I didn't know about this challenge until returning from my New Mexico trip. I shot hundreds of hummers and most of my attempts were to freeze the wings, even boosting the ISO in low light situations to achieve that stop-motion effect. When I saw this challenge, I selected the best of my "blurred" shots in a last ditch attempt to get a photo in this challenge.
Post-challenge: Wow, didn't expect that. This was a fairly severe crop - see below. Someone commented that it might be more of an oof wing than a motion blur wing and I think there's some truth to that. The weird BG color came from my levels and curves adjustment to boost the brightness of the hummer. I wasn't paying attention to what happened to the background and this odd beige was the result. I wish now I had desaturated it a bit.
Here is the uncropped, unedited original shot. You can see what a lot of editing was needed:
Here are a few other shots taken that week, mostly to try to freeze the wings, not capture the blur:
i can't tell you how jealous i am i've been trying to get a shot of one of these litle guy for awhile...its the exact same type of bird to red neck and all..i'm not sure the kind of humming bird. but hey its ok i'll just sit here and stare for the next min. or to then i'll use it as model shot for when ever i can find and take the one i'm stocking.
Ohmygoodness! I missed this when voting! You obviously didn't need my vote, but it would have been a 10!!! This is aMAZING!!! Those colors! Wow and congratulations! Not only on the blue ribbon, but on taking such an absolutely PERFECT photo!
For a severe crop this looks pretty damn sharp unless of course you didn't even resize it. Regardless, it's great capture. Next time don't cheap out and instead get a 500mm L lens. :P
I think you have a winner here. This is SIMPLY STUNNING! If only the background did more for your photo. That beige is not very flattering. But your use of motion blur is amazing/
The details in this image are simply stunning. I can hardly wait till the results are in to find out what lens you used in this instance. This is definitely a winner in my books. Good luck in the challenge
Very good work. I'm curious about the background color though. Still, the colors on the birds head are excellent, and the motion of the wings tells a tale of speed. Great work.
This is one of the best images in this challenge. Well done. The body is so sharp and still yet the wings are in seeming constant motion. My highest score in the challenge ~9
oh my, THAT is hard to do! My hat's off to you for the sheer technical firepower here. The background being so plain hurts this from a compositional standpoint - but MAN, WHAT A SHOT! 7
Very nice capture, I really like this one. perfect blur,(any less and it would have been DNMC) Great colors, nice and sharp, soft light colored background allows us to see the far wing and helps the bird stand out. I think you have a ten here!
Through diaphanous wing
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