I have been planning this photo, (and more like it and hopefully better), for a year now. I am always incredibly impressed by photos of Hummingbirds that I see, with their wings frozen in time. These pictures have seriously inspired me.  I wanted to use some of these techniques  to photograph the more ordinary species that I encounter here at home.  I did a lot of research to try and find out how it is done and having now got a good idea of the technique involved, but more importantly  the equipment required, I began to assemble what I needed. Basically that is multiple flash guns, at least 4 of them and the stands to mount them on.  Also needed is the means to trigger the flash units in unison and remotely. I purchased a Radio trigger which operates the receivers that in turn fire off the flash units. In a nutshell, and very simplified, that is a basic breakdown of the gear.  Of course, then you also require a camera and a decent lens……. total cost of equipment, around  £6.500, the most expensive part being the camera and lens.   Today, I went out, fully equipped, to somewhere that I knew would give me a good chance to try and use all this expensive kit with lots of birds at a feeding station on Dartmoor!  These photos might represent, on the face of it,  a bit of a result but  hopefully "you ain't seen nothing yet".  There will be lots more to come.  The truth of it is, the whole excersise was really difficult. I took about 200 photos to get just a few that were acceptable, but that's OK because digital photography gives you the opportuity to work like that. You can really experiment.   What makes the picture above a little bit more interesting is the species, it is a Marsh Tit, a bird that is not as commonly encountere as the more usual Tit species. It's always really nice to see them, let alone get a good photo "in-flight". But it didn't end there and I took a few others that I was quite pleased with. 

This is a Coal Tit, again quite a nice image. It is an interesting lighting effect.  I like the way that one of the flash units has lit up the breast of the bird from the left.  The best shot of the day happened by accident.  It was more  a case of being there at the right time. But if you put the time in  eventually you are bound to get lucky now and again. A Blue Tit was feeding on the sunflower hearts,  then when a Marsh Tit flew in, it took an aggresive stance towards the other bird. I managed to get a shot of a real life piece of action which is always what I am trying to capture,  the result is a really nice, successful  picture.

I finished up with a great shot and one that might well be considered my best ever photograph. just have to go back to get more!