Shooting hummingbirds

Jab1,
I don't claim to be wild life photographer, but have been shooting some hummingbirds. I am using a Canon D60 with a Sigma 100-400 f4 lens with a 1.5 converter. The attached link show some of my trys yesterday.

To get the best shots, you probabley need 3 or 4 feeders around your yard. There is usually a dominant male around, and he will try to scare off all the other hummers. The more feeders, the harder it is for him to watch all of them. I usually set up my chair and tripod about 10 feet from one of the feeders and sit and wait. I pre focus on an area a few inches from the feeder and wait for a bird to start feeding. They will usually back off a few inches to watch you. At that point you have about a half second to shoot. If you are lucky and with a little practice you will get a few of the shots in focus.

It was a very overcast day yesterday with some rain, so I didn't have much light. I used the 550 flash and camera set at f5.6 at 1/200 sec. you can see the results here: http://www.picturecd.com/system/logi...mp;album=40238

[loubuscher]

Bill, I like the way you shoot the Hummers. I do the very same thing and it's a great way to keep sharp without going afield. I checked your web and I like image 3756 very much. I mainly do Eagles but I have a page for other birds on my web as I do see a lot of different kinds while waiting in a blind for an eagle. I highly recomend the new Sigma 120 to 300 F2.8 for wildlife. It is very fast and not to bad to carry. (5.7Lbs. about) Also shoot with a 8oomm Sigma and several Nikors but with the exception of the 800 all are F2.8. Most of my web shots are with my 800 and Fuji S2.
www.loubuscher.com

[Brian_Hamfeldt]

Check out this picture on MSNBC's Week in Pictures - for the week of Sept 11-18

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/surveys...81287&b=hi

#7 - Water in the air

No details on the shot - but beautiful nonetheless.

Brian.