Thanks Stuart. Jaap, no light trap here. I've been working on a book on Hummingbirds of the Andes for the past three years. Target is a minimum of 50 different species before beginning the editing process. I've spent on average 40 days on two trips to the Andes each year since 2006 in an effort to perfect this technique. Single Metz 54MZ-3 flash mounted on a RRS ring that clamps to a long lens plate, allowing the flash to be positioned along a 180 degree axis.
Hummingbird feathers act as prisms, reflecting light and changing colors in ways that can turn blue feathers yellow if the light is not coming from the right direction. While many hummingbird photographers are now using as many as six flash units on tripods positioned around a flower or feeder placed in front of a painted background... I'm looking for a more natural, more realistic way of rendering these amazing creatures. There's only one sun on my planet and nothing looks more fake or contrived, in my opinion, than six flash units freezing a subject positioned in front of a fake background. (For something really sickening see the Jan 07 National Geographic article on Hummingbirds. The author, founder of the Hummingbird Society, catches his subjects in a net and releases them into a white, 1 square meter box sitting in the back of his pickup truck... loaded with strobes. That is anything but a natural look. It establishes a very dangerous precedent, imo, for those who are looking for guidance as to how to photograph hummingbirds.)
I've never photographed a more challenging subject... like trying to photograph a bolt of lightning after you see it flash. Focus is all zone focus and most shots are done with the 400 2.8 premodular APO lens (with or without the 1.4 APO TC) or the 800 modular. Depth of field is in the "hail Mary" range as I'm shooting 4 to six meters from my subject. Depth of field can be as little as 1/2 inch depending on the f-stop and distance to subject. The effect I'm trying to achieve is to capture the sensation of movement and separate subject from background. This necessitates apertures below 5.6 more often than not as I want soft backgrounds that don't fight with the subject.
Since I have nothing to practice on at home (now Pacifica, California) it takes a week of solid 8-10 hr days shooting constantly and studying the movements and behavior of different species before I can achieve any level of consistency. There's a huge loss rate initially as it takes time to develop the reflexes needed to anticipate movement and trigger the shutter at the optimum instant. When it all comes together... it's a life changing experience. The big APO glass combined with the lack of an anti alias filter on the DMR makes for jaw dropping results. If I nail the focus (and luck plays a huge part here) there is no need for any sharpening. The DMR sensor (with APO glass) is insanely sharp when focus is on.
I'm in Colombia at the moment trying to nail down the last six species for the book. Things are more than a little sketchy here... so one has to be extremely careful when moving around with the 35 kilos of camera gear I'm packing. Internet is sporadic and unreliable, so rather than bugger up this DMR thread that's meant for images (with my babble) pm me if you have any questions and I'll do my best to respond when I have an internet connection. A few more smaller images from the collection: