Hummingbird close-up Photography

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, adult male

Canon 60D, 600mm f4 L IS USM, 25mm extension tube

ISO 800, F4, 1/800

Hummingbirds are a challening subject to photograph well.  While they are plentiful and can easily be lured in and habituated to feeders filled with a 1-4 sugar water mixture the difficulty is in capturing sharp images of the tiny fast flying birds.  Since I nearly always focus my wildlife photography upon capturing the birds and animals in a natural setting, shooting hummers at the feeder is not an option.  To make natural appearing photographs I remove the feeder and instead place a flower(butterfly weed in this instance), spritzed with the sugar water mixture nearby in a location with good lighting and a background that will be pleasing when suitably blurred by the shallow depth of field.

While I prefer to photograph using a low ISO, the shutterspeed required to freeze hummingbirds in fligh normally require the higher ISO settings. 

F4.5,ISO 250, 1/60 (same camera lens combo)

Perched hummingbirds are much easier subjects to photograph.  Even with long lenses it is still necessary to be exceedingly close to take frame filling shots of the tiny birds.