Wonderful Monica! Though I like the graininess, I'm just wondering how come an ISO 100 shot produced such noise. :-)

a lot of that in the backgrounds if they lean toward the dark side...I certainly welcome any suggestions or comments regarding this...

outstanding!!! it seems as if you paid the hummingbird to pose for you. just fantastic!!!

Congratulations to a great shot Monica! How did you set up the lighting? (How are your shoulders...?)

Cheers, Jens

yeah! hummingbird season started? great shot. waiting for more.

Monica, I have noticed a bit of noise sometimes like you mention...but I have used the "noise filter" (not noise reduction)...and although it takes a few seconds to complete, it seems to help very much...

The best h-bird photo I've seen. I was almost afraid to find out this was a stuffed bird on a stick-wire. I am not bothered at all by any "noise" in the background. It simply adds to the contrast with the extremely sharp image of the bird's head and neck. Besides my experience with a noise filter (Noise Ninja) is that it softens everthing a bit.

Simply wonderful Monica. The background is not an issue for me. Great capture.

Jens, I appreciate your suggestion on the monopod--I have been using it--even while standing on the chair, and it really helps! Most of the light is just sunlight coming from the front of the little guy--I have to sinc the flash at at least 1/1000, or else it is impossible for me to stop the wings--these ones aren't really stopped at all, but I liked the full focus from the eyes to feet...the cool background is pure luck--there is a large conifer behind, and the light spot is a break in the branches...:o)

Michael, don't worry there'll be plenty more where this came from! :o) They are just starting to roll in to where there are several bickering over the feeder at once. Once they get involved with defending their posts, I am invisible and can shoot pretty much at will. (That is, if I can catch them in my viewfinder! LOL!)

Gordon, If you make a selection of the darkest area and feather it quite a bit, you can apply the noise filter to just a portion of the image without sacrificing the sharp areas--that is what I did to the lower RH corner of this one, but then I just decided to crop it off...LOL!

I am still puzzled as to the noise level at ISO 100 in the shady areas....Answers?? :o)

Stunning shot.

Great lighting, composition, background...

Everything!

Nice work!

Forgive the exaggeration but I don't know what blows my mind more, the shot itself or the thought that you get hummingbirds in your garden!

I nearly didn't give a ten as I thought perhaps it needed a little inclusion of the reason why it was hovering, that is what it is feeding on.

I strongly suspect that what people are calling noise wont be on the original image.

Tony, all these little guys need is some sugar water--put it out, and if they are in the area, they will find it. My 'brew' is the best on the block ;o) they come for miles around to taste it! LOL!

Chris, these little guys are around every year, and if I don't get the feeder up in time when they migrate back, they will come right up to the glass on my french doors and look around to see where their drink is! They also get quite tame, my daughter loves to wrap her hands around the feeder so they will land on her fingers when they come up for a sip. If I can get a decent shot of that maybe I"ll post it...although, the feeder is not the most photogenic subject, that is why I crop it out. :o)

Humdinger!

Well done, Monica, but a bit noisy in the background.

I quite like the background grain, it doesn't bother me at all.

Heck, isn't there an aesthetic of noise, by analogy with bokeh? We just need to find a Japanese term for it that rolls off the tongue!

Just fantastic, Mikki! The clarity of the bird and the lighting are superb! How in the world did you ever get that shot, and what kind of a hummingbird is it? I haven't seen that variety around here, only the ruby-throated ones. Helen

Wonderful "pose", color and detail. As to the noise, do you selectively sharpen? If not, you could reduce the noise in the background by sharpening only the subject. Or reverse select the background and use a bit of gaussian blur. In any case this is a 10.

Nice and sharp, although the tail is starting to go out.

Perfect exposure.

No distracting background. I don't know where the 'grain' comes from but it is immaterial.

It looks like a wild bird without any intrusive manmade objects.

It is a great bird portrait.

I myself like the grain I think it adds more 'class' to the image. I think people can sometimes complain too much about the grain in an image simply because it's there and not look to see how it affects the overall composition.

Oh, my! This is a *stunning* image, Monica, and very deserving of the HoF award! My wife, who's a huge fan of hummingbirds says it's the best photo of one in flight she's ever seen. Grain? What grain?!?! That little hummer has my full attention!

Congratulations!

Regards, Chris

Simply gorgeous! I didn't realise they had such soft pink/peach colours.