Now Here’s a Real Hummer
Early in the year I was frustrated by my inability to get a picture of the elusive little hummingbirds that sashayed through our front garden, disappearing the moment a camera appeared.
I worked hard to win their trust, or at least to get them to totally ignore me, and now I have enough photos filling up my hard drives that I’ve started deleting the “poorest� shots.
What most intrigues, and frustrates, me, of course, about photography, particularly with the advent of Photoshop, are the infinite choices to be made in selecting and preparing a shot for “publication.� Should I sharpen the image or blur the background? Should I adjust the colors? Is iridescent a color?
Given forty “good� shots of a hummingbird, which do I choose to present. Do I go with the clearest photo? The most “realistic� photo?
Though I suspect most people might find this to be my best picture of a hummingbird
I really think this one
is the most “realistic� because it’s the way most of us truly “see� hummingbirds as they dart from flower to flower, first here, there, then somewhere other than there, seldom stopping to say “hello,� or even “good bye,� cheeky little lads or lasses whose sole purpose seems to be to amaze with their herky-jerky aerobatics.
The penultimate question is what do I do with this sudden wealth of shots? Do I simply burn them to a DVD and forget them? Do I change the name of my blog to “Humming Along� and feature my latest shots, accompanied by in-depth articles on hummingbirds and hummingbird lore?
Perhaps I’ll just ramble on a bit and use it as an excuse to fill up the screen with another one, or even two, of my hummingbird photos.
Loren
I’ve seen plenty of realistic blurred hummingbirds, so I prefer the very clear one. They won’t hold still like that for me on the feeder.
Ron Southern — 3:46 pm August 27, 2005
I hope you don’t just burn them onto a DVD and forget about them. I for one would love to see more of them on the site. Maybe you could pull them out every once in a while, like in winter, as a reminder of their uniqueness.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of camera are you using?
Bam Emerson — 12:06 am August 29, 2005
I’m using a Canon Digital Rebel, Bam.
I think both of these were taken with a 400 mm telephoto lens, though earlier hummingbird shots were taken with 75-300 mm zoom lens.
loren — 12:09 am August 29, 2005
What gorgeous photos of hummingbirds!
Someone in my family was named Loren; it is not a common name - so I am surprised to find it.