Photographing hummingbirds in Las Vegas NV– how to create a usable picture

                Hummingbirds in Las Vegas NV, like birds everywhere, don’t sit around waiting for their pictures to be taken. The photographer has to be the one to make the concessions and set up the equipment right to get the good picture. Top wildlife photographers have top-of-the-line equipment.

As taken by the camera

                Most of us don’t fit into that category. I know I don’t. I use the digital equivalent of a point-and-shot camera. I don’t have special lighting and I wait for the birds to come to me rather than go out beating the bush looking for them. What results are pictures that are less than perfect. The birds come under the patio roof. The sun is shining brightly on the block wall of my yard. I am dealing with strongly back lighted subjects. If I were using my old Pentax K1000 manual camera I would compensate for the back lighting and make my subject the focal point of the picture. My digital camera doesn’t do that. What I end up with is a dark silhouette of a bird against a light background.

                At one time that would have been a disaster. Not today with the wonders of digital photography and computing power. Now I have three different photo editing apps on my iPad. I put my pictures through the apps and – viola – out comes a very usable picture. Many times it is far better than I had anticipated. 

Put through Snapseed

Using a filter from Aviary

                The three apps that I use are all free; I haven’t yet felt the need to actually pay for one, although I am getting close. I wanted one to start with that was super easy to use so I started with Snapseed.  The first photo I used that on was of smoke from the Carpenter 1 fire on the mountain west of us. I used every tool available, and created quite a fake looking picture of it. I learned to tone down my edits after that.

As taken by my iPad

Going all out with Snapseed

As taken by my Canon

Using Arizona filter from Aviary

                Of course one free app isn’t enough once you start using them. I had to download two more. I mean, after all, they’re free! The two I chose were Aviary and PicShop lite. I found that one picture would edit better in one app than the others according to its needs. Consequently I use all three apps.

Putting the filtered picture through PicShop

                Sometimes I put the picture through one app and then finish it off in another, just for varieties sake. In whatever way I do it I am usually pleased with the results. It’s not great photography but it shows details and what I want to illustrate about the birds. What more can I ask?