This episode will discuss the planning, logistics, and travel to the Galapagos Islands, the proper selection, use, and considerations of using a tripod, and five tips for beginning bird photographers.

Blue-footed Booby

Common Cactus-finch

Galapagos Sea Lion

Swallow-tailed Gull

The Galapagos Islands are dream destination for many photographers and for good reason! It offers up close and personal wildlife, dramatic island landscape and even underwater photography while snorkeling! I just finished my fourth workshop and first as the solo leader; but Kevin Loughlin, owner of Wildside Nature Tours, has been 41 times! To say Wildside reigns supreme as the Galapagos Photography Workshop is an understatement! If you are going to go to the Galapagos, what should you know about planning a photography trip? Do you go solo or do a live aboard? What will you miss if you go solo? How do you make sure you choose a great company for a photography workshop to this amazing destination? Find out what a “generic” Galapagos trip will leave you sadly disappointed as a photographer.

Tripods are a critical piece of photographic gear and as such, I am often left wondering why such a huge percentage of photographers put so little thought into their purchase and use. In this episode, we will navigate the waters of camera support and give you some knowledge on how to best purchase and use a tripod.

Tripods

Finally, we give beginning bird photographers five tips on how to capture better bird images. Frankly, many non-beginners could use this same advice!

Yellow-headed Caracara

In the sixth episode of Capturing Nature with Lee Hoy, we have a segment of “On the Road” where we share the challenges of moving birders from birding with a camera to bird photography and the opportunities it presented during the 2022 Wildside Nature Tours Peruvian Amazon Riverboat Cruise. You can see a sampling of my images from this workshop below and you an see some of my favorite images from the Peruvian Amazon folder on my SmugMug.

Sanderlings along a Peruvian Beach

Dobsonfly

Dead Leaf Mimic Toad

Green Kingfisher

Pygmy Marmoset

Ringed Kingfisher

White-winged Swallows

Camian Lizard

In the second “On the Road” segment, we consider the final five tips on how to be a great photography workshop/class participant!

A Wildside Nature Tours Participant walks a Peruvian Beach

Finally, we conclude today’s podcast with a segment “Setting Yourself up for Success”where we will discuss image stabilization and how to develop an internal database of the lowest shutter speeds you can use with any specific camera/lens combination. This will vary based on your physical strength, handholding technique, and external factors such as wind, subject movement, and other environmental conditions.

Handheld at 1000mm with Shutter Speed of 1/8″ OM-D E-M1x | M.Zuiko 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO @ 500mm 1/8s | F5.6 | ISO6400 Handheld

We kick off today’s episode with an On the Road segment where we look at the first five of ten tips on how to be a great photography workshop/class participant! Lee shares how a horrible client made him want to share with others on how to be a great workshop/class member!

Be a Great Participant

I am constantly amazed at how often pixel peepers are really not great photographers! Some photographers will spend so much time analyzing every tiny detail of an image and yet ignore some of the more basic and critical aspects of great nature photography. In today’s “Setting Yourself Up for Success” segment, we discuss ten (10) alternative skills instead of pixel peeping!

Take Time to Learn to Read Light

Finally, in the “Photographer’s Screen” we will get the low down on Texture vs Clarity in Lightroom Classic. Be sure and check out the companion video on my YouTube Channel.

You can see where I used Texture and a tiny bit of Clarity on the foreground mask of this image in LR Classic.

To learn more about the topics in this episode, you can follow me at:

Lee Hoy – OM System Ambassador

www.tourbigbend.com

www.wildsidetours.com

www.precision-camera.com