Spoonbills with breeding colors will be back in the Tampa Bay as early as beginning of February! So not too far around the corner 🙂 I can take you on a private tour to the best spot in the state of Florida anytime starting February until end of May. My Florida Spoonbill photography workshop with three boat rides has started filling up and I encourage you to start reserving your spot if you want to be amongst the lucky ones.
Roseate Spoonbill landing – Alafia Banks, Florida
ISO 400 | f/6.3 | 1/4000 sec. | Manual mode | AI servo rear focusing
This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens, the Canon EOS 5D mark III on tripod while wading in the water.
The photograph above is a Roseate Spoonbill with breeding colors landing in the beautiful blue water of the Tampa Bay. I created this one during a private tour to the biggest Spoonbill rookery in the state of Florida. My student and I were working on a subject foraging in the shallow water, when I spotted this one flying by. It is often a good idea to frequently look around when focusing on one subject, as other birds might come by to join the fun. Since I had spotted this Spoonbill in flight early one and pointed it to my student, we were both able to acquire focus and capture a superb landing. During the Spoonbill photography tour next March 2015, we will go on two boat rides to the Tampa Bay rookery!
White morph Reddish Egret – Fort Desoto, Florida
ISO 320 | f/5.6 | 1/6400 sec. | Manual mode | AI servo rear focusing
This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens, the Canon EOS 5D mark III laying low in the water.
If you know where to look one might have the chance to photograph a white morph Reddish Egret at Fort Desoto. This guy was playing in the surf and I waited to have a moment when the waves would be very flat in order not to have breaking waves in the background. Adjusting the Height angle so that the background would be entirely blue while being as low as possible to preserve the eye-to-eye experience, I had a great time creating this photograph.
Royal Tern with breeding plumage – Fort Desoto, Florida
ISO 640 | f/8 | 1/5000 sec. | Manual mode | AI servo rear focusing
This photograph was created with the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens with 1.4x extender, the Canon EOS 5D mark III laying flat on the sand.
The Royal Tern above displayed beautiful breeding colors while fluffing its feathers. One needs to learn how to chose the proper subject while working on a flock on the ground. Look for isolated subjects that display the most pronounced breeding colors during mating season. If you can have the bird on a small ledge like above, you will be able to have a very pleasing background while not cropping the feet of the bird. This is the ideal situation for shorebirds!
Florida Spoonbills and Shorebirds instructional photography tour / $890 / limit 5 people / March 7th-8th 2015:
Only 3 spots left! This is the best spot in the state of Florida, at the right time of the year.
Support our blog by following our links for your purchases. It comes at no extra cost to you and it helps keeping this photography blog lively!
Steven
Ivan Cordero
Steven Blandin
Steven Blandin