Sunday morning was a nice sunny, bright morning, and two of our three hummingbird feeders were in that sunlight…almost perfect conditions for some high shutter speed hummingbird photography. So off I go to the front porch, and the hummingbirds did not let me down.
Every few minutes a tiny Ruby Throated Hummingbird would buzz in for a drink at one of the feeders. I was a little unsatisfied as it seemed there was no male to be found. With the way the sun was shining, I was hoping to capture that bright red throat just glowing in sunshine, but it wasn’t met to be…or so it seemed.
As far as seeing the bright red throat, that didn’t come to pass, but I did get a couple of shots of the male hummer as he sat perched on the shepherds hook. The red throat color is there, sort of, it just appears black at certain angles. Unfortunately I was at that angle. But if you look closely, you can see a darker green and more iridescent colors on his back, and a brighter white on his underside. Not as flashy as the bright red namesake, but still pretty amazing.
I was very fortunate though to have the females in flight and in plenty of light to really crank up the shutter speed to try and get a still shot of their wings. At one point I had the shutter speed at 1/6400 and as you can see, the wings were still not frozen completely and remained blurry on the edges and ends. Of course you have to understand that their wings are moving 53 beats per second, which basically means that they are moving incredibly fast. So that being said, I guess I’m satisfied with the clarity of the above shots…for now.
I hope you enjoy these hummingbird photos as I much as I did sitting out there and watching them fly, fight, and even flirt with each other. Hopefully I get some shots of that bright red throat here in the near future.
Until then, take a moment to click on the “Like” and “Follow” buttons below so that you won’t miss any great photos, and as always, I look forward to any comments you have for me as well. From my camera to yours, “Enjoy Our Wonderful World!”
RM Goldsmith Photography 