We had a holiday today, the day I took this photo. Fiesta, which is San Antonio's version of Mardis Gras was going on all week. It culminated in a big parade that gives most of San Antonio the day off. Rather than fight the crowds to participate in the mayhem, I woke up early, sat on my deck with a cup of fru-fru coffee and enjoyed the hummingbirds flitting about me on a glorious spring day.
Jeeeez, those suckers are hard to catch! If you've never tried to capture a hummingbird, it is something else. Manual focus since they move so fast an auto focuser could never "find" the tiny little focal points before they flitted off. A long lens (heavy I might add), and more patience than I EVER thought I could muster up. By the time, I'd captured about 5,000 blurry little blobs (that's IF I was even able to catch one while it was still on my picture) and my arm about fallen off, I was able to get a few that were okay. My favorite ones are the ones that show their teeeny tiny little feet.
Anyway. ..prob'ly more information than you needed, but I'm thankful for this little fellow for at least giving me a challenge-worthy entry :) I have missed being in the challenges.
Statistics
Place: 12 out of 143 Avg (all users): 6.7459 Avg (commenters): 7.8889 Avg (participants): 6.5286 Avg (non-participants): 6.8783 Views since voting: 2355 Views during voting: 383 Votes: 185 Comments: 32 Favorites: 3 (view)
Beautiful!! they are the hardest to catch.. laffed when i read comments.. Very nice placement...I thought this one was going to ribbon..
Many, many, thanks for your kind words on my shot.. I love what u said about capturing her soul -illumination of her presence..
Who would of thunk? An ordinary dog doing ordinary things. I feel like the horse in the Kentucky Derby " Mind that bird" who came out of no where..
:)
J
Sandy,
Nope, glad for the info, that means I gotta get that really big and heavy lens out, huh!
Mine just got back, I had figured you had them in jail down there and was about to call the hummer police!
Anyway this is a neat photo, and yes, I think the feet adds a lot to it!
As I said before I suppose this is a Calliope, if you can get a male he will be beautiful in color, but she is gorgeous!
Sweeeet capture, Sandy! I'd say it was worth all that effort, but... well, I hope you think it was - that's what matters. :-) Congrats on a great finish!
man this is the cutest little bird i ever saw ..
those little tucked in legs are such a sight .. makes me just want to say awwwwwwww out loud .. how embarrassing .!!!. lol
sandy .. this is the most excellent shot .. i cant imagine how difficult it would be to photograph one of these little fellows .. i've never actually seen one, but i believe they are very small and very very very quick ..
i particularly love the way the bird is so sharp and the background a blur .. takes great skill to get a shot like this .. WOW .. !!..:)
A lovely soft image, with a very pleasing muted colour palette. i might have liked just a little more texture on the plumage on the front of the humming bird.
Not quite to the same level of expertise as some of the other avian images in this challenge, a difficult lighting situation leading to rather flat and dull coloring is the major issue along with a very slightly over done sharpening. A good effort that might have been improved with a little more patience waiting for a different angle and lighting.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
