The past 3 weeks, I’ve taught a 3-part Series to Bird Photography.  It was a lot of fun and while it was hot, the lighting was pretty good all 3 sessions so we were happy about that.  There were five participants and all five came from different backgrounds and skill levels.  Everyone did very well and all were willing to get out of their comfort zones and try some great new techniques on their cameras and in the field.  I thought a blog post re-capping the workshop and showing some of the great images would be fun (all taken by participants).

Session 1 consisted of a short presentation displaying some of the settings and techniques on the camera that can allow the user to be more creative in the field.  While this was a formal presentation, all participants had their cameras out and all learned these techniques first hand, with their own gear.  My goal was to lay down a good foundation on exposure techniques for birds and using the camera properly for lots of shooting the rest of the sessions.  This proved to be very worthwhile.  The last 45 minutes, we played around with some Trumpeter Swans in amazing evening light.  The group went away with some great images while starting to put what they learned inside to use in the field.

Session 2 was all shooting and we concentrated on song birds.  The Kellogg Bird Sanctuary feeders worked great but the group learned some great techniques on how to get natural looking shots near the feeders, not on the feeders.  This included techniques on getting birds to land on natural perches and how to attract birds to those perches.  It was really great seeing the group learning on the fly and getting great shots right away using many of the techniques on exposure, composition and obtaining pleasing backgrounds.  A couple of the participants commented how they came early that day to get shots of song birds at the feeders and how much their shots during our session were improved and natural.

Session 3 was the last of 3 and we concentrated on Bluebirds.  This was a hard session as the birds weren’t real cooperative but we were lucky enough to get a beautiful male Eastern Bluebird to land on our perch with a grasshopper in its mouth with about 5 minutes of time left.  Phew!  It was a great learning experience on how patience plays a major role.  Most participants got shots of this opportunity and all agreed it was a simply amazing experience seeing the bird in its natural setting feeding young.  (Please note we had permission to do this; never approach an active nest without permission and the knowledge to do so without disturbing the birds).

All in all, the series was very worthwhile.  The Kellogg Bird Sanctuary was a gracious host and has amazing pockets of great habitat that make for great shooting.  Please go out and see why this place is so worthwhile.  It was great getting to know some new friends and spending more time with old friends. Stay tuned for the next workshops coming up where you can take advantage of another great learning experience with Glances At Nature.