That's a male Rufous Hummingbird. They're smaller and more aggressive than their larger Ruby Throated cousins with which they share the same range/territories.
Here is one sitting outside of my window a few years ago.
Totally. I kept seeing this guy get into spats with a Ruby Throated guy. Arguing over territory. I really wanted to get a pic with both but hummingbirds are such challenging subjects. I managed a couple of shots but nothing in focus. Edit: added example
Oh, that's neat. The one the female Rufous is fighting is a male Anna's Hummingbird.
See how the edges of the red are pointy on the one facing th cam? They're so similar to Ruby Throats. I only learned about Anna's after moving to the PNW.
That's super interesting. I have to look out for that in the future. The interest on this post makes me want to go out and get more hummingbird shots
I've been fascinated by them since I was a little kid.
Technically, this photo looks really great.
The focus and sharpness are spot on.
The moment is nice, though the background and lighting could be a bit better. I'm sure you can really enhance this shot with a little post-processing.
Either way, great job! I wish I had the gear and opportunities to shoot something like this.
You're not wrong
incredible photo, the sharpness around the eyes and beak is unbelievable, thank you so much for sharing!
I like this photo so much I upvoted it both times! Just look at those little feet.
S H U T T E R S P E E D
So fast. Very click
Love it. Amazing job.
Thanks!
That's a fantastic shot! I'm guessing you're on a higher resolution body? I'm still on 24 MP sensors and heavy crops are... fine if the focus is great but you can't really make up for fine details that weren't there to begin with.
It's a combination of megapixels, lens quality, and focus ability, all in increasing order of importance. I truly believe I could have gotten just as good of a shot at 24mp, everyhing else the same.
This was a Nikon Z8 with the "kit" Nikkor Z 24-120mm. I toyed around with different configurations but this lens was the sharpest and fastest to focus. My cheap f/1.8 lenses looked smeary in comparison.
I have done similar hummingbird shoots with my D750 with it's Nikkor N 24-120. You CAN get similar shots but the focusing will be 10x harder. Most of the pictures I've posted on this account were taken with that camera and I still consider it a treasure
I'm rocking an A9ii and when I attempt birds I'm using Tamron's 150-500, which is fairly sharp.
I think my problem with bird photography is wanting to take photos of smaller birds at decent distances and physics is simply getting in the way. For example, I was taking photos of a house finch a few weeks ago when I was probably 60 feet away. Even at 500mm, the finch still didn't fill much of the frame. I'll be posting the photo soon, but I would be amazed if it's anywhere near this good after a big crop.
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