Parrots and Flamingos Photos

It helps when you can get out of your own way. I remembered to turn OFF the super steady shot function on my camera, which you are supposed to do when shooting from atop a tripod because in looking for vibrations to counteract, the steadying function actually creates vibration.

You can really see the difference in sharpness when you look at the photos at original size. They look like the images you'd expect to come from a $2,000 lens.

The venue is a tourist attraction called Sarasota Jungle Gardens. There are, as the name suggests, gardens, though in August not many are flowering. The upside is that this is also the off-season so there aren't many people to contend with and I could park my tripod in front of the exotic bird exhibit and snap away.

I didn't shoot many full body shots of the birds because it makes the artificial background too obvious. Parrots spend a lot of their time grooming themselves, and each other! As you'll notice, they also sleep standing up.



Flamingos populate the park, roaming free among the patrons, who can buy food to feed them. That makes them willing to let you get close to them. These tall birds better lend themselves to portrait oriented shots.