I had a lot of fun with my rented 300mm lens, taking about 500 hummingbird shots over the course of two weeks. This particular hummer was in a battle with two others for control of the sugar feeder. They fought for hours. I cloned out a small red wire perch and used PSE 4.0 and Picasa software for editing. This was taken using the setting sun for my backlighting. This was actually hand held with the Canon 300mm L IS with extender, putting it at 420mm from about 6 feet away.
Statistics
Place: 67 out of 174 Avg (all users): 5.7732 Avg (commenters): 6.6000 Avg (participants): 5.6026 Avg (non-participants): 5.8879 Views since voting: 899 Views during voting: 359 Votes: 194 Comments: 12 Favorites: 2 (view)
Thanks for the comments and the critique. I had about 300 hummer shots to choose from and I felt this one was unique and with my title, felt it would work. I wanted a stark, creepy look and I feel I captured the wings perfectly, which was what the contest theme was, Wings. Anyway, I do really appreciate the critique but my vision is not always what others like or want, and that's ok too.
Camera Work/Technical: I am not a big fan of the depth of field that you chose to go with here. That lens did a fantastic job keeping the image crisp, but I'd like to see the entire bird in crisp focus.
Lighting: The harsh backlighting detracts a good deal from your subject.
Composition/Content: I think including more of the fight would have provided a more interesting composition.
My Opinion: I think that this one scored a bit above where I would have placed it. Great work capturing a very tough subject, but your composition and lighting takes away from what this one could have been.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide a critique on your entry,
Eric
Typically one would want to see the face of the subject but the detail and contrast work so well here that it doesn't matter that the face isn't visible.
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