Juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird
I can’t let the summer go by without making a few pictures of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. I guess the birds who have been in our woods during the breeding season have moved on already and it seems we see different hummers every day now on their way south to Central America. However, this juvenile defended one of the hummingbird feeders fiercely and didn’t let any other bird even come close all afternoon.
I experimented quite a bit today with different exposure times or exposure compensation for the background and used also the Westscott FJ80 II speed light. In the picture above the bird was backlit and I froze the hummer at 1/4000s and let the translucency of the wings tell the story. The sun didn’t hit the front element of the lens directly because I shot from underneath the roof of our porch. A hint of flash made sure the body of the bird got some light as well.
The photo below was shot three hours later, about mid afternoon, when the sunlight wasn’t as harsh anymore. With almost the same settings (f/8, ISO8000, -1EV) but a shutter speed of only 1/400s the result was totally different. Of course, with such a slow shutter the wings are not frozen, which I actually prefer in most of my photos of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Westscott FJ80 II speed light, Westscott Magnetic diffusion dome