Photos from the owl festival

Yesterday I attended the International Festival of Owls in Houston, MN. They had some photography sessions with captive owls of several different species, and then a class where we had a lecture, another shoot with a few captive owls, and then we were going to go out in the evening to look for wild owls to photograph. I bailed on the evening shoot, after waiting around for several hours, due to weather. Earlier in the day it was overcast and towards late afternoon a dense fog rolled in, wind and rain turning to freezing rain. Not ideal conditions for finding owls. So, I thought I'd share some photos of the captive owls I shot earlier in the day. It was a great opportunity to photograph owls, and the handlers were very helpful in placing the birds on nice perches and assisting any way they could. A highly recommended trip if you can make it!

EDIT: I should point out that all of these photos were taken with the 100-400mm lens. I just had bought it the week before and it was my first time using it. This was the perfect situation for the lens - different sizes of owls, I'm moving around a lot and I want something I can hand hold, low light so IS helps, etc. I'm very happy with the versatility and sharpness of the lens. It won't be replacing my 500mm, but for situations like this, it's great.

Eurasian eagle owl - this is a female, and she is HUGE!

Tremendous series Liz, the detail is spot on, great job.

Very nice images you captured , we had thought about going up there but decided against it , glad you got some great images of those great birds.

great shots! i wish there would be an event like that here.. like the screech owl, tiny il critter that makes such a creepy sound , itll put chills down your spine when you hear it out camping haha, almost ghostly great job again!
mike

Beautiful models Liz, perfect poses and light. I love that little one too! What a great day for you! steve

These are all great photos. Some really clear and very detailed shots. Thanks Liz!

Spectacular portraits. I'm glad to hear the 1-4 worked well and was the right choice for this outing.

Really beautiful images, Liz. Real joy to look at. I'm also very jealous you have an Owl Festival

aligater wrote in post #5038814
Tremendous series Liz, the detail is spot on, great job.

Thanks, it was a lot of fun and we were allowed to get quite close, which really helped.

andrewhuxman wrote in post #5038997
Very nice images you captured , we had thought about going up there but decided against it , glad you got some great images of those great birds.

Thanks, too bad you didn't make it, but there's always next year. From what I understand, the photography sessions are a regular event at the festival.

mikeb540 wrote in post #5039027
great shots! i wish there would be an event like that here.. like the screech owl, tiny il critter that makes such a creepy sound , itll put chills down your spine when you hear it out camping haha, almost ghostly great job again!
mike

Thanks, the screech owl does make an interesting sound. I have a barred owl out back that is very loud during the summer when I've left my windows open at night!

ajosteve wrote in post #5039057
Beautiful models Liz, perfect poses and light. I love that little one too! What a great day for you! steve

Thanks, the light worked out really well. It was supposed to rain all day but we lucked out and got the nice diffuse overcast light with good reflection from the snow. I did use fill flash most of the time.

DonE wrote in post #5039076
These are all great photos. Some really clear and very detailed shots. Thanks Liz!

Thanks, it was a lot of fun seeing these beautiful owls!

JC4 wrote in post #5039170
Spectacular portraits. I'm glad to hear the 1-4 worked well and was the right choice for this outing.

Thanks, it was really the ideal lens for this event. My first time using it and I was very pleased.

Anke wrote in post #5039505
Really beautiful images, Liz. Real joy to look at. I'm also very jealous you have an Owl Festival

Thanks, I do feel fortunate that we have this only 2 hours from where I live. It started as a hatch day celebration for Alice (who I think is 11 now) and evolved into this big festival.

These are wonderful! I shot a saw-whet yesterday in the wild, they are absolutely ADORABLE!

Outstanding! _ makes me consider this lens as opposed to the EF 300mm f/4L IS I've been considering.

OUTSTANDING!!!!!

excellent shots.

wow absolutely gorgeous photos and I agree the little one is really cute.

Fantastic shots!