Dangerous Spouse Pics

[Dangerspouse]

I tried getting some hummingbird pictures today. Last time I tried I didn't have my D500, so I had to shoot in .JPG in order to get enough fps to catch the buggers in flight (the D5500 starts buffering after only 3 - 4 shots in RAW). So I was hopeful for a few more keepers. I also got a new feeder; a flat tray type, with no center column to intrude into the shot.

But there was not a lot of light, a combination of tree cover and a new porch configuration which puts my feeder in shade. So even though it was bright and sunny, exposure was a problem. I put up two steady lights trained on the feeder, but even then at 1/2500th I still needed very high ISO.

I started with the camera well back, since it was my experience last time that the noise of the shutter startles them for a while until they get used to it. Then I moved it closer, but by bit, which helped the resolution since I didn't have to crop as much. Still, they remained pretty skittish and I only got a few shots that I would even remotely consider keepers. But the deadline to enter the "Flying Things" challenge was coming up fast, so....

First, the pic I entered:

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Camera farther back, so needing a good crop:

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[TwistedThrottle]

Great captures @Dangerspouse I really like the one where it seems he's changing directions.
We put up a hummingbird feeder and so far, my wife is the only one who's seen any. Good for her but she doesn't take the pictures, lol!

 

[Dangerspouse]

Great captures @Dangerspouse I really like the one where it seems he's changing directions.
We put up a hummingbird feeder and so far, my wife is the only one who's seen any. Good for her but she doesn't take the pictures, lol!

Thanks TT! Haha - yeah, my wife is content to ride my coattails too

 

[Dangerspouse]

Tried the 3D Tracking feature of my D500 yesterday for the first time. I don't know why I've never given it a spin before. Maybe because I once saw a video calling it "garbage", and that colored my view before even using it. Up until yesterday (including my previous post), my method of taking hummingbird pics was: put the camera on a tripod, switch to Manual Focus, focus on a point just above the feeder perch, then fire a burst as the bird approached and landed. At least one shot was bound to have the head/eye in focus at 10 fps. And for the most part that worked pretty well.

The downside, of course, is that you can't move the camera. Not to mention the low rate of keepers as the tiny hummingbirds just had to be a fraction off the focal plane to be out of focus.

So yesterday it hit me that I was being an idiot. First of all, at shutter speeds of 2k and above, camera shake is not an issue. So no tripod needed. And one of the reasons I got the D500 in first place was because of its reputation for quickly focusing even in dim light, and holding on to focus. Why was I not taking advantage of that by insisting on manual focus? Again: idiot.

When I had this little epiphany it was already late in the afternoon and the light was starting to dim. So I trained two baby spots on my feeder and sat a few feet away hand holding the D500. Sure enough about 20 minutes later I hummer buzzed in. It hovered just outside the light for a few seconds to see if I was a threat, but that was enough time to grab focus. And like the brochure said, even though it was very dim light at this point, the auto focus nailed it instantly.

From there it was a piece of cake. I guess having only a single subject to follow against a plain background was the best possible scenario, but it was still impressive. I was so busy watching the focus squares in the viewfinder dance around as the bird wove and darted before landing that I almost forgot to press the shutter, lol. But I did manage to fire off a burst just as it lighted on the perch. Looked like it was waving at me, with one wing up. Of course, as soon as it heard the shutter it shot off again, and I was too slow to swing the camera and catch it. But I did get a couple of nice shots, and all of them in focus!

I'll be trying that again in the next few days, but for now I'm pretty convinced that YouTube lied. 3D Tracking is not garbage.

 

[Peter7100]

I'll be trying that again in the next few days, but for now I'm pretty convinced that YouTube lied. 3D Tracking is not garbage.

Certainly it worked well for you in this shot :encouragement:

 

[TwistedThrottle]

Great shot DS! That 3d tracking only gets better too. It works especially well when shooting in live view, just tap the subject on the screen and it follows from there. Easy enough to tap again if it falls off. I have an early version of the 3d tracking in the D800 and its ok, much better performance in the D7500 in conjunction with the touch screen and pretty much perfect and almost all I use in the Z6. Have you tried setting the camera in quiet mode? I know it doesn't make much difference in DSLR's, but it might be enough to not scare the hummers. BTW, silent mode truly silent in the Z's, especially useful for those discrete shooting sessions.

 

[Dangerspouse]

Certainly it worked well for you in this shot :encouragement:

Thanks Peter, it did indeed. Hope it continues to do so under other conditions!

 

[Dangerspouse]

Great shot DS! That 3d tracking only gets better too. It works especially well when shooting in live view, just tap the subject on the screen and it follows from there. Easy enough to tap again if it falls off. I have an early version of the 3d tracking in the D800 and its ok, much better performance in the D7500 in conjunction with the touch screen and pretty much perfect and almost all I use in the Z6. Have you tried setting the camera in quiet mode? I know it doesn't make much difference in DSLR's, but it might be enough to not scare the hummers. BTW, silent mode truly silent in the Z's, especially useful for those discrete shooting sessions.

