Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Little Maquoketa Valley, eastern Iowa
I haven’t done a blog post about a piece of gear in a long time, but I designed and built this addition to the wildlife kit and just started testing today. Hummingbirds are the ”ice on the cake” from late April until October and I really love the tiniest of all birds we have here in our woods. Well, today they became my ”test dummies”. There are always new ways to improve photography and the Ruby-throated Hummingbird was a perfect subject to test my new, what I will call ”Small Bird Rig”. Below is a picture of this combination and actually there isn’t that much new in the essential setup. The Nikon Z6III is combined with the Z600 f/6.3 and it is mounted on tripod for this photo. The Westcott FJ80II speed light with dome diffuser attached has been in my arsenal also since awhile. The new part is the flash bracket, designed to fit my already existing equipment. It is very light and allows shooting handheld, on a tripod, or on a monopod. The position of the flash will not change if the camera is turned quickly to portrait orientation or back. Flash works on the inverse square law (remember physics!) and getting it closer to the subject let the light wrap around the birds much better. No, I don’t employ the flash of the FJ80II as the main source of light. The only purpose to use it for small bird photography is to push the colors of their plumage. The light is reflected by the feathers and the colors of the bird become more natural and accentuated under a lush green canopy of the trees or during a day with heavy overcast. Make two pictures, one with and and one without flash of the same scene, and you will be surprised what beautiful difference this can make.
The other change to my previous setup is the use of a Westcott FJ-X3M wireless trigger on top of the camera. This eliminates the cable connection between camera and speed light, which has been often a big limitation for action when out in the field.
Today’s test shots with hummingbirds were all about finding the right settings for camera and speed light. A lot more needs to be done. I know this article is mainly written for my fellow wildlife photography friends and not so much for the visitors that give a dam about the technical part of photography. I hope you still enjoy the photos of this very first test!