Flutter

Fluttering wing beats singing out in the spring, erupting in a continuous hum can mean only one thing, the hummingbirds have returned. Soon they will be flicking back and forth, standing guard over their favorite field of flowers, their best feeders, their hidden tea cup sized nests. Fast, furious, and fabulous. The royal guards of the avian world. This is one of my first visitors this year, small fast, and a little skittish, but happy all the same the strange giant remembered to put out the food they need to survive. This one has been working diligently to empty the bottle as soon as it arrived.

Sitting out in the sun for the last four days for hours at a time, watching, waiting for this little winged sugar sucking fiend to arrive has been an experience. But once I thought was well worth it once I had finally gotten a few images. I had actually just given up on this day, was preparing to head back inside when the little bird returned to feed once more. I was lucky enough to be in just the right location that they didn’t jump at the looming shadow next to the feeder this time. A few well timed burst and i had a few images I could begin to work with.

The edit here was interesting, it was already darkening in the valley when I finally got this photo. A little noisy for sure, but not stupendously so, I decided to first edit all my colors, bring out the contrast, and deepen the image as much as I could, before inevitably shifting all those colors into a black and white image. I then added a bit of “haze” to create a somewhat vintage look in the image, and finally a bit of a vignette. One step at a time, slow and steady.

Until Next Time!

Aperture: f2.8
ISO: 1000
SS: 1/4000th
Focal: 84mm

Fujinon 50-140mm