Want to take your MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY to the next level?
We know that many of you are at home looking for ways to be creative with your camera. We have a new solution for you….and it should be a lot of fun! We are offering our first two week macro class, and it is completely online. This is the perfect way to improve your skills while waiting to get back to more exotic locations. We will meet from 10-11:30 am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from May 11-22. We will be photographing objects that you can find right at home. Limited to 8 participants.
What is included?
Six 90 minute online sessions on Zoom conference, including technique demonstrations, editing and photo critique
A FB group page for participants to post their work
A private 30 minute follow up critique with Tom and Cree to review your new macro work.
A small group setting to support your learning and connect with other photographers.
We are delighted to see so many of you working on your photography skills why staying home. In an effort to support you while workshops have been suspended, we are offering several new online services for photographers who want to learn at home.
We have created a web page with 2 at home options as well as several options for when travel restrictions start to lift. We have plenty of time in May and June to support your learning. Check out the new Services Webpage
Details: Interested in improving your Lightroom or PhotoShop skills? Learn from working pros, Tom and Cree. They will be using the images you took so everything applies to your learning. Step by step instruction on a screencast video will allow you to learn new skills and be able to save the results for future sessions and growth.
What is included:
Pre-session consultation to determine your interests and program preference: Lightroom, PhotoShop, On1 Presets
5 video screencasts of 5 of your images – Tom or Cree will edit your photographs explaining the steps along the way
Follow up trouble shooting when you are working on your own images
Details: You select the images and we share live feedback with you on Skype or FaceTime. We will schedule the session and contact you in advance to find out what you are interested in learning about.
What is included:
Pre-session consultation to determine your interest and goals for the review
Private 30 minute review session to critique up to 20 images on Skype or Facetime
If either of these options interest you, give us a call at (970) 631-9383 by email at creetbp@gmail.com or send us a note on our Contact Form
Like many of you, Tom and I are spending plenty of time at home right now. We are focused on learning new shooting and editing techniques and have heard that many of you are as well. We want to encourage you all to share your results, so we can stay in touch with you. Read on…..
I just purchased a Fotodiox Studio in a box and have been using it inside to photograph macros as Colorado decides whether it is Winter or Spring! I took the photograph of the tulip above on my second day of practicing with the box. Lani Dillon just told me she ordered one too. I cannot wait to see what she creates when it arrives. Here is what the studio looks like in action:
I have also been seeing some great focus stacked florals from Lee Brissy and Dennis Garrood!
Have you tried something new in the last few months?
We encourage everyone of you to take out your cameras and stay creative! We also want to see your results. We have received very positive feedback on our monthly Photo of the Month post. We want to continue this feature even without workshops in the field. That is where you come in! For the April Photo of the Month, we would like to choose an image created by one of our workshop clients who is trying something new.
How do I show my results?
I have created a Facebook Group for those who use Facebook and would like to share/submit their images. Click on the red link here to join the Facebook group. Even if you do not have a photo to share, we encourage you to join and post positive comments on others’ photos. Community support goes a long way with so many of us working in near isolation!
If you are not a Facebook member, please send your photos directly to me at creetbp@gmail.com
Anything else?
Post anything that you created that is new to you: new editing, new technique, new concept. Add a few words about what you tried. We will choose one of these to be featured as the April Photo of the Month for Tom Bol Photo Workshops.
Please post images that are 72 dpi.
We will select our Photo of the Month on April 30.
Anyone who has been on one of our workshops or is signed up to attend one can submit
Add as many photos as you would like!
If you have behind the scenes photos, please add those too (see sample)
Thanks for participating!
Here are some previous Photo of the Month posts if you missed them:
Like many of you, Tom and I are spending plenty of time at home right now. We wanted to share some great photography resources with you. We also wanted to update you about how the coronavirus restrictions have been effecting our workshops. Thanks for clicking on our link and following us.
Resources
Tom’s Blog – Tom is blogging daily now on photography topics like: Workflow, Focus Stacking for Landscapes, Sharing Photos Online with Lightroom. Tom’s mailing list for his blog is separate from our workshop news blog.
Both Scott Kelby and Matt Koslowski are offering free webinars on photography topics. Tom and I have recommended their courses on Lightroom and PhotoShop editing for years. Kelby One is offering free access to some of their most watched classes at this time. I have been watching Matt’s Photo Makeover videos in his series called Stuck Inside and am amazed at his before and after images. He also has a blog on how to use Adobe Spark for photo bags – this is what we use for our TBPW Trip Reports
One of Tom’s favorite Adobe instructors is Julieanne Kost. She calls herself a Digital Evangelist for Adobe. She is offering a free course on workflow in Lightroom and PhotoShop for the next 24 hours on her blog.
Both Tom and I have been using all the spring flowers in our yard to work on macro photography and focus stacking. The day lily image above was made in our backyard with 30 layers. I just bought a new “Macro studio in a box” from B&H and am looking forward to it arriving. I will be posting inside macro images soon on social media.
