A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Petunia Blossom
During this time of social distancing I have been spending a bit of time perfecting my backyard birdfeeder set-ups. In particular my hummingbird set-up as I have never really devoted much time to it.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are the only hummingbird species that visit my feeders in south-central Ontario but watching them visit the various flowers in the garden gives me great ideas for creating set-ups for pleasing imagery. I will often use a Wimberley Plamp to hold various perches or flowers. When using small perches I place the the twigs in close proximity to the feeders to give the hummingbirds a spot to land in between feedings. When using flowers as props I will remove the hummingbird feeder and use the Wimberley Plamp to hold the blossom. Spraying the blossom with sugar water from the feeder will get the birds attention and they can easily be photographed at various types of blossoms for variety in your imagery. If you scroll down you will see how I use the Plamp to hold props. When using real flowers I recommend using water tubes to keep the blossom hydrated so that it will last longer.
On occasion I will place some colorful silk flowers far in the background to provide some added out of focus color.
As you scroll through the imagery here in this post you will notice the last image is VERY much out of focus. This occurred due to the speed at which the hummingbirds fly around and the camera losing focus in the process, but nonetheless it does appear like an intentional in-camera creative blur so I decided to keep the image file 🙂 A happy accident of sorts 🙂
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Solomon’s Seal Blossom
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird at rest
A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird at rest
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird taking flight
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird
A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Hummingbird Feeder Set-up
Hummingbird Feeder Set-up
Out of focus Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Andrew McLachlan 