I overheard the talk… all about getting out of Indiana and heading south where it’s warm. Dude… I don’t blame you one little bit. And your friend?
If you want to capture hummingbird photos — GOOD photos — you’ll have to be much more dedicated than I am. You need a ton of light properly placed (multiple lights off-axis to fully capture iridescent feathers) for professional looking photos. With wings that beat 80 times a SECOND, it ain’t easy otherwise. Most times (like the photos above), you’re going to end up with wing blur unless you stop motion with strobes. I’m happy with some wing blur as it helps to show motion in the photograph — but too much and the wings become translucent.
You better hurry up if you want to grab some last minute hummingbird shots this season. Start out with a shutter speed of 1/2500 or faster. And, if you can’t get enough light for a fast shutter speed, try increasing your film speed. Many of today’s digitals have decent quality even at 1600 ISO.
Good luck, and happy Sunday!