Tom has set us a backyard bird studio. After returning from our Texas Birds Workshops, we wanted to try our hand at perches in our own backyard. He is working on an article for Lightroom Magazine on that right now.
Adobe Creative Live has made all of their articles and videos free to the public. I have been watching videos on Lightroom techniques and learning how to use programs like Adobe Portfolio. Perfect time to set up your own website with images from your trips!
Death Valley NP, California
Nome, Alaska.
Workshop Updates
We have postponed our March and April Workshops to dates in late 2020 thru 2022. We are very thankful that participants have been willing to postpone their plans for a later date.
May Workshops: Both our Yellowstone and Badlands Workshops are scheduled for this coming May. The National Park Service has decided to consider closures for their parks on a case by case basis. Yellowstone is currently closed and Badlands is currently open. We are watching the news carefully and plan to make decisions about whether to offer each workshop or to postpone within a month of the start date of each trip. We will let all of our participants on these trips know as soon as a decision is made.
Future Workshops: We are carefully following the news and will continue to do so as travel restrictions, and new developments occur. We are eager to begin offering workshops again when restrictions are lifted and it is safe to travel. In the meantime we have been working on our 2021 and 2022 schedules. We have added several new workshops to national parks including Acadia, Death Valley and Utah Landscapes.
Tom and I want to celebrate the great images being created on our workshops by posting a photograph each month from one of our workshops that best captures the environment or people of that location. We decided to return to one of our three February workshops since we postponed our March workshop . We hope you enjoy Greg’s images as much as we do.
Congratulations to March’s photographer – Greg Ness
The Story:
Every trip I go on, there are a few iconic photos I want to get. We’ve all seen snow monkeys with snow on their head…..that was what I had in my mind for this shoot.
The day before, we went up to the monkey pool and I got a good idea of what I needed to do for the shot. Tom and Cree took great efforts to make sure we were the first ones up at the pool. I knew I wanted a water-level photo….one were I was staring right into the monkey’s eyes.
I squeezed myself into the corner right on the lower platform near the pool. It was very uncomfortable. I stayed right there for two hours in the snow.
I used my 70-200 f/2.8 to blur the background. The shot settings worked great because the monkey was a little further away. I am used to shooting people’s faces with the 70-200 at f/2.8. There is a lot more depth to a monkey’s face with their deep-set eyes, and for some of the closer monkey photos, I wish I had shot more images at f/4 or f/5.6.
I got a lot of nice photos. This one spoke to me the most. It was the picture I had in my head.
Photo of the Month – March 2020
The Location:
My goal a few years ago was to visit all 7 continents and I have done that now. On this workshop, the combination of wildlife, people, landscapes, with cranes, monkeys and people photos peaked my interest. I knew I would get bored with just one or the other the whole time. I thought, “I’m going to stay engaged the whole time.”
It was end to end fun. It was so enjoyable. Japan impresses me more than any other country I have visited…..the locations and the efficiency. It is a big, beautiful world out there.
The Data: 1/500 sec, f/2.8, 200 mm, ISO 500
The Gear: Sony A7R IV, Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS;
Photo Tip from the Photographer:
Photography is such a personal thing. I never criticize other people’s work. I do not know what they want because I am not inside their head.
My tip is to know what you want to accomplish before you walk out the door. Your best chance of shooting good photos is to minimize the time you spend taking ordinary photos.
A recent example of this came up one morning in Torres del Paine in Chile. We were with a ranger looking for pumas and the weather was perfect for wildlife. Along the way we passed some wildflowers and two members of the group wanted to stop and take macro photos. That was the ordinary photo. To get the really good photo, we needed to stick with the plan we started with. We saw the pumas from far away, but were not able to get good photos. After you pursue the image you have in your head, there is plenty of time to shoot whatever you want.
Imperial Palace in Tokyo by Greg Ness: 1/400 sec, f/7.1, 70mm, ISO 200
Greg at the Imperial Palace:
This is a gorgeous scene, but I really wanted to emphasize the Imperial Palace in the photo. This is facing west. I had tried morning images, but because the sun was lighting up Nijubashi Bridge in the foreground, it really emphasized the bridge instead of the palace. I went to this location several times this day to check the lighting conditions. When I went at 3 PM, the light was perfect. The bridge was still beautiful, but the face of it wasn’t directly lit up by the sun.
After I took this photo, I decided to walk around the whole palace complex. It is about three miles around it from outside the moat. About halfway around, I noticed another bridge going over the moat with police and security people there. I saw that they were putting on formal white gloves, so I figured something was up. It was just a couple other people and me standing there, as this was not a typical tourist location. A short time late, ex-emperor, Akihito, was driven out of the palace complex with his rear window rolled down. I smiled at him and waved, and he waved back at me as I took his picture.
