Two hummingbird images

Hi Everyone,

Thought I'd share a couple more images with you. You can click on the images to load the larger one in a new tab/window.

Observation Post:


EXIF

Eyeballing the Prize:


EXIF

I miss them already - they've migrated south about a month ago to Mexico and Central America...

Hope you enjoy them!

Regards,
Marc

Very nice, what delightful subjects, love the shallow DOF on the 2nd one, highlighting the birds head and target flowers.

The 2nd for me Marc - there's such a strong relationship between the bird and the flower!

Beautiful shots, very well taken, 2 is my fav also.

Beautiful shots of beautiful birds I can see why you miss them.
Hopefully they will be back very soon

Both awesome. Nothing else to say really

I guess I slightly prefer number 1, better balance to the composition and I like the profile of the bird.

The first one is the best in my opinion. The focus is just spot on. Cracking image.

Wow - I like both

I can't fault either

Wow from me too.

Excellent background for the shots too. What is it?

Awesome, super shots well done

Marc, what lens are you using? I notice in the exif you fired at 600mm

From posts made by Marc on Pentaxforums it's almost certainly the Pentax FA* 250-600mm f/5.6
with a K10D as well who needs a K-5

Sorry to read about your mountain bike accident Marc... Get Well Soon!!

First off, thank you everyone so much for the comments. I had no idea that a New World species would be enjoyed so by people in other parts of the world.

Thank you i-Berg and it's very interesting to watch them feed - the series of shots I took when photographing that female reveals some of there non-flight feeding behavior. Unfortunately the DOF is extremely shallow to always keep the head/eyes in focus, but that's part of the challenge when you're photographing a subject only 9cm in length, 6m away!

Tiger, I'll try come up with other images when time permits - thank you for the comments.

SC, my pleasure to share and thank you.

Too much time - they return in April...

Thank you Algernon.

Wow, very kind of you Thoughton! FWIW, "Observation Post" is a real treat at 100%. You can clearly see the silhouette of the trees/sky reflected in it's eye.


Hi Gareth, thanks and it's definitely different to view them perched!

Regards,
Marc

I'll dig up a crop of that image if time permits and post it. Thank you very much for the kind words!

Thanks, but I can always fault the subject for non-compliance... they are a tough crowd to photograph...

Sometimes I've seen up to 30 of them at once in the front garden, which is unusually high for anyone to see. It's an amazing air show, non stop.


AG, regarding your question: the background is the combination of the foliage of the oak trees across the road and some green foliage in the garden. My main concern whenever I setup is light, it's direction and the background/canvas for the subject. I really believe and adhere to the idea of "clean shooting", whereby the background supports and enhances the subject in question - whenever possible of course. Sometimes Mother Nature isn't so obliging - that can be a source of frustration, but generally I try to mitigate it as much as possible.

Thank you Puma - much appreciated!

Sincerely,
Marc