R-Black Chinned Hummingbird

Made Explore Jun 10, 2007 #430 - Thanks everybody!

Black Chinned Hummingbird - Archilochus alexandri

Hummingbird wings beat at an incredible 22-78 beats per second. This explains why almost all pictures of hummingbirds have the wings blurred.
If you want to freeze the wing motion you need to forget about your camera's shutter speed and instead start using flash units.
LOTS OF FLASH UNITS!
The following information works just as well for other birds or for that matter, other subjects.

At least 3 flash units are needed, but 4 are much better, but I generally use 6.
You will need to go manual settings all the way. I use Sunpak 383s with their power set to 1/4 or 1/8.
I generally use f/11 at 1/2000 ISO 200. That eliminates most ghosting problems where some of the picture is exposed by ambient light.
I use 6 Sunpak 383 strobes for most of these shots, 1 to light the background, 5 for the subject.
I move the lights closer or further from the subject to adjust the optimal exposure.
The camera is fired via a remote shutter release on a 75ft cable. I also use a DvD player for my video. I shoot from inside the house, so there is no stress to the birds. The flash does not seem to bother the birds. They don't fly away when the strobes go off.

Your flash has only one way of controlling the amount of light it puts out and that is by how long the flash lasts.
You need to set the camera to grossly underexpose by using the fastest shutter speed that will still sync to the flash, and the smallest lens opening or largest f number.
Set your ISO to the lowest setting, that will help a lot.
Shooting in low light like evenings helps.
The flash will expose your photo. That is what you want. So if the flash only lasts 1/10,000th of a second you in effect have a 1/10,000 shutter speed.
That is what you want to freeze the wing motion.
You want the flash and only the flash units to supply all the light needed to expose your picture.
Here is a excellent link to get you started.

My setup looks sort of like this.
I have a Sto-Fen diffuser for each flash for a bit more even illumination.



Please hold your invites. I appreciate them a lot but no longer belong to any "by invite only" groups.
See my profile to understand why.
Feel free to invite me to groups making no demands.

Copyright Notice
(C) 2007 Joe Grossinger Photography, All Rights Reserved
Do NOT copy, print, download, display, alter, blog, stream or otherwise use this photo or caption in any manner without the express written consent of the copyright holder.