Ruby-throated hummingbirds

JPaige · Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:08 am

I still have some straggling females showing up at the feeder and butterfly bush.

Brenda · Sun Sep 18, 2011 8:58 am

I was just going to post that we're still seeing a few here and there as well! I thought that they were all gone during a lull a few days ago, but we've even seen one so far this morning! This is the latest that I've ever had them around!

americanhero · Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:30 pm

my hummers are gone

Hope they are coming back next year

rengel134 · Thu Oct 13, 2011 11:44 am

Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:34 pm

How times change. Spent only a few dozen minutes on hummingbirds this year.......

hobkyl · Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:46 pm

I tried photographing these fairy like little birds a couple of weeks ago and was only able to come up with blurs. What is the minimum shutter speed you would say you could use to freeze them? Even at 1/600 in daylight at f 2.8 I wasn't succeeding.

Mon Aug 27, 2012 8:59 pm

Keep at it! Do you have a feeder? I find one of the best times to snap (and be sure to set your camera to continuous shooting mode - camera keeps shooting as long as you are depressing the shutter button) is when the bird backs off the feeding hole to regroup for another drink. One thing that works is to wait eye to viewfinder - prefocused on the feeder or bloom - ready to depress the button when the bird appears.

That shot was 1/1000 sec at f/5.6. ISO 400. 1/600 really should be adequate to nearly freeze in bright light. Try stopping down to at least f/5.6 to increase your depth of focus. f/8 is even better.
Try using aperture priority mode at f/8, on auto ISO and see what you get. Adjust from there.

Don't be afraid to post your outtakes with exif data. Then we can give more specific advice.