TROPICAL BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY WITH GREG BASCO AND DOUG BROWN
Through a mix of presentations and hands-on instruction, award-winning photographers Doug and Greg will help you on a daily basis to learn techniques such as metering and exposing complex scenes, fill-flash in the field, multiple flash lighting for natural and creative looks, composition in-camera, and digital post-processing. Group size is limited to 10 participants so we will provide plenty of personalized instruction.
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Features & Info
A RIOT OF COLORS
The tiny country of Costa Rica is home to over 850 species of birds, and we will target some of the most colorful and photogenic of these species, including the elusive but beautiful king vulture, the chestnut-mandibled and keel-billed toucans, the collared aracari, the great green and scarlet macaws, and the amazing honeycreepers. In addition, we will be working with multiple-flash setups for hummingbirds at one of our favorite locations.
MULTI-FLASH SETUPS
We will be providing two multiple-flash setups for hummingbird photography at one of our destinations. Learn how to place flashes for both natural-looking and creative lighting possibilities and how to get great lighting on the bird and native flowers.
MACRO TOO!
In addition to birds, we'll have some great macro opportunities of colorful poison frogs and the famed red-eyed tree frog in the wild!
My trip with Greg and Doug exceeded my expectations in every respect. The photography was simply superb. We were at the right places, at the right times, at every location. We were treated to first class accommodations with great food. The travel arrangements were all extremely organized and it showed...I came home with some great images, but more importantly with great memories and new friends. If I ever have the opportunity to go to Costa Rica again, I know exactly who I'll be going with as tour leaders.
~ Keith Bauer, professional nature photographer and instructor from the USA. Check out Keith's website!
Full Itinerary & Tour Leaders
The Itinerary
Day 1, Feb. 1 San José
Arrival to Costa Rica. Meet our representative at the Juan Santamaría International Airport and transfer to your hotel near the capital city of San José, where Foto Verde Tours’ Greg Basco will be awaiting your arrival. Those who arrive early can take the afternoon to photograph the beautiful orchids and other tropical flowers in the hotel’s expansive tropical gardens. There is also free wireless Internet throughout the grounds and in the rooms available.
Day 2, Feb. 2 Atlantic lowland rainforest
After breakfast, we have an introductory presentation on exposure and fill-flash for tropical bird photography by your leader Doug and Greg. We then travel to the beautiful lowland rainforests of the Sarapiquí region and our first lodge, where Greg has worked with the lodge owners and management to install two feeders that offer great bird photography opportunities. A number of colorful birds including tanagers, aracaris, and oropendolas visit the feeders. Our lodge is also a fantastic place to photograph poison frogs, tree frogs, basilisk lizards, and lots of other wildlife. We arrive for lunch and then spend the afternoon looking for frogs and birds on the lodge grounds.
Day 3, Feb. 3 Atlantic lowland rainforest
We take this morning to photograph birds at our feeder stations, where Doug and Greg will go over techniques for creating great bird images at a feeder setup. After lunch at the lodge, we take a private boat trip on the Sarapiqui River for photo opportunities of kingfishers, howler monkeys, bats, iguanas, and various aquatic birds. After dinner, we have a night hike to look for macro photography opportunities.
Day 4, Feb. 4 Atlantic lowland rainforest
After an early breakfast, we take a short trip to a local restaurant that has feeders which attract emerald toucanets and red-headed barbets. We return to our lodge for lunch and continue shooting at the bird feeders and looking for other photo opportunities such as motmots, tiger herons, and emerald basilisk lizards.
Day 5, Feb. 5 Atlantic lowland rainforest
After an early breakfast, we check out and head to our next destination, another rainforest lodge where Greg has worked to set up a feeder that offers unparalleld opportunities to photograph keel-billed toucans, chestnut-mandibled toucans, and brown-hooded parrots among many other birds. On the way, we visit a surprise secret destination – a nearby farm owned by a local family that is a great place for photographing both the Great Green and Scarlet Macaws. The macaws are free flying but stay close to the farm to roost and feed. The owner also has a Baird’s tapir in a very large enclosure that is great for photography as well as two beautiful jaguar specimens that are great for closeup portraits. We have lunch en route at a local restaurant and, after arriving at our next lodge in the afternoon, set in immediately to photograph toucans!
Day 6, Feb. 6 Atlantic lowland rainforest
Today we divide our time at the lodge between photographing toucans and visiting the lodge manager's house, where we can set up perches to photograph red-legged honeycreepers, green honeycreepers, blue dacnis, and olive-backed euphonia. You couldn't ask for a better day photographing tropical birds!
