Broadtail Hummingbird in Flight #1

The bird's high level of detail is because of a high quality macro lens which I bought specifically for photographing hummingbird, and to very elaborate high speed flash equipment, which almost totally "stops the action" of the bird in flight, so that there is no motion in flight. The wild bird is behaving very naturally, but coming to a hummingbird nectar feeder. But it's a live bird, not a stuffed one, actually flying. The background was added after I came home, in photoshop. The "real" background was a piece of white cardboard. So there are many "artificial" elements to the photo (the light, the background) but the bird itself is very natural and wild, though also very bold and unafraid of people. You see in my avatar photo that he's not afraid to fly about 4 inches in front of my nose! That's where he really was when I took that photo.

How surreal, some of these photos are hard to believe that they are real photos! Such unusual and magical birds. Seriously, is this for real? Looks like he's smiling at me! Great details captured here.

Typically its like this: Canon 100mm macro lens f2.8 I get close as I can without missing too many wing tips, tails, etc from out of frame birds. Usually within 2 feet or even less. I use a cable release for comfort, and sit in a lawn chair. I use flash, and the lowest power flash and the fasted shutter speed which will sync (1/200 second on my Canon 5D.) I used a custom flash with particularly high speed and power. I'll sell it to you for $20,000.00. Maybe. You can do just as well with 2 or more high powered "brand name" flashes. I have used canon 550EX flashes with excellent results. You could set them on ETTL settings, or set them on minimum (1/128th) power. Take your photos in the shade, or you will probably get ghosting. I use all manual settings, typically, and my flash totally dominates the natural shaded lighting, which avoids ghosts. I use autofocus servo mode in bright light, and manually prefocus in early morning or late evening when there is not enough light for autofocus. I set the aperture on F22 for good depth of field. I may try F32 and see how that works. Might be ok. Note that I have added a background digitally. The original background is usually white cardboard. The closer it is, the whiter the background appears, farther way appears grey. Grey is easier to photoshop to other backgrounds, since it is "tonally" more like the average background. There. now you have lots of my "secrets". But here is my best tip: Don't get the feeder in the photo. Most hummingbirds will sip at the feeder, and then back off, if you have CUT the PERCH OFF of the FEEDER! Then you can shoot them while they are hovering, while the feeder is out of frame. Just send me 10% of your profits, if you use my techniques. Thank you very much. I'm kidding, but all donations are accepted. I live in GA and drive to AZ to shoot these birds, and it's expensive. Look at the thread on "Hummingbird Rendezvous" if you want a really extensive tutorial.