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09/08/2011 10:40:44 PM · #1 |
Can somebody offer me some tips on how to freeze hummingbird wings, such as in this ribbon winner? 
My own attempts always ended up slightly blurred, even with fast shutter speeds: 
I was using a 580EX II flash mounted on my camera body to make the shot. Shooting in P at 1/60 or Av at 1/250 with the flash always yielded very blurred wings, so I went to manual mode on both camera and flash. I set the shutter speed up to 1/4000 and set the flash to high speed sync and increased the output power until the exposure on the bird was reasonable. This resulted in an almost black background, which I can live with, but the wings still were slightly blurry.
So what am I doing wrong? Is the ambient light causing the blur? Does setting the flash to higher power settings result in a longer duration flash? Would I need to shoot when it is almost dark outside and use a slower shutter and lower flash output?
Any input is appreciated!
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09/08/2011 11:23:23 PM · #2 |
You don't freeze their wings with your shutter you freeze it with flash, technically.
You underexpose your ambient by two stops and set your flash power somewhere around 1/16 or 1/32 so your flash duration is somewhere in the ballpark of 1/10,000 of a second.
More info here
The underexposing the scene is key.
ETA: Remember flash duration for speedlights decreases as power decreases. Mono's work differently in this respect.
Message edited by author 2011-09-08 23:24:37. |
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09/08/2011 11:41:52 PM · #3 |
Thanks for the link and info- I think that answered all of my questions. It sounds like I needed lower ambient light and to get the flash closer to the bird so I could use a lower power setting.
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09/08/2011 11:52:55 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by sailracer_98:
Thanks for the link and info- I think that answered all of my questions. It sounds like I needed lower ambient light and to get the flash closer to the bird so I could use a lower power setting. |
Yeah, your power at that duration is really low. Here's a link discussing actual durations for flashes, if you're curious.
If you need a way to get your flash closer to the birds while keeping your camera off a bit, you can get a PC sync cord from somewhere (I'd suggest //www.flashzebra.com/. Great service, great prices). Unfortunately, the 580EXII's do not have a dumb slave; you need to supplement them with a trigger method. So, you could either do the sync cord or run an optical slave for them via PC sync or hotshoe, which would then be triggered via your on camera flash set to a low power so it doesn't actually effect the scene. The cord would probably work better for this application, however, the optical slaves may be more versatile for you later. The sync cord is also cheaper (there are cheap optical slaves but a better one will make your life much easier long haul).
Message edited by author 2011-09-08 23:54:57. |
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