El viaje

Humming birds or Kolibri are super cool little birds. We have seen many on our travels but since they are incredibly fast ,it is not easy to get a (good) picture of them.

Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics around the equator. They are small birds, with most species measuring 7.5–13 cm in length. The smallest extant hummingbird species is the 5 cm bee hummingbirds which weighs less than 2.0 g (!). The largest hummingbird species is the 23 cm giant hummingbird (which i have not seen yet) , weighing 18–24 grams . They are specialized for feeding on flower nectar, but all species also consume flying insects or spiders.

At The Monestario in San Augustín, the garden was full of these little devils, humming and buzzing around you everywhere.

People who know me, know about my love for complicated pictures so this was certainly an undertaking i had to tackle. Also Siggi showed me one of his Kolibri pics…

Let me just add that, i detest editing photos. You can make any picture look good if you are skilled with Lightroom or Photoshop. I do give credit to the skill itself since these are complicated programs and mastering them is not easy. But i do not rate or give credit to edited pictures. I believe a photo is what it is and should be left as such. That goes for under- or above water pictures.

Shout outs to Santi and Steve here, with both i had endless discussions about this!

But back to the hunt.

Siggi told me about a good spot to where these little bastards come to regularly, a salvia or sage plant that was growing on the right side of the garden. I went to check it out.

They hover in midair at rapid wing flapping rates, which vary from around 12 beats per second in the largest species to around 80 per second in small hummingbirds. Of those species that have been measured during flying in wind tunnels, their top speeds exceed 15 m per second or 54 kmh.

You can clearly see the dilemma. Yes beautiful, but you gotta make sure the light comes from the right side, the kolibri obviously has to be in front or on the side of the flower, aperture, iso etc i will not even speak off, but the darn focus is a very crucial thing here. Here the very first try.

It just had to be done!!!

The first time i came was after our statue tour. The light was not ideal but still the kolibris were there. So i went for it.

They come and suckle on the blossoms for around a minute or so, leave for 10-15 minutes then come back. When they come , you have better chosen your position, angle and settings. And you better stand perfectly still , you move or make the slightest noise and they are gone. Patience young padawan.

They are very, very fast.

Then you get one that is in the light, but then you get the focus wrong.

Around an hour or so later of learning their flight patterns and rhythms i started to get a bit pissed off. Especially when i saw one of them looking at me trying to take pics.

Mocking me.

I took sharp pictures of him as revenge. That was not satisfying though because he was sitting down. I needed a proper pic in action.

Another miss. But almost. Again!

To make a long story shorter. I stayed for around two hours and this is the best ones i got. But still, either too much light, either too little, position etc. It was ok but i could do better.

So i got up and went back to the same spot with the first light of the day. And this time the sun also came from the other side.After another 2 hours there my hunting instinct finally calmed down.

And since i was feeling adventurous i even went to a different corner of the garden.

Special mentions:

First this one since you can see its tongue so nicely:

and this one for having so much pollen on its beak.

And while i cannot complain about the lens i shot this with . I can now safely say that this is the best i can do with it and while i am finally happy with the results , i know there is room for improvement since there is such crazy new technology out there. All the G Master lenses are insane…In short, i want different and faster lenses, now more than ever.

Also, to my Photoshop and Lightroom friends: Edit this!

Mastered, next one.