By Nello's request, I'm posting large hummer files that I have never done.
I'm using both pbase and sugmug and I've been posting images from pbase. But
as you know that pbase limits the file size to upload there and then they further
compress the file size. To see good details of my hummer shots,you'll have to see them in a large file.
Here are some of my hummer shots that I posted here in the past. Sorry about the watermarks.

Hide

Beautiful Hide

& be prepared for some comment about the watermark. I saw a guy on DPR who managed to make the watermark an intricate part of the shot. He'd place them in an important area, but they'd be a part of the shot - still visible.... Very effective.... Wish I could remember who he was.......

Stunning shots as always....

Lil

Fabulous, stunning, colors pop and the detail is second to none.

Ted

Hide, I think your buddy Nello just done you good! These make your images come alive. The detailing of both texture and color are spectacular

By the way, the BG's on all these are wonderful

I hope you are able to continue to post sized like this on your hummer shots and they loaded up fine for me.

Karl

Fabulous with eye popping colors.
Harsha

Lil Judd wrote:
Beautiful Hide

& be prepared for some comment about the watermark. I saw a guy on DPR who managed to make the watermark an intricate part of the shot. He'd place them in an important area, but they'd be a part of the shot - still visible.... Very effective.... Wish I could remember who he was.......

Stunning shots as always....

Lil

Thank you, Lil. At smugmug,they have a watermark feature and I thought it's necessary to put it on all my images. But if someone buys my print there,it
won't appear on the print. Now I've seen my hummer shots in a lage file size,this
is the way to post it.

Hide

Ted ellis wrote:
Fabulous, stunning, colors pop and the detail is second to none.

Ted

Thank you, Ted. The file size really makes a difference here. I'm plesed to see
my hummer shots in this file size.

Hide

Karl Witt wrote:
Hide, I think your buddy Nello just done you good! These make your images come alive. The detailing of both texture and color are spectacular

By the way, the BG's on all these are wonderful

I hope you are able to continue to post sized like this on your hummer shots and they loaded up fine for me.

Karl

Indeed,Nello's request done me good. I'm really pleased to see my hummer shots in this large file size. What a difference! Thanks for your kind comments, Karl.

Hide


harshaj1 wrote:
Fabulous with eye popping colors.
Harsha

Thank you, Harsha. Now the little birds look big.

Hide

Oooooh myyy what a diference Hide! absolutely stunning dude
One of these could easily be used for commercial purposes!! I remember Adobe bought a hummer shot from one of our FM members who posted hummers here

Hide these are awesome!!!

Very Nice Hide Well Done. Ed

I can't express enough superlatives about your work.

Thank you for sharing.

Nello Milanese wrote:
Oooooh myyy what a diference Hide! absolutely stunning dude
One of these could easily be used for commercial purposes!! I remember Adobe bought a hummer shot from one of our FM members who posted hummers here


Thank you,Nello. I'm,too, surprised to see a big difference. The gentleman you're talking about is Keith Rankin and he's my hummingbird master. Now I can
tell a big differnce between a large file size and a smaller one,I'll post my future images in a large file.

Hide

Brenton Biggs wrote:
Hide these are awesome!!!

Thank you, Brenton.

Hide


Ed Robertson wrote:
Very Nice Hide Well Done. Ed

Thank you, Ed.

Hide

martines34 wrote:
I can't express enough superlatives about your work.

Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for your kind words. I just wanted to see what difference it would make
in posting my hummer images in a large file size. I'm pleased to see the difference.

Hide

Such a tiny and difficult bird to capture and yet Sir you are a consummate genius at it,
brilliant clarity and focus, just stunning images.

Thank you very much for your time and patience in showing these delightful creatures.

simply beautiful. your hummer shots are top notch. beautiful lighting and exposure. could you explain again how you set up your flash units. i posted a similar question on your previous post but i could not find it again to go back and read your response.

in regards to the larger pics, i agree that larger sized pics are better for appreciating the finer textures and details on the photos. lately i have been posting pics with 1000 pixels wide. we shoot with such high resolution cameras and high quality optical lenses. it would be shame not to post a larger pic because all those great details would not be as appreciable.

- hung

MozzMann wrote:
Such a tiny and difficult bird to capture and yet Sir you are a consummate genius at it,
brilliant clarity and focus, just stunning images.

Thank you very much for your time and patience in showing these delightful creatures.

I'm glad you liked them. Actually, I'm surprised to see such a big difference in
posting the image in a large file size than a smaller one. It especially makes
a difference when it comes to a very small subject like hummers.

