had to leave that aspect as is. With that said, I kind of like how the body blends a bit into the background, and then there's this sudden burst of color in the face. It makes for an unusual effect.
   Mike -- absolutely re the green, I think it's a combination of the angle and shooting in shadow.
   AFairley -- I see what you mean about losing the color in that spot, but it's still way better than any of the sunlit shots I've gotten, which tend to just have blotches of color and black where the light angle isn't quite right. I don't know how one would get really uniform color without using something like Glenn Bartley's multiflash approach.

Best,

Brian

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

That works for me, Brian. Wonderful capture!