Photographing Hummingbirds
You can find many different techniques on photographing hummingbirds. In this section, I’ll start with my basic set up, and share with you a few advanced options. I photograph Hummingbirds 3 ways. Real flowers in the garden, silk flowers, and a flower picked from a plant and inserted into a feeder tube or a clip.This image below was created using natural light, and my garden flowers. The background is simply flowers that surround my deck. Remember to keep your background in mind at all times.
It’s nearly impossible to follow a Hummingbird around your garden trying to get a good shot, besides, the Hummers probably wont come near if they see you out and about. Thats why I like to snip a single bloom from a plant which looks nicer, it also removes a lot of confusing elements from the shot.
This image below incorporates the use of a real flower that I cut from my Mandevilla bush, and fill flash.The flower is placed into one of the feeder holes of my hummingbird feeder. When using this method, it helps to block off the remaining feeder holes with duct tape. This will ensure the bird can only drink from the flower which you are focused on.Using a syringe minus the needle, I squirted fresh sugar water into the flower making sure not to over fill it causing the flower to fold over.
In the following image, I have taped an artificial flower onto the shepherd’s hook that my feeder normally hangs from. The feeder was removed to ensure the bird will drink from the flower. I used my syringe to squirt fresh sugar water onto the flower.With the feeder removed, the bird will hover around looking for the feeder and probably fly away, but it will come back. I suggest letting the bird feed during a few visits prior to you snapping photos and scaring the bird.If you do decide to incorporate artificial flowers into your images.
I suggest showing only a tiny part of the flower. A few reasons, it’s easy to see that the flower is a fake and you don’t want someone bringing that to the attention of everyone that commented on your image. I use the “Blur” tool to blur the flower in Photoshop, and using a black brush at low opacity, brush over the flower to darken it. If you do get called out, a good response is to remind the person that it’s no different than the plastic feeder they use for their Hummingbird shots.
Above is a shot of a flower simply placed inside a pole. The flower will dry up quick without water so I bought some stem water capsules from amazon and they have increased my shooting time because the stem of the flower is in water. Heres the link – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W9ND27F?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
Sometimes I place a layer of camo fabric in the doorway along with a monitor of my screened in patio and stick the lens through a hole I have cut in the fabric. It seems somedays the Hummingbirds are really paranoid and flee at the drop of a hat if they spot movement. That movement being my hands coming from lap to the camera. Plus, its easier for me to see using a monitor instead of a 3″ screen.
Camera settings: I like to shoot a minimum of 1/4000 shutter speed. Although it wont completely freeze the wings, it’s as high as I want to go without my ISO going really high. I always keep my ISO in Auto!
In the images below, you can see how I prefer to photograph Hummingbirds. I like to keep the bird isolated from the plant. When a Hummingbird is flying through a plant, its easy to lose sight of it and in the final image the bird just blends in with the plant. I prefer to use a portion of the plant (bottom), a section that sticks out. This way I get a cleaner background and the bird pops in the image.
