Reflective hummingbirds ...

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Here are three shots of an Annas hummingbird I took yesterday at the feeder near our front porch. The males have a reflective patch on their neck that, depending on the angle looks either just black or brilliant red - all three of the shots below were within a few seconds of each other. No flash was used - just ambient light - notice the differences in the colors. Yeah, I know it isn't Proshow, but I thought it was cool anyway

mikey

[texan Profile Private message]

Wow.......how'd you get so close?? You must have a 300mm lens.......gorgeous shots.......

How do you insert them (jpg) into this site like that??

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Thanks - yeah, I was shooting a 70-300mm (at 300mm - about 450mm equiv on a 35mm camera) VR Nikon from about 6 feet away standing on the front porch (the feeder is right next to the walkway).

To insert a picture, you have to have the picture hosted on another site somewhere (I am using photobucket (FREE) for these but it can be any site that is publicly accessable) then you insert the link to the picture in your post. Seems to me they also have to be less than 600 pixels wide (or maybe it is 900 - somewhere here there is a post from the moderator on the requirements), but 600 works well.

I couldn't figure an easy way to show how the links look without having the post try to interpret the links -- so I made a jpg of what the post looks like with the links in it - the result is the top post of mine with the pictures.



mikey

[bellzerr Profile Private message]

Beautiful! Great photography, sir.
Mark

[Barkingmad Profile Private message]

Awesome Pics!

[rdurga Profile Private message]

Hello Mikey,

Amazing pictures straight out of the camera without any ps editing. What a clarity?

Without your explaination, I would be wondering how the colors could have changed on the neck. It is fascinating to see change in colors with change in reflective angle.

Thanks for sharing your other hobby along with your technical expertise in the videos.

ram

[dnmilikan]

Great photographs Mikey

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Thanks all - there was a bit of photoshop to lighten the shadows a bit and crop the image down some, but that was about it. It goes from black to blowing the highlights out depending on the angle - when they are facing another male etc, they will flair those neck feathers out so they look even bigger and brighter. Feisty little buggers

mikey

[MG - Admin]

I couldn't figure an easy way to show how the links look without having the post try to interpret the links...

You can simply use the CODE button to insert code without the forum actually trying to process it.

It'll look like this:

Code: Select all

[img]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj298/gpsmikey/Animals/DSC_7612_crop_600.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj298/gpsmikey/Animals/DSC_7609_crop_600.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj298/gpsmikey/Animals/DSC_7610_crop_600.jpg[/img]

Mike

[debngar Profile Private message]

They are such beautiful little birds aren't they? Their colors are stunning.

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Thanks Mike - "code" did occur to me AFTER I had put the screenshot where I could get at it

I did the same sort of thing on one of my web pages for my email address - put it as a jpg - amazing how much spam it cut down on when the bots couldn't find an email address in the HTML

mikey

[AMD Profile Private message]

Mikey,

Loved the hummingbird images! Truly beautiful little birds--I love watching them. I am surprised they are still hanging around this time of year. Is this common in your area? Ours here in the South have headed even farther south already--have already taken the feeders down for the season.

Ann

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Thanks Ann - we have several varieties here during the summer, but most do head south for the winter. The Annas hummers though will stay around - I keep the feeders out for them all year (and have to keep them warm to prevent freezing during the winter). I have pictures of the little guys when it was below 20 degrees F outside (unusual here, but it does happen). I have pictures of them in the snow too - here is one I took 2 years ago in the front yard - that is snow on the branch behind him (hat was added in Photoshop )



Project I need to get going on is an electronic control for a heater for the feeders so I can keep them above freezing when we get the cold snaps here (last year I used hand warmers on the feeders with an old sock over the feeder for insulation ... I think as "mr.gadget2" I should be able to improve on that a bit

[edit - my mistake - that was taken December 18, 2008 at 2:35 in the afternoon - just looked at the image name ]

mikey

[HunnyB Profile Private message]

DOUBLE WOW. Love the pics

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Thanks HunnyB - they are very interesting little creatures (with a definite personality ! )

mikey