Hummingbirds such as the Green-breasted Mango you see here are flying jewels! When I visited Costa Rica on my journey to see, experience, and photograph more species than can be found in North America, I was extremely pleased that my quest had been fulfilled in large part thanks to two factors. Rancho Naturalista was our host and Nikon/Profoto technology was my weapon of choice to keep these buzzing puffs of feathers within my viewfinder; any additional challenges with focusing, exposure and flash would result in no images being shared here. One addition that worked especially well was updating to the Z 9 AF system with Auto Area AF – Bird Eye capabilities. I found the Profoto A10 dome light to be invaluable in bringing color alive; running two of them ratioed so their roundness could shine through as jewels emerged. For anyone interested in the entire process, two videos I uploaded last summer cover everything except Z 9 AF updates; I love hummingbirds so much and admire how fast their wings move compared with technology!
