Finding New Birds to Photograph in Costa Rica
After leading bird photography tours and workshops to Costa Rica for the past few years, it can become easy to photograph the same species in the same places multiple years. This is usually fine as most of the workshop participants have not been to Costa Rica to photograph the many beautiful species of colorful birds that this destination offers us.
On our last tour I was having a chat with our wonderful guide Vernon about any places out of the way that could possibly be a destination for species that we had not previously seen and or photographed. Vernon thought for a bit and then said “I know a place where we might be able to see the Red Headed Barbet and the Golden Browed Clorophonia.” I nearly fell over in my chair with excitement as I had always wanted to see these two species and perhaps get a good opportunity for some images of them.
That afternoon we all hopped on our bus and headed up the mountain through some of the most beautiful landscapes and magical small towns that we had ever seen. About an hour later we arrived at this lovely home on the mountain top where we were greeted with freshly baked sweets, fresh Costa Rican cheese and, my favorite, Costa Rican coffee. I don’t recall the name of our lovely hostess but she was as friendly and happy to see us as you could imagine. Most people in Costa Rica are like this, warm friendly and inviting.
As we indulged in the coffee and snacks we noticed the trees at the edge of the property were alive with birds. We all set up our gear and waited for the stars of the show, the Red Headed Barbet and the Golden Browed Clorophonia. It didn’t take long before the Barbet showed up and gave a few quick chances to photograph him in beautiful late afternoon light. Then, before another ten minutes had passed, we had the Clorophonia drop in and he also gave us a little time to enjoy his beautiful color patterns and get some great images. For bird photography can it get much better than this? Here are a couple of tech tips to help make sure that you capture these beauties exposed properly and in sharp focus.
1. Since we were photographing the birds on a medium toned background without a lot of contrast I was shooting in aperture priority with minus two-thirds exposure compensation dialed in to make sure that the bright yellows and reds on these birds did not get over exposed. Knowing that the background was not going to change because of where the birds had to land to get the shots I was confident that the exposure would be spot on, and it was. 2. Since the light was fairly low I had increased my ISO to 800 just to help boost the shutter speed that the camera would give me to ensure a sharp image. 3. We were fairly close to our subjects so I used f8 to maximize the depth of field that we would get on our birds. 4. I also had my settings on multiple frame burst and AI servo to make sure the focus was quick to lock on and the burst ensured that I did not miss a great moment or pose.
We invite you to join us on another wonderful workshop tour in Costa Rica this coming November so that you may experience the warmth, hospitality and the many amazing bird photo opportunities that this country has to offer. Check out what our customers have to say! Costa Rica Tour
Email us at info@naturesphotoadventures.com for details. You can also visit our website www.NaturesPhotoAdventures.com
