I've hardly even tested the flash on my new Canon before today. This is the result of reading up on the technique of Fill Flash and attempting to put it into practice. I didn't have much opportunity during the day, but while attempting to take hummingbird shots in my yard (previous attempts have been pretty miserable), one landed on an overhead branch with the bright sky behind it. After getting a dozen silhouette shots, I thought I'd give the flash a try and am quite pleased with the results. I'd already written off being able to come up with an entry for this challenge, but this came through just a few hours before the deadline (I'm writing this up with about 40 minutes to go).
As a beginner, I thought it would be a nice personal challenge to try and get a decent picture of a hummingbird. For the last 3 months, all of my attempts have come out blurry and/or grainy, with some of them shot through a dirty/warped glass window from indoors. I've come to the conclusion that this must be one of those hurdles that all beginners attempt (assuming the subject is available) and many probably give up on it after some disappointment. I'd been kind of keeping tabs on their behavior off and on for a while (not really taking notes, but noticing them out my window a bit before and after sundown most days I happened to look out). I had more patience today and "staked out" my yard from the passenger seat of my car in the driveway... all windows down. I figured it would make for a reasonable "blind", since the hummingbirds stayed away when I was lurking in the yard. After a bit, they started coming around again.
For a first attempt with the flash, I've gotten good enough results (for me, anyway), that I will have to experiment with the technique a bit more. I hope to come up with even better results!
- Shot in RAW
- RAW transferred from camera with Canon EOS Utility
In Canon Digital Photo Professional:
- adjusted color temperature, saturation, sharpness
- saved as JPG at 800x533
In IrfanView:
- applied sharpen, added border, re-saved JPG to fit 300k file size limit
Thanks to everyone who provided feedback! I wasn't really expecting the image to do well in voting, but it was nice trying something new. I had mixed feelings about cropping, as I personally really liked the leaves of the tree (plus they show off the results of the fill-flash, too), but I cropped it some to improve the composition a little (the hummingbird is closer to the center in the full image). I did lose some of the better reddish Fall leaves in the upper-right. I probably should have not tried to keep as much as I could and tried a tighter (and maybe vertical) crop around the hummingbird. I may try something like that in the future when I'm not too happy with the background. :)
an alternate, that I now think might have been a better entry choice, especially if I had gone with a tigher crop:
same subject without any flash (same crop size again):
Statistics
Place: 52 out of 64 Avg (all users): 4.8828 Avg (commenters): 3.6667 Avg (participants): 4.6286 Avg (non-participants): 4.9636 Views since voting: 585 Views during voting: 306 Votes: 145 Comments: 4 Favorites: 0
This will probably be a much shorter critique, since there really isn't much to say that hasn't already been said. It is a pleasant shot - but unremarkable. You said that it came from trialling a technique, and that is pretty much what it looks like. That said, from where I'm sitting you have nailed the fill flash thing.
Technically: It's all good - the focus, the DOF and especially the light. You have managed to get a nicely exposed background while capturing all of the hummingbird detail courtesy of the flash.
Artistically: I think the biggest issue is that tiny subject in that fairly open frame. A busier and more interesting background could bolster a composition like this - setting the subject in its environment, but there just isn't enough there to do this. Another minor point (which I got from a pro wildlife photographer's book) is about the angle of shot. Here you are looking up at the bird, which is the angle most people also have so it doesn't really grab them as being different. It may not be possible, but a horizontal or downward angle might add interest. Equally, apparently we should try and shoot land animals horizontal or upwards... got to be worth a try!
In summary, it is technically spot on and you definitely achieved what you were going for, so I guess now the mission is to park that little bit closer!! Happy hunting.
I think a much tighter crop would work better with this one. The clusters of leaves in all 4 corners of the image are distracting. A tighter crop would help lose a lot of that dead and distracting space and help the viewer focus in on the bird a bit more.
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