We don’t have hummingbirds in England, and this might be a really stoopid question, but, um, do they actually hum?
http://www.blurbomat.com dj blurb
Their wings move so rapidly that when they fly near you, a faint hum is heard. In the photo(s) of these particular birds, they were not afraid of humans at all, and to get this shot, I had to withstand several angry runs from about 4 different birds. After a few passes, I stopped twitching and held my ground. That’s how I got this shot.
Focal length and f-stop have a lot to do with the blurry background, sharp foreground. You can do it with any camera, but it’s easier with an SLR (but REALLY easy with a tilt-frame camera) than a typical digital camera. Around 50mm and I can’t remember the f-stop, but the lower the better.
http://blurbomat.com DG
Mmm. Geek.
*sluuuuuuuurp*
http://gretchenb.tripod.com/mrbaby/ Gretchen C.
Wow, I miss actual photography with an SLR. I still remember my trusty old Nikkormat and my hand-held light meter back in the ‘70s. Nice photo, Jon.
I know exactly what you mean about the buzzing sound. I was honored to play nursemaid to a fledgling hummer who was blown out of her nest in the Southern California storms triggered by the El Nino of 1997–98. Every 15 minutes I had to hand-feed that little booger with sugar water through a tube. We called her the Bee because of the buzzing sound of her wings as she learned to fly. I’m happy to say she thrived, and we released her into the wild three weeks later after she was flying well and had graduated from tube feeding to hibiscus flowers.
Elegant Goose
Blurb & Dooce… you guys sounded so defensive. I hope you weren’t feelin’ dissed or anything. I don’t think many of us would care if there were some overlap in your purty pictures… I mean you guys are the awesomest couple and seeing some overlap is expected– and enjoyed. I love reading your his and hers perspectives on stuff– like Leta the drunk baby, for example (thank god she’s okay!) so seeing his and hers perspectives through the camera lens is cool too.
