If you want to get close to some animals that are relatively comfortable with humans, your local zoo’s bird experience is one of your best options. Denver’s lorikeets are incredibly colorful and incredibly friendly, especially if you arrive around opening time when they’re the most excited to see you. This one for instance is actually perched on my finger just out of frame. Makes utilizing natural light really easy when I can just turn around until I find the best angle.
This Pentax lens (smcp-f 35-105) is a weird one. I honestly can’t recall when or where I got it. It’s not super fast, the zoom range is a little weird, and the minimum focus distance is atrocious… until you twist past 105mm and into its macro mode. Once you click over there and start focusing manually, it works some beautiful magic.
You may be wondering how one manually focuses with a lorikeet on their hand. If you ever find yourself in that situation, focus as tight as you can and move the camera and the subject back and forth until you see what you want to see. Much like working with a prime lens, your body becomes the control ring.
The Zootographer 