Leaving the Feeder

[drash]

Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird leaving the feeder. EOS 20D with Sigma 70-200mm and 2.0x teleconverter at 270mm, ISO 400, 1/125 sec., f/25 and high speed flash taken at my home in Lexington, SC on Saturday.

I know it is similar to one I posted earlier and it shows some of the feeder in the foreground, but overall I liked it.

[mrsisu]

Yet another! You should call yourself the hummingbird man.

[mark]

What type of high speed flashes are you using? I just have 2 580s but only one can be placed near the bird until I get a ST-E2. I just use the units in ETTL2 mode with -2 or -3 ev dialed in for 1/8 power. Do use yours in manual mode and meter or ETTL and dial in some minus ev?

[drash]

For this shot I used two Canon 550EX, one 580EX and one 430EX flash units, all set manually to 1/32 power. They were all set as slaves and fired from a Canon ST-E2 on the camera hot shoe. I set exposure manually and do not rely on ETTL 2. I have measured exposure using a Sekonic meter, but have now done this so much that I now just rely on my own past experience to set the exposure manually. These settings provide a flash duration of about 1/10,000 second, which stops the action more than shutter speed alone.