Flower kisser

This red hibiscus shrub attracted this colibri (blue-green woodnynmph) on its search for nectar just before sunset. Just for a second it seems to stand almost fixed in the air. In Brazil these birds are called poetically  ‘Beija-flor’ – the flower kissers.

Making of: It is very difficult to get a sharp photo of a colibri in its natural environment when in-flight. This colibri was multiple times returning to the same shrub from its guard post in the shadows of a hedge, which made it possible to play with different angles and light options. To get the photo sharp the idea was to photograph against the sun with a very low exposure time. Although the colors of the colibri were traded in for sharpness I found the photo realistic, as many times I saw only the silhouette of the colibris, In retrospective it looks also as if the shapes of the oval, acuate leaves are reflected by the shape of the colibri.