The experience was incredible. The expert handlers at the centre brought out several of their residents for us to photograph and the combination of that and having a great selection of Sony Lenses on hand to demo made for a fantastic day. One thing I found that even though these Raptors were tethered and perched photographing them was still a task that required a great deal of concentration and positioning to get some unique views with little background distractions.
Most of the my shots were taken at around f4.0 so it was necessary to carefully pick focus points to keep most of the body of the birds in focus and maintain a soft non-distracting background. I also chose to shoot at an ISO of 400 to give me a shutter speed that would mitigate the lack of sharpness from movement. For shooting birds I would definitely recommend a faster lens with a focal length of at least 200mm. My shots were taken with a 70-200mm f2.8, a 300mm f2.8 and a 500mm f4.0.
I hope you enjoy these photos,they are what i feel are the best of many, many shots taken that day.
I cropped the shot above in Lightroom to get the version below.
The last photo of a Kestrel grooming himself has proven to be one of my most popular works yet. I hope you enjoy these examples of Raptors and my photography. Please check back for more blog posts or subscribe to my email list below and please visit my website for some interesting new projects and old favorites.
