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From: otter on 13 Aug 2010 18:37
On Aug 13, 10:53 am, "dadiOH" <dad...(a)invalid.com> wrote:
> otter wrote:
> > On Aug 13, 7:05 am, "dadiOH" <dad...(a)invalid.com> wrote:
> >> The problem - in this photo - with the probable use of a speedlight
> >> is the birds wings...virtually any speedlight would have frozen
> >> them; perhaps what appears to be motion is actually out of focus?
>
> > I don't think so.  How do you see through a wing that is out of
> > focus?  Look at the bird's breast, clearly visible behind the wing.
> > Looks like motion blur to me.
>
> > I'm not an expert on speedlites, but I believe many (if not all) flash
> > for varying lengths of time, and cut-off once the desired exposure is
> > detected by ttl metering.  In some cases that can be long enough that
> > it is required to use a tripod to avoid blur.  That is surely long
> > enough to blur a hummingbird wings at 80 flaps/sec (according to the
> > article).
>
> Could be, nowadays, don't know about the built in lights.  Speedlight flash
> duration used to be in the 1/1500 (possibly down to as slow as 1/500) to
> 1/50000 range.  I'm reasonably sure that would still be true with
> professional lights.

I admit I haven't studied flash much. Maybe what Ofnuts says is
correct, that it flashes multiple times for that camera, I can't say.
The manual to my speedlite doesn't mention that. It does say flash
duration is 1.2ms or shorter. So, yeah, you'd think that would be
fast enough to stop the wings.

I reread the section in my manual warning about needing a tripod. It
was talking about shooting in Av mode at night, where background
lighting is provided by the slow shutter speed, and fill light by the
flash. That doesn't seem to be the case for this shot.
From: Peter on 13 Aug 2010 20:57
"dadiOH" <dadiOH(a)invalid.com> wrote in message
news:pya9o.12$GQ5.4(a)hurricane...


> There are really only two ways to get photographs of small, fast moving
> critters...
>
> 1. Dumb luck
> 2. Careful and thorough planning.
>
> For the latter, you arrange the technical things in a manner and at a
> location to produce the results desired and then entice the critter to
> that location. Motion detectors are often used to trigger the exposure
> and lights.
>

Tell me about it. Last Saturday a group of us went to a local hummingbird
sanctuary. We each picked a feeder or flower and waited. Some of the guys
got neat shots. Not one bird came to my chosen flower, until I turned to
what had been a busy feeder.
Maybe next time.


--
Peter

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