To Shoot a Hummingbird...

Take a seat on our front porch under the shade of the buckeye tree and it won't be long before you hear that familiar "whizzzz" sound accompanied by a streak of color flashing by from the corner of your eye.  Sit there with a camera aimed at a hummingbird feeder in hopes of capturing one of those stunning stop-motion shots of their little wings and it doesn't take too long to realize that its not going to be as easy as you initially thought.

Flapping an average of 20 to 25 beats per second and up to 100 beats per second when trying to impress the ladies, those little wings can be a formidable challenge to even the seasoned nature photographers.  As we know, shutter speed plays a big role in stopping motion, but light plays an equally important role.  After a less than successful session, I found the following clip on YouTube to show you what's required to capture those stunning, stop-motion images that have become synonymous with "speed".