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Posted on 23/03/19 4:53:37 PM
GKB
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Humming Birds in Colombia
In February, I spent a month in Colombia based mainly in Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast. One week of that time was spent on a wildlife tour into the Santa Marta Sierra Nevada mountains finishing with a couple of days in the Tayrona National Park. Unfortunately just one week is nowhere near enough time to do everything justice, particularly from the photography point of view.

One task I had set myself was to film Humming Birds in slow motion. Because they are quite skittish and unpredictable in their flight behaviour I had to concentrate on filming them around the sugar feeders rather than feeding on nectar from the flowers.

Because of the close distances that I was filming at along with a long focal length and the aperture being wide open, depth of field was a slight problem. At the high frame rates I was using (from 250 fps up to 1000 fps) the camera could not refocus while filming so focus had to be pre-set on where the birds were likely to appear and then rely on the bird hovering in that spot.

Fortunately I was helped by the camera being able to record into its buffer what it had seen for the previous 4 seconds so I was able to wait until something happened and then capture those 4 seconds.

As you will see from the 'normal' 25 fps footage the birds dart around quite a bit. At the highest frame rate of 1000 fps a 4-second clip stretches out to 160 seconds - 2 minutes 40 seconds. Only small sections of any clip show any action. Below is a compilation of clips with some still images.

Some things to note are the birds' tongues, the way that their feathers ruffle, how the head stays locked in position while the rest of the bird's body manoeuvres to stay in position during feeding and the bumbling flight of some of the insects. Occasional bright spots falling vertically are Humming Bird poo.

Hope you all enjoy my 'David Attenborough' moment.

http://vimeo.com/326045399









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Posted on 23/03/19 8:33:19 PM
lwc
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Re: Humming Birds in Colombia
Wonderful Gordon, fascinating work, I especially got a kick out of the one having a good scratch.

Posted on 23/03/19 8:54:35 PM
GKB
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Re: Humming Birds in Colombia
lwc wrote:
Wonderful Gordon, fascinating work, I especially got a kick out of the one having a good scratch.


Thanks Loyd. In real time that scratch probably lasted for only half of a second.

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Posted on 24/03/19 10:39:41 AM
Frank
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Re: Humming Birds in Colombia
Very nice work Gordon, I think David Attenborough had better watch his back. Your work looks very professional to me.
I know the problems one can have photographing these little speed demons as I have the red throated type arrive every year and mine are quite people shy. Seems they never stop moving or looking around.
You noted - " how the head stays locked in position while the rest of the bird's body manoeuvres to stay in position during feeding " Here's one of my shots showing the same;




Posted on 24/03/19 1:59:15 PM
GKB
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Re: Humming Birds in Colombia
Very nice Frank. This illustrates the point perfectly. It's almost as if they have a tiny gyroscope in their head.

I think it's amazing that you actually have Humming Birds way up there in Nova Scotia.


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Posted on 24/03/19 8:11:29 PM
Frank
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Re: Humming Birds in Colombia
They only come here to mate - they arrive circa May 17th and depart in mid September -- the males will sometimes depart earlier than that having done what they came for - appear to have two broods - the young usually are the last to leave as they need to put on weight for the long journey ahead to South America. - if they arrive and I haven't put their feeder out yet they will hover in the window or patio door to let me know they have arrived - get the food out.
I sometimes place my camera on the tripod and shoot with a remote - haven't tried filming yet - maybe time to give that a go.

Posted on 27/03/19 10:50:14 AM
tooquilos
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Re: Humming Birds in Colombia

Gordon that is absolutely lovely. The slow motion sequences really show the beauty of these little birds. I never knew that some of them had the same colouring as a peacock. I always thought they were grey and yellow. Hope you had a great time in Columbia.


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Posted on 27/03/19 3:01:53 PM
DavidMac
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Humming Birds in Colombia
GKB wrote:
the camera could not refocus while filming so focus had to be pre-set on where the birds were likely to appear and then rely on the bird hovering in that spot.


Yes it shows!!

Sorry Gordon couldn't resist poking a little fun. Quite untrue. Joking aside, this is wonderful stuff!

Having done a lot of high speed when it was strictly the reserve of the professional with hugely heavy and difficult equipment it is wonderful to see what technology has made available to anyone with the skill, application and patience. Lots of the last particularly.

Half of the skill of high speed is analysing and planning what will happen and how to time it before you ever switch a camera on. This subject doesn't give you too much chance for that and is thus far more impressive.

I hadn't come across the buffering before. That's terrific ... incredibly useful! Wish I'd had that when I was doing this kind of thing.

Lovely Gordon. Congratulations.

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Posted on 27/03/19 3:44:32 PM
GKB
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Humming Birds in Colombia
DavidMac wrote:
GKB wrote:
the camera could not refocus while filming so focus had to be pre-set on where the birds were likely to appear and then rely on the bird hovering in that spot.


I hadn't come across the buffering before. That's terrific ... incredibly useful! Wish I'd had that when I was doing this kind of thing.

Lovely Gordon. Congratulations.


Thanks Anna and David.

David - the camera is a Sony RX 100 VI if you want to have a look at it. There a few videos on YouTube about its capabilities and how to use it in High Frame Rate mode. Certainly the 4 second buffering is quite amazing for recording something after it has happened ... and you can control it remotely from an iPad or smart phone. When you have finished you just close down the camera and slip it into your pocket. Truly amazing piece of kit.

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Posted on 27/03/19 9:51:10 PM
DavidMac
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Humming Birds in Colombia
GKB wrote:
When you have finished you just close down the camera and slip it into your pocket. Truly amazing piece of kit.


Not quite as applicable to the gear I had to work with ..........







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Posted on 27/03/19 10:23:33 PM
GKB
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Re: Humming Birds in Colombia
Larger pockets?

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Posted on 28/03/19 10:18:53 AM
DavidMac
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Re: Humming Birds in Colombia
......... and industrial strength braces ..........


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