An Experiment

That is a very crisp portrait. Do you have a feeder to photograph them in flight ?

Crisp, but noisy. That was the experiment - what kind of balance I could reach between sharpness and noise. Works pretty well for my intended purpose.

I have a few feeders. The green perch in this photo is the hanger for one of the feeders. I've tried a few times with them in flight though motion blur becomes an issue. They're a bit active.

I wrote these two pieces on this subject matter. I hope it will give you some ideas
https://www.exoticaesoterica.com/ne...r-portraits-beauty-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder
https://www.exoticaesoterica.com/ne...ers-tips-on-photographing-andean-hummingbirds

Thank you, those are very helpful. I tried a few last week with a flash, but mostly just guessing.

" What NOISE? " -- I can't see any on this photo ! It is very good -- wish we had birds like that here in Brentwood, England -- not even a Pigeon comes down now as there are Cats on both ajoining houses.