The 2022 Black Skimmers Colony tour is now concluded! Read this post for a glimpse at a few images from yet another great bird photography workshop.
ISO 4000 | f/8 | 1/1000 sec. | Manual mode | AF-C Zone Focus Area
Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS coupled with a 2x extender and the Sony Alpha 1
One of the prime attractions of the Black Skimmers colony is the ability to photograph those cute fluffy balls. In the image above, you can see a chick venturing around in the sand, close to a patch of grass. Note that I took care of not cropping out the extremity of the top right corner piece of grass, which gives more harmonious lines in the flow of the image.
ISO 800 | f/5.6 | 1/5000 sec. | Manual mode | AF-C Zone Focus Area
Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS coupled with a 1.4x extender and the Sony Alpha 1
The other prime lure for this bird photography tour is photographing Black Skimmer adults either skimming on the water surface or flying low. The creation above is a good illustration of a low flight coming straight at me! This image gives the impression I am shooting from the water, but the reality is I placed the group along the shoreline and we created images of the birds flying along the shore. Thanks to a good wind direction, we had many opportunities for low flights coming straight at us.
ISO 640 | f/5.6 | 1/4000 sec. | Manual mode | AF-C Zone Focus Area
Sony 600mm f/4 GM OSS coupled with a 1.4x extender and the Sony Alpha 1
Some of the chicks were already a few weeks old and I was amazed to even catch a couple of them starting to fly. While their initial flight is typically chaotic and no very controlled, I managed to catch the one above in a pretty good banking maneuver above the water surface.
Ospreys / Spoonbills mix Photography Tour – $1,390
March 25th-26th 2023 / limit 5 people – Full
April 22nd-23rd 2023 / limit 5 people – 3 open
3 shoots and 1 over-the-shoulder Photoshop tutoring => 2 boat-based Osprey shoots at the Vero Beach Cypress Lake + 1 land-based Spoonbills shoot at a local rookery. $250 deposit. Send me an email at steven@stevenbirdphotography.com .
Black Skimmers Colony Photography Workshop – $1,090
June 3rd-4th 2023 / limit 6 people – 4 open
3 shoots and 1 over-the-shoulder Photoshop tutoring => 3 shoots at the Sarasota Bay Black Skimmers colony. We shoot along the beach, where the nesting colony is easily accessible. $250 deposit. Send me an email at steven@stevenbirdphotography.com .
Tampa Bay Spoonbills Rookery Photography Tour – $1,490
January 21st-22nd 2023 / limit 5 people – Full
February 18th-19th 2023 / limit 5 people – 1 open
3 shoots and 1 over-the-shoulder Photoshop tutoring => 3 shoots at the Tampa Bay Spoonbills rookery. We typically shoot while wading in the water in the mornings and from the boat in the afternoon. $250 deposit. Send me an email at steven@stevenbirdphotography.com .