Birds Hummingbirds with 85mm macro lens

[Tina Boes]

I used my 85mm macro lens to take these photos. This male Ruby Throat Hummingbird was quite cooperative, and used a little twig I had all set up for him in an accessible area. He kept calling for the Mrs., but every time she showed he chased her off. She is not nearly as colorful, but oh so cute.
These were the last photos taken before my camera shutter died. Waiting on a new shutter assembly, and hopefully will be back in business.
Nikon D7100, ISO 320, 1/250 sec., F/9, tripod, flash, remote shutter release

 

[Greg Shchepanek]

Wow! Fantastic captures Tina. Humming Birds are always hard to follow when I come across them ... always on the move

 

[Tina Boes]

Wow! Fantastic captures Tina. Humming Birds are always hard to follow when I come across them ... always on the move

Thank You Greg! They are so hard to follow, and you really have to concentrate on watching where they fly off to. They have favorite "perches" like some insects. I don't know if you have a feeder out, but here's what I do: I hang the feeder in a location free of distracting backgrounds. A few inches away from the feeder I hang or attach a sturdy small branch from a tree in a position that the bird can land on it. (Currently tacked to a post on my pergola) The birds will land on that branch to watch for others to chase away from the feeder. LOL Or they just sit there and go to preening. It might take a few hours or couple of days for them to start landing on it, but it has not failed me yet. Once they do start, I will put some very small leafy branches on the twig/branch to limit their landing area on it. Then I can set up the camera very close, on a tripod with a remote shutter trigger. Focusing can be a pain, but I manually focus just in front of the branch, take a shot when the bird is there, and then look to see how the focus is. Adjust as necessary. Once you get that down, you can try pre-focusing to catch them in flight, as the photo below. I placed the flowers on the small branch with clothespins and waited. He came to check them out.