I have a hummingbird feeder in my backyard and the hummingbirds don’t come around too often, but last night one did and the light was perfect. I could sit in the shade of the house with the setting sun shining on the feeder and bird. I also picked a vantage point such that I would have blue sky behind the humming bird through gaps in the trees. All I had to do was wait around for the hummingbird to show up.
He or she darted in and out, making a quick stop at the feeder and flying off and not giving me much time to shoot. I found that waiting for auto-focus was not going to work with the hummingbird buzzing around, so I set focus on the faux-flower part of the bird feeder and switched off auto-focus. Now I could just point the camera and hold the shutter button down when the bird was close to the feeder and it should be in the plane of focus.
I also set the camera to high-speed continuous shooting, figuring I would sort through dozens of images and pick out a few good ones. In addition to all of that my camera settings were 200mm focal length, aperture priority mode set at f/4 (for some focus depth) and ISO200 (for some shutter speed). My pictures range from 1/1600s to 1/4000s thanks to all the bright sunlight. Even at 1/4000s (250 µs) in the above image, there is still motion blur in the wings.
This hummingbird has some yellow-green coloring which showed nicely in the evening sun. I have seen an emerald green one around as well so maybe I can capture it as well. Thanks.
Jason Frels 
It took me a minute to get your title — then I laughed!
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Good. I was worried that I out-smarted myself on that one.
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I love hummingbirds. Small and feisty! Shaking my head about the title, LOL! I just got it after reading the first comment.
You had your coffee this morning, didn’t you!
Hope to see the emerald green one, that would be pretty! 🙂
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I am about to head out to work in the yard before it gets hot. And yes, I am having my coffee. Thanks.
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Have fun working outside, you may have a story to read when you come back in. 🙂
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That gives me something to look forward to.
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Just don’t work too fast!
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Those wings are fast.
I see you don’t bother with coloring the water. Neither do we, and we get swarms of hummingbirds at our feeder. There’s also a woodpecker that occasionally stops by and manages to get a few sips. The hummingbirds shy away from the woodpecker, but they get into a lot of aerial swordfights with each other.
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I didn’t think that you were supposed to color the water.
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Some people color the water red, and claim that it attracts hummingbirds. But we’ve found that clear water works just as well.
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So it really doesn’t make a difference? My Aunts do that. 🙂
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No, we have clear water, and get tons of hummingbirds. The only difference is that it’s hard to tell from a distance when you’re running low, so the poor hummingbirds go hungry occasionally.
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Well now I learned something. 🙂
But…Poor birds! At least its just occasionally.
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Really, it should happen more often. Those hummingbirds are getting fat. I’ve noticed they’ve been hovering lower and lower to the ground, and our cat has been getting interested in them.
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Oooh keep your cat away!
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Should I? Cat food is expensive, and those hummingbirds are getting so fat, they look like they could sustain him for a few weeks.
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Crows and starlings are bigger! 😛
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Too fast.
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I guess your cat just needs to get faster!
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He can’t. He’s too fat from eating too many hummingbirds.
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…mmm…!!
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Your cat can go after starlings and crows.
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No, they’re too fast, and they won’t eat our fattening food we put out for them.
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I love hummingbirds too, and that is a spectacular shot!
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Here is another that I took this afternoon. It decided to rest on a tree branch and let me shoot photos.
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I’m thoroughly impressed. I’ve enjoyed all your photos, especially the bees, but this is awesome. I’ve been stalking the black and white hummingbird who lives under our palm’s dropped fronds, but I’ll never catch it, nor come up with something this good!
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Thanks for the nice comments. Hummingbirds are one of the most interesting animals.
Are you the Brandy McKinney that I know?
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Such adorable birds.
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