News / 01 January, 2020
The Hummingbird Showroom
Capturing the art of flying in the blink of an eye
The Natural World shows us a vast number of magical moments. The instant when the hummingbird takes nectar from a flower, with an immense delicacy, is one of the most precious ones. The light, tiny, elegant bird beats its colored wings to hold in the air, while its bill is introduced softly in the corolla of the flower. It drinks nectar, the cherished nourishment the flower demurely keeps inside.
The garden is in bloom, the flowers blow in color displaying their beauty, like young girls in the ballroom, waiting for the desired gentleman to ask them for a dance.
“ It is an act of tenderness, gentleness, delicacy and elegance, a kiss, a love scene….”
Meanwhile, behind the scene, a lot of natural high technology in the flight of the bird is exposed. To obtain the necessary lift without horizontal scrolling, the bird has to beat its wings from 20 to 30 beats per second. It has evolved very much its body: small size, lightweight, and a great power produced by the highest metabolism of all animals, a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute. They also consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily.
Even the stronger athlete needs to rest and for that, hummingbirds are capable of slowing down their metabolism at night or at any other time food is not available. They enter a hibernation-like state known as torpor.
The hummingbird’s photographer has also to do a very specialized work while capturing these magic moments using the high-speed photography technique. Therefore this kind of art needs some previous labors. A white screen has to be placed to obtain the flat white background and also the use of six strobes and a wireless shutter release. Finally, the desired picture is obtained, after a patient process, managing to get the bird in the right position just before reaching the flower.