Day 7, Feb. 7 Atlantic lowland rainforest
And today we get to do it again! We have a second full day to photograph toucans, honeycreepers, and tanagers such as Passerini's, golden-hooded, and blue-gray.
Day 8, Feb. 8 Atlantic slope cloud forest
After an early breakfast, we travel to the higher cloud forests of the northern Central Volcanic Mountain Range and our next lodge and photography base for the rest of our trip. Our lodge is located in one of the most biodiverse areas of the country, nestled in a picturesque valley at approximately 4,500 feet above sea level. With its rushing mountain streams, cool air, and orchid and moss-festooned trees, the area is akin to a tropical Colorado. After a bite to eat en route, we arrive to the lodge and immediately set up to photograph black guans, chestnut-capped brush finch, coatimundis, and agoutis.
Day 9, Feb. 9 Atlantic slope cloud forest
After breakfast, we set in immediately to begin photographing hummingbirds at our multi-flash setups right on the lodge grounds. We will concentrate on the violet sabrewing (Costa Rica’s largest species), the purple-throated mountain gem, and the green-crowned brilliant. Doug and Greg will run the setups and provide attractive native flowers to ensure that you capture some fantastic hummingbirds. Greg's company, Foto Verde Tours, is the only company that has permission to do multi-flash hummingbird photography at this lodge. When not on the setups, you can relax and download images, keep shooting the guans and coatimundis, or explore the cloud forest trails for macro and landscape photography.
Day 10, Feb. 10 Atlantic slope cloud forest
After breakfast today, we make a day trip to a nearby waterfall, which is 110 meters high and offers beautiful photographic opportunities of the waterfall itself and the surrounding cloud forest. In addition, we have secured permission to set up our multiple flashes near the feeders at the restaurant at the waterfall, which gives us a great chance to photograph some hummingbird species, such as the green hermit, black-bellied, green thorntail, coppery-headed emerald, and white-bellied mountain gem, that are less common at our lodge. And there are some spectacular tropical foliage shots here of palms and ferns on the cliffs surrounding the waterfall. We enjoy a delicious typical lunch at the waterfall and return to our lodge in the evening for a relaxing dinner and time to download our great hummingbird and landscape images.
Day 11, Feb. 11 Cloud forest to San José
After more morning photography around the lodge grounds and feeders, we have lunch and then pack up and leave for San José. We arrive at our hotel in the late afternoon, we have a bit of time to relax and photograph in the fantastic hotel gardens before enjoying a farewell dinner at the hotel.
Day 12, Feb. 12 Airport
Private transfer to the airport for your flight home.
END OF SERVICES
THIS ITINERARY INCLUDES
Lodging as specified
Meals as specified
Private transfers to and from hotels on first and last days
Professional driver/photo/nature guide and private transportation in spacious tour bus
Entrance fees for all described activities
Taxes on all services listed above
THE ITINERARY ABOVE DOES NOT INCLUDE
Airfare
Airport departure tax (US $26)
Alcoholic drinks
Gratuities
Dinner the first night (Feb. 1)
Non-meal time snacks
Non-meal time soft drinks and bottled water
Single room supplement (US $440)
Your Tour Leaders
Greg Basco is a resident Costa Rican professional photographer and environmentalist who enjoys a working relationship with Canon. He is a Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice prizewinner, and his photos have been published by National Geographic and other magazines and have been used in many books, public exhibits, calendars, and other projects. Greg's latest work in progress is a coffee table book of artistic photos from the rainforest. In addition to his own photography, Greg truly enjoys working with tour clients to help them improve their photography and capture great photos of their own in the challenging habitats of Costa Rica. Indeed, he liked it so much that a few years ago he founded Foto Verde Tours, Costa Rica's first and only travel company specializing in photographic tourism. Greg has been working for the past few years with Doug Brown to run their annual bird photography tour in Costa Rica.
You can see more of Greg's photography here.
When not knocking people out (he's a cardiac anesthesiologist by day), Doug Brown is a BBC prizewinning photographer best known for images of birds in flight. Doug is a moderator at BirdPhotographers.net in the Avian: Image Critique forum. You can see his photos on the WhatBird.com website, and also on the iPhone/ iPod Touch application iBird. His work has been published in Western Birds Magazine and Aloft and also are utilized extensively in A Field Guide to the Plants and Animals of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque and the new book Raptors of New Mexico. Doug enjoys leading photo tours in the US and to Costa Rica, his favorite international destination for bird photography.
You can see Doug's photography here.