Hide

Spectacular work. Top notch detail/color in all of these. Care to share what equipment was used to photograph these beautiful birds.

wonderful series Hide....the larger size lets us appreciate the quality of your work.
You, Socrate and Tony are tops with these guys

Hungtran10 wrote:
simply beautiful. your hummer shots are top notch. beautiful lighting and exposure. could you explain again how you set up your flash units. i posted a similar question on your previous post but i could not find it again to go back and read your response.

in regards to the larger pics, i agree that larger sized pics are better for appreciating the finer textures and details on the photos. lately i have been posting pics with 1000 pixels wide. we shoot with such high resolution cameras and high quality optical lenses. it would be shame not to post a larger pic because all those great details would not be as appreciable.

- hung

Thank you,hung, And I agree with you that we should post images in a large file size to show the real performance
of high resolution cameras and high quality lenses. I haven't done justice to my equipments..untill now.

O.K,here are my hummingbird flash shoot set up.

this is my setup.


2 flashes on both sides of your camera at 45 degrees and at about 20 ich. from
the flower. Both flashes are set at about 15 degrees above the line from the flower.
These two flashes will cast a shadow on the hummer's belly or throat area ,so to eliminate the shadow,the
3rd flash or the belly flash,is set under the flower at about 30 inc. from the flower.
This flash could be right under the lens or near that line,aligned with your lens.
The 4th one is an overhead flash. This one is a bit behind the flower set at about 25-30 inc. above the flower.
And the last one is for the background. Whether you'll need 5 flashes or 6 flashes,depends on how many flashes
you'll need for the background. If you use 2 flashes for the BG,then you won't have to worry about the light fall off on the BG.
Since I use one flash for the BG, I sometimes see the light fall off on the BG.

Here's another tip. I use a water pick and a floral foam ball to support a flower.
These are very good tools and to me,they are must-have items. You can get them here.

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/pewklips.html

I use a hummzinger feeder and I think this feeder is the best for hummingbird
shoots. It's flat and it has only a slim metal post to hung the feeder.
Suppose that the hummers are already coming to this feeder and then this is what I would do. I would tape off all the feeding holes
so that the hummers would not go to the feeder. Then I would put a floral foam ball (make sure you wet the ball)on top of the feeder and then
I would stick a water pick with a flower in it. You carefully spray a sugar water on the flower,align the angle of the flower.
You want to set your camera a little lower than the flower. This way, you'll have a better chance of seeing the hummer's beautiul full gorget.

Actually, the hummers will still go to the feeder's hole thinking that's where they used to get food but soon they will find the food on the flower.
Once they found it,50% of your work is done.

I hope this will help.

Hide

Duane N wrote:
Spectacular work. Top notch detail/color in all of these. Care to share what equipment was used to photograph these beautiful birds.

Thank you, Duane. This is bacically a Canon forum so I say it quietly that I use a Nikon D300 and a 300 f4 -AFS and 5 flashes.
If you want to know my hummer shoots set up,then I posted it in response to hung's post.

Hide

Dave In La wrote:
wonderful series Hide....the larger size lets us appreciate the quality of your work.
You, Socrate and Tony are tops with these guys

Thanks, Dave. I responded to Nello's request and I'm surprised to see a huge difference in posting my hummer shots in a large file size.
Now I feel like I've done
justice to my hummer shots and to my equipments.

Hide

Absolutely stunning. Love how you get the colors of the feathers to really pop out.. Awesome technique, and .... well what can I possible say, except "Perfect"!

thanks for the explanation on how to set up the flash units and the hummer feeder. i will have to get some of those things and set one up in my backyard. what lens do you use to shoot these hummers? also what were your camera settings and flash settings? do you use a hide or do you stand out in the open. thanks for your detailed explanations.

- hung

onebear wrote:
Absolutely stunning. Love how you get the colors of the feathers to really pop out.. Awesome technique, and .... well what can I possible say, except "Perfect"!


Thanks for your kind words. I'm glad you liked them.

Hide

Hungtran10 wrote:
thanks for the explanation on how to set up the flash units and the hummer feeder. i will have to get some of those things and set one up in my backyard. what lens do you use to shoot these hummers? also what were your camera settings and flash settings? do you use a hide or do you stand out in the open. thanks for your detailed explanations.

- hung

I usually shoot at about 6 ft. from the feeder or the flower and I sit on a chair and wait for the hummers to show up.
Some hummers may not feel comfortable with this close, so you'll have to test the distance from the hummers first. I always use my
300 f4-afs but if you have to be at around 10 ft or more from the hummers,then a 300 mm + a TC 1.4 or a 400mm wll be necessary.

You want to get as much details as you can from a hummer, so I usually use anywhere between f9-11 but sometimes I even go for f13.
The shutter speed is 1/200s or 1/250s.I set all my flashes in manual mode because you'll need to use flash duration to stop the hummer's wing motion.
The flash out put power really depends on the ambient light, f stop and the distance between the flashes and the hummer. Start with M 1/16 and go from there.

You'll have to go through lots of trials and errors and you'll need a lot of patience.

Hide

Great colors and stunning captures.

Garen