The Land of Crimson Giants
I thought this image deserved its own post – so here it is.
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Oh, Man! Am I excited about this image or what!
Let me explain. The weather lately has been fantastic. With temps in the low 80s, sitting outside has been absolutely wonderful – whether I made any snaps or not. Yesterday was no exception. I had been sitting outside waiting for a hummer to show up, but now it was time for supper. (The count and variety of backyard birds this summer has been a bit disappointing – not much around except goldfinches and this lone hummer, besides year round residents.)
When we finished supper I went back outside for a few minutes while the late afternoon light was peaking through the trees. The way the zinnias have grown this year have made it difficult to get good compositions when I have seen the hummer on occasion.
Then it shows up – darting from flower to flower to take a sip from here and there. But there was so much foliage in the way! Then in a split second he fills the tiny void behind in between the blooms and foliage. Snnnnaaaaaaappppppp – baaaaaaammmmm! Got ’em in a nano-second! You can see that every other blossom was blocked with other foliage.
The excitement was surreal although it only lasted a few moments, but the result will last with me for a long time. Now on to the aesthetics. This is a full frame image with no cropping. Pretty rare for me with tiny creatures like a hummingbird. I could have cropped a little foliage from the right side, but felt it was necessary to balance the entire composition. And, although we have numerous colors of zinnias in our garden there are only red ones in this image. Hmmmm? The purple you see are out of focus blazing star blossoms in the very near foreground. And the all black background behind the hummer? Yep the deep, dark shadows in the woods behind the garden were necessary to highlight the bird. And, add to that the rim lighting on the wings and their position folded back which gave balance for the composition.
Although I tried to share a bit (okay… a lot) of my excitement you can’t see these these types of shots coming. It’s nothing – then everything – all in the matter of a few seconds. And for all of the elements to come together – many of which I didn’t mention – makes it much more difficult to capture. You can’t plan for it. It just happens – BAM!
One final thought.
Is this a “bird portrait?” I say no.
Is this a gardenscape with a hummingbird in it? Again I say, no!
To me this is a story in visual form! And, its story is unique to every viewer. So, go ahead, make up your own and bring it to life. I am!
Whew! So there you have it. And, boy oh boy, does the high resolution version look fabo, too!