Really? It can do that with the Live View? That is too cool, I can't wait to give it a try! Lol..."Quiet Mode" is a lie lie LIE. Plus, I think it only works in Continuous Slow, not Fast, and I really need the extra fps with these guys. But the good news is that, if the past two years are any indication, they'll get used to the sound in a few days and it won't be an issue. They get so damned hungry I could practically play a bugle next to the feeder and they'd evenually brave it.

Thanks much!

 

[Clovishound]

One word.

Mirrorless. The king of quiet.

 

[hark]

Really? It can do that with the Live View? That is too cool, I can't wait to give it a try! Lol..."Quiet Mode" is a lie lie LIE. Plus, I think it only works in Continuous Slow, not Fast, and I really need the extra fps with these guys. But the good news is that, if the past two years are any indication, they'll get used to the sound in a few days and it won't be an issue. They get so damned hungry I could practically play a bugle next to the feeder and they'd evenually brave it.

Thanks much!

Did you go into the menu and raise the number of shots in continuous low? There is an option to adjust the number.

 

[Dangerspouse]

Did you go into the menu and raise the number of shots in continuous low? There is an option to adjust the number.

ANOTHER new thing I learned today!!

Thanks, Cindy!

 

[Dangerspouse]

One word.

Mirrorless. The king of quiet.

Lol. It's the king of quiet, but for a princely sum. I'll put up with the noise

 

[hark]

ANOTHER new thing I learned today!!

Thanks, Cindy!

Haha! I only found out within the past month or two myself. I'm so accustomed to using the D750, D610, and D7200 (and my previous bodies) that have a dial to set continuous low or high. Digging through the menu just to find where to set continuous low made me I feel like I was dumpster diving. It was so awkward not knowing what I'd find compared to my other bodies. When I saw there were options, I chose a faster burst rate.

 

[hark]

But the question is ... will Quiet Mode work in Continuous Low if you set a faster burst rate? I'll let you play around with that one.

 

[Andy W]

A 150-600mm type zoom lets you stay back far enough that mirror slap/shutter noise doesn't seem to bother them. Also, we've found that they get a lot more bold later in the season. They're still being pretty shy with us even though they've been here two months.

 

[Dangerspouse]

A 150-600mm type zoom lets you stay back far enough that mirror slap/shutter noise doesn't seem to bother them. Also, we've found that they get a lot more bold later in the season. They're still being pretty shy with us even though they've been here two months.

Thanks Andy! Yeah, that's been my experience also. Early in the season I can't even blink without scaring them off. But after a week or so nothing seems to phaze them. Two years ago I was sitting on my porch, holding a wired remote shutter release attached to my D5500, and one of them started using the wire as a perch. He would sit there just inches from my hand, looking around before hopping to the feeder. Eventually they didn't even mind if I moved my entire head and body to right next to the feeder to grab some selfies:








And thanks for the advice! I don't have any that long unfortunately, but my 300mm seems to work fine - again, once they get acclimated to the noise.

 

[Dangerspouse]

A lot of flowers are starting to bloom (finally) around here, so I decided to try my hand at some high key work. The first pic, of a daylilly, was taken in situ in my garden. I placed a whiteboard behind it, and fired the shot with my Rogue Flashbender attached to a speedlight, over-exposed two stops. The next two shots are flowers in a window box that I brought into the house (unbeknownst to my wife...shhhh). I place it in front of a soft box, with a second soft box overhead and again the speedlight attached. As usual when I place something on my work table my cat Dell decided to investigate, and then have a taste. I couldn't resist taking the shot....

If anyone has any suggestions for this kind of high key photography, I'd welcome them. Did I carry it too far? Not far enough? All opions will be appreciated

 

[Peter7100]

A lot of flowers are starting to bloom (finally) around here, so I decided to try my hand at some high key work. The first pic, of a daylilly, was taken in situ in my garden. I placed a whiteboard behind it, and fired the shot with my Rogue Flashbender attached to a speedlight, over-exposed two stops. The next two shots are flowers in a window box that I brought into the house (unbeknownst to my wife...shhhh). I place it in front of a soft box, with a second soft box overhead and again the speedlight attached. As usual when I place something on my work table my cat Dell decided to investigate, and then have a taste. I couldn't resist taking the shot....

If anyone has any suggestions for this kind of high key photography, I'd welcome them. Did I carry it too far? Not far enough? All opions will be appreciated

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Love the effect Tom. For some reason I am unable to pinpoint, I find the effect seems to work even better in the first image, but all great.

 

[Dangerspouse]

Love the effect Tom. For some reason I am unable to pinpoint, I find the effect seems to work even better in the first image, but all great.

Nice of you to say Peter, thanks! I'm pretty partial to #1 also, perhaps because it's less cluttered. On the other hand, you don't see many "high key black cat eating wife's foliage" shots out there, lol...

 

[Dangerspouse]

Trying to refine my technique a bit....

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