I recently started trying my hand at hummingbird pictures. These little devils are so fast it's hard to get a good clear shot. Initially I was juicing up the ISO and shooting wide open to get the fastest shutter speed, then realized that there is a much easier way. Shooting around f8 I set my 430EX flash off to the side and try to stick the shutter somewhere in the 1/200 - 1/300 range. I have been experimenting with a couple different methods and so far have had the best results using rear curtain synch. The hummers seem to get spooked by the flash and/or the loud shutter on my rebel XT. If they are sitting at the feeder and I take the pic they flap their wings a few times. The pictures that are captured are funny looking with the wings sometimes covering their eyes or head. With the rear synch the flash fires and freezes them with wings fully extended.... Usually a much more interesting pose. Although they seem to be getting used to the sound and having me so close so sometimes they don't react at all to the shutter.
Our feeder is hung in a nice spot, shaded in the afternoon sun but the tree directly behind it gets full light. Shots with the flash are filled in nicely and the background has good exposure as well. This afternoon I came up with some of my sharpest ones yet.
Full gallery can be seen here:
http://scottvickers.smugmug.com/gallery/3547976
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