How to take beautiful photos of hummingbirds?

Hummingbirds are more difficult to shoot than other birds, which is one of the reasons why hummingbirds are difficult to shoot, because hummingbirds flap their wings faster. This paper introduces seven techniques for taking photos of hummingbirds.

1. Where did you find the hummingbird?

The first step is to study the hummingbirds living near you and the time of their migration. It is convenient for photographers to take pictures in time after knowing this. In addition, hummingbirds are most active around dawn, and then dusk.

2. How to attract hummingbirds

Hummingbirds fly very fast, so it is difficult to take good pictures of them. However, it will be easier if you know how to attract them to your garden.

In most pictures, you will see hummingbirds around the flowers. Hummingbirds are pollinators, so planting flowers in the garden will increase your chances of catching hummingbirds.

3. What kind of camera do you need to shoot hummingbirds?

Shooting wild animals and birds is a challenging type. Hummingbirds are very small except for speed, which is difficult to be found and even more difficult to take pictures.

When choosing a camera for hummingbird photography, the most important functions are frames per second and autofocus.

The more frames per second, the better. Choose a camera with a good frame rate, preferably above 1 1 fps. Fast continuous autofocus will also help, and you can also find the tracking mode when choosing the focus.

Use a camera that can handle low light conditions and has a high ISO. If you want to shoot at a higher shutter speed, a constant ISO camera is a good choice.

Using APS-C camera, the equivalent focal length can be increased by 65,438+0.6 times, and the micro three-quarters replacement has twice the cropping factor.

4. What lens is the best for hummingbird photography?

Because you are not close enough to the subject, you will need a telephoto or ultra-telephoto lens. Alternatively, telescopic tubes can be stacked to increase the focal length.

Please note that your lens aperture must keep up with the faster shutter speed, which is a necessary condition for obtaining good image quality. The bigger the aperture, the better, because it can let more light in.

Pay attention to the quality of the glass, not the focal length, and don't forget that you need the anti-shake function of the lens to avoid taking blurred photos.

Shoot hummingbirds without flash.

It is recommended that you shoot in strong light and use manual mode.

You also need a fast shutter speed, because these birds flap their wings up to 80 times a second. It is best to use at least 1/2500. If the shutter speed is too slow, the tiny wings will become blurred.

If you want to shoot a hummingbird with blurred wings, you still need a faster shutter speed, otherwise your wings will be blurred.

Use the largest aperture possible. In this way, you can compensate for the fast shutter speed that only allows a small amount of light to enter the sensor. When the aperture is not fully opened, the lens will produce a clearer image. If there is enough light, you can return to 1 or 2.

An aperture.

The third important setting is ISO. It is recommended that you use a high ISO, which will compensate the shutter speed that limits the amount of light, but be careful, because a high ISO will lead to digital noise.

Step 6 stabilize your image

A tripod is needed when using a telephoto lens. Because of the long focal length, your telephoto lens is more sensitive to tiny movements and shaking.

It usually takes a long time to make sure to use a solid tripod before the hummingbird appears in your photo.

7. Strengthen the lens details in the later stage

You will use a fast shutter, a small aperture and a low ISO when shooting.

Take the best photos. These settings may result in underexposure of the image. To show the details of dark areas, you should shoot with RAW.

By brightening shadows, sharpening and saturating images, we can highlight the color of hummingbirds and get amazing results.