Bird Festival

Bath Garden Center in Fort Collins, CO held a Bird Festival. One focus was to support the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program which helps to rehabilitate these beautiful birds.

I had no idea what would be there, so I came loaded for bear. I ended up using my old Canon 50D and my 70-200mm lens and I focused on getting portrait type shots of the birds for the most part. I was smart, because a lot of the other photographers were waiting in line to get close up and I was able to shoot over shoulders and through crowds to get my shots. Overall, I like what I got, and there are a bunch of samples below.

My learning that came from this shoot is this, bring what you think you need, but try to keep it minimal. I watched my fellow gearheads swapping lenses and setting up special flashes and doing all kinds of technical gymnastics. I had a camera, a lens, I shot at 1/800, f4.0 and ISO around 200 and I got terrific shots. I am not saying my fellow photogs were doing anything wrong, and I bet they got great shots too, but I like the minimal kit. When I said 'loaded for bear' earlier, I meant that I had a second camera (5D Mark II) with my 24-70 lens. Nothing more. Minimal works.

Enjoy the images below.