| Monday evening I was at my Grandma’s house for a partial family reunion — the type of reunion where family comes in at the last minute from here and there, and you have a hard time trying to keep track of just the cousins that showed up, let alone their children and spouses. With most of the family that showed up being from the south, a fish fry of storied proportions was in order.
While various numbers of aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins and others were running around outside making sure that everything was in order I slipped away and joined my Grandma inside for a moment of peace.
She loves her hummingbirds. Trinkets, collectibles and artwork adorn the furniture, cabinets, and walls of her living room. However they pale in comparison to the large bay window looking out onto the hummingbird feeders.
We sat at the table watching dozens of the little birds dart in and out of the trees to the numerous feeders she has set up. At some point, someone asked if I could take pictures of them. I began to explain the shutter speed needed to freeze one, the amount of light I was lacking that evening, the amount of patience one might need, my lack there-of and how awesome a speedlight set-up I once saw was done to catch them. I lost almost everyone at SB-600 and SB-800.
With almost everyone outside, I grabbed the camera, opened a window and began to test my patience. It’s quite a task to track something smaller than your hand, about 10 feet away, moving at the speeds the hummingbirds move with a 300mm lens.
If you attempt a similar shot, start out in daylight and with plenty of time on your hands. It’ll really try your patience in the evening and you won’t be able to stop their motion. You’ll probably need somewhere closer to 1/2500th of a second or faster to pull it off. Try picking a focus point, like in between two feeders, and waiting for the bird to come into your frame. You’ll lose it if you try to track them yourself.
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