When you photograph hummingbirds and you want the wings to be tack sharp, you have to use flash. Increasing the shutter speed to 1/1000 or 1/2000 won't do it. The only way to make the exposure time brief enough to freeze the wings is to turn the power down on the flash units to 1/16th power. This makes the actual exposure time about 15,000th of a second. The flash units (I use four flash units to shoot hummers) must be placed close to the flower you are using to attract the birds. The close proximity (like 15 inches) compensates for the reduced power output. I took this picture in Costa Rica with a 70-200mm lens at f/14 with 400 ISO.
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