As an aspiring wildlife photographer, I would often drive country roads looking for the occasional pheasant, turkey, duck, deer, or coyote. Most days I came home with few or no good images. Then I started doing more research and followed numerous online image-posting sites to see what, and more importantly where, other wildlife photographers were shooting. Last fall I learned that Longfellow Gardens in Minneapolis is a frequently visited area for hummingbirds on their fall migration south. The groundskeepers do an incredible job of having numerous flowers in bloom for hummingbirds to feed at. On a good day, there are dozens of birds feeding in a small area, making it easy for even a novice photographer to grab some great images. To freeze the wings of a hummingbird in flight, I shoot at least 1/1000 of a second. Longer exposures can be used to freeze the body, but create a blur of the wings. Both acceptable methods. 1/1250 sec., f/6, 400 mm, ISO 400, Nikon D7200, Manfrotto tripod with a Gimbal-style head.
