Finally captured a hummingbird

ScubaDude · Sep 18, 2011

I've been trying to get a shot of this hummingbird for a couple of weeks. She's starting to get used to me and is finally staying long enough for me to get shots. The male is still a little shy.

Checkin' me out by turbodog2000, on Flickr

The hummingbird returns by turbodog2000, on Flickr

No fill flash on this one, but I thought the pose was good.

Hummingbird by turbodog2000, on Flickr

analog.universe · Sep 18, 2011

Very nice!

emoxley · Sep 18, 2011

Nice!
Not the easiest critters to gets pictures of, huh? I've wasted many, many shots of them.
Keep at it.

ScubaDude · Sep 19, 2011

madtownguy said:
Did you try and see if you could get the wings to freeze with ultra high shutter speed? I think that would look kind of cool... They are very scared creatures I can't even step outside without spooking them here.

Using the built-in flash I'm limited to 1/200 second. Without it, I end up with back-lit shots like #3. I'm going to move the feeder off of the porch, so it's not in the shade. The only problem is that any time we rearrange things on the porch, it takes a while for the bird to get comfortable with it... she flies off when she sees me.
I may try taking some shots from the yard so the sun would be over my shoulder, but the feeder is ~15 feet off the ground so I'm not sure if I can get more than a belly-and-butt shot.

The one pictured above is fairly tame and will hang around for 30 seconds or so before flying off, and has even flown up to within a couple feet of my face and hovered there for a few seconds, checking me out. There's another one (we think it's her mate) that will fly off as soon as he sees us, so I haven't been able to get a shot of him, yet.

edddial · Sep 19, 2011

Nice shots.

jwbryson1 · Sep 19, 2011

We used to go camping in Ruidoso, New Mexico when I was a kid and if you stood very still and held your finger up next to the sugar water feeder, the humming birds would literally land on your finger and drink the sugar water. It was an amazing experience. Wish I had some photos of that but that was a long time ago. Good memory though.