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.
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.
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?
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.
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.