SCraig
Been spending a lot of time on here!
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
- Messages
- 6,474
- Reaction score
- 2,450
- Location
- Nashville, TN
- Website
- sc-photo-tn.com
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
Sunday I decided to go get some photographs of Hummingbirds. I knew the perfect place at a Nature Center that has about a dozen Hummingbird feeders set up. I went a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning but the place was packed, people everywhere and the birds somewhere else waiting for them to leave. I read on their web site that the Nature Center is closed on Sunday so I headed over there early Sunday morning and it was perfect, not a soul there but me and Hummingbirds everywhere.
I set my D7000 up on my tripod along with my 70-300 zoom and SB-700. My tripod was about 10' from the feeder I chose and I was another 10' feet away triggering it with a wireless remote. I shot in shutter priority at 1/500 second and ISO 800 and used my SB-700. I added +0.7 EV because I wanted the exposure as far to the right of the histogram as I could get it, and then compensated in post processing. The aperture was showing f/6.3 so the DOF was pretty narrow (about 4" each side of the focal point), but Hummingbirds are small and I knew EXACTLY to the fraction of an inch where they were going.
Here's an example of what I got:
And I'm not real thrilled with the sharpness of the bird. Typical story, they looked good on the LCD, even zoomed way in, but not as sharp when I got them home.
The yellow bumps on the feeder are a plastic flower with a hole that leads into the fluid the birds feed on. I KNEW that this was exactly where the birds would fly to so that was my focal point. As can be seen the feeder is in sharp focus, as is the yellow flower. The bird is on the same plane as the feeder so I don't think the lack of sharpness of the bird is DOF-related but I'm not ruling it out.
One thing I know for a fact is that I had VR turned ON. I realized that on the way home and since the camera was on a tripod that might have contributed to the lack of sharpness. Again, since the feeder is so sharp I don't think so though.
I'm wondering whether or not using 1/500 with the flash could have caused part or all of the problem. I have Auto FP enabled on my camera so it will easily synch at that speed, but it is going to pulse. I don't know how fast it will pulse so I don't know if that could be part of the problem or not.
Additionally, it could just be as simple as 1/500 second not being fast enough. Those birds are AMAZINGLY fast. I shot a bunch of frames and "Watched the birdie" while I was shooting. If a bird was in the position shown in the photo above when I triggered the camera, by the time the light from the flash faded (which is not very long!) it would be on the other side of the feeder and I never saw them move. Just kind of a "Zap!" from one side to the other.
I'm going to try and go back Sunday and see if I can do better. The Nature Center has a large porch around it with a covered patio in the back and that's where I shot from. It was somewhat dim, which is primarily why I used a flash, but I don't want to shoot from the other direction because I'd rather have trees as a background than the building.
So what do you guys think? DOF? Plain old motion blur? Shutter speed just too slow? High speed flash synch? Something else? I'd appreciate any advice.
I set my D7000 up on my tripod along with my 70-300 zoom and SB-700. My tripod was about 10' from the feeder I chose and I was another 10' feet away triggering it with a wireless remote. I shot in shutter priority at 1/500 second and ISO 800 and used my SB-700. I added +0.7 EV because I wanted the exposure as far to the right of the histogram as I could get it, and then compensated in post processing. The aperture was showing f/6.3 so the DOF was pretty narrow (about 4" each side of the focal point), but Hummingbirds are small and I knew EXACTLY to the fraction of an inch where they were going.
Here's an example of what I got:
And I'm not real thrilled with the sharpness of the bird. Typical story, they looked good on the LCD, even zoomed way in, but not as sharp when I got them home.
The yellow bumps on the feeder are a plastic flower with a hole that leads into the fluid the birds feed on. I KNEW that this was exactly where the birds would fly to so that was my focal point. As can be seen the feeder is in sharp focus, as is the yellow flower. The bird is on the same plane as the feeder so I don't think the lack of sharpness of the bird is DOF-related but I'm not ruling it out.
One thing I know for a fact is that I had VR turned ON. I realized that on the way home and since the camera was on a tripod that might have contributed to the lack of sharpness. Again, since the feeder is so sharp I don't think so though.
I'm wondering whether or not using 1/500 with the flash could have caused part or all of the problem. I have Auto FP enabled on my camera so it will easily synch at that speed, but it is going to pulse. I don't know how fast it will pulse so I don't know if that could be part of the problem or not.
Additionally, it could just be as simple as 1/500 second not being fast enough. Those birds are AMAZINGLY fast. I shot a bunch of frames and "Watched the birdie" while I was shooting. If a bird was in the position shown in the photo above when I triggered the camera, by the time the light from the flash faded (which is not very long!) it would be on the other side of the feeder and I never saw them move. Just kind of a "Zap!" from one side to the other.
I'm going to try and go back Sunday and see if I can do better. The Nature Center has a large porch around it with a covered patio in the back and that's where I shot from. It was somewhat dim, which is primarily why I used a flash, but I don't want to shoot from the other direction because I'd rather have trees as a background than the building.
So what do you guys think? DOF? Plain old motion blur? Shutter speed just too slow? High speed flash synch? Something else? I'd appreciate any advice.