To see Greg’s photo on FB of former Emperor Akihito click here
On Greg’s Horizon:
Africa – Morocco
South America – coastal Brazil, Bolivia
Asia – Tibet
To see upcoming international photography workshops with TBPW click here
Tokyo Bay with Olympic Rings by Greg Ness: 1/100 sec, f/2.8, 58mm, ISO 400
We know that many of you are home like we are, looking for ways to stay busy. Please take a look at our trip report from early February from Japan. Click on the lantern image below or the link to see highlights of our photo workshop in Japan. This was the perfect blend of wildlife and travel photography in the Land of the Rising Sun.
We know many of you are at home, watchings the news and waiting to hear when the world will get back to normal. We are staying active here at Tom Bol Photo Workshops. We have postponed a few workshops and are busy posting new workshops for 2022. Here are a few things we thought you would want to know about:
2022 Workshops
Death Valley National Park: We just added this landscape workshop in the “Land of Extremes”. February is the perfect time to photograph at night, sunset is early and there is almost no light in such a remote area. Daily high temperatures are in the mid 70s.
Nome: Arctic Birds and Musk Ox: This small group workshop is designed for the adventurous photographer that loves remote Alaska. Join us for the height of spring bird season on the Bering Strait. Have you ever seen a wild musk ox?
Norway – Lofoten Islands: This workshop is perfect for landscape photography. We have timed the trip in September for fall color and the possibility of seeing northern lights if the skies are clear. Just 3 spaces are left.
Texas Birds in Spring: Our February trips were so successful that we have added a new season for 2022. We time this trip for late April and early May to have a chance to photograph Painting Buntings – one of the most colorful birds in North America. There are 4 types of orioles near the blinds this time of year. There are 4 spaces left.
Death Valley NP, California
Nome, Alaska.
Postponed Workshops
So far we have not had to completely cancel any of our workshops, instead we are postponing them for future dates. Thanks to all of you who have stuck with us! We have had a few spaces open up on these new dates and would love to have you join us if interested.
Costa Rica December 2020: Join us for this tropical get away to de-stress before the holidays, December 8-15, 2020. The Costa Rican rainforest is drier and has plenty of sunshine in December. We will be at the Crocodile Bay Resort – the perfect place to bring your non-photograph spouse, friend or family member,
Spain 2022: We will be heading to the Andalusia region of Southern Spain to visit the birthplace of flamenco. This workshop is hosted by Strabo Tours and has a few openings available for these new dates: May 12-26, 2022
If you would like more information we are happy to chat at creetbp@gmail.com or (907) 631-9383 Stay well!
Cree and Tom
Nome, Alaska.
Anakena Beach the most famous beach at Easter Island and maybe the best one in Chile. With it palm trees coming from Polynesia islands and the Ahu Nau Nau Moais is an impressive be
Tom and I want to celebrate the great images being created on our workshops by posting a photograph each month from one of our workshops that best captures the environment or people of that location. With so many great images from Japan and our 2 Texas Birds Workshops, it was hard to choose. We hope you enjoy Alfredo’s image as much as we do.
Congratulations to February’s photographer – Alfredo Fayard
The Story:
I love wildlife and photographing birds in particular. When I am photographing birds I usually use my Nikon D500 and a 200-500mm telephoto lens for birds in flight.
This workshop was my first time photographing from a blind. I drove down from Houston so I brought everything with me including a 500mm f4 lens and my new Nikon Z7. I had never used the Z7 for wildlife photography before. The pictures I loved the most came from this combination 500 F4 and the Nikon Z7.
I set up the camera in the blind at Laguna Seca Ranch with this new combination. I took my first pictures and fell in love with the color of the holy berries. I thought “That would be beautiful with cardinals.” At the time there were Green Jays and a few other birds on the perches so I waited for the cardinals to show up.
Green Jays on the holy berries
I saw that the backgrounds were disappearing (because of the f4 aperture). It reminded me of drawings from naturalists in the 1900’s before there were cameras. The drawings give the sense that there is nothing in the picture except birds and berries. I knew that when the cardinals came in that it would be beautiful.
Photo of the Month – Alfredo Fayard
The Location:
I loved the variety of birds we saw. Laguna Seca Ranch was the most pictorial of the two ranches. The backgrounds just disappear because of the location of the vegetation. I would like to go back at another time of the year with different flowers and birds.
The roadrunner experience at Santa Clara Ranch was beautiful.
Alfredo at left photographing at Laguna Seca Ranch
The Data: Nikon Z7 with 500mm F4 EXIF F4 1/1250 ISO 720
Photo Tip from the Photographer:
I went to the location with one idea of what equipment I would use. But I tried something different. The Nikon Z7 is not known for its speed as a wildlife camera. However, the resolution and details it produced were incredible. I did not realize this until I saw the images on my computer.
On the Horizon:
Costa Rica – I have been there several times before. Now I am looking forward to applying what I learned on this workshop to the jungles of Costa Rica,
To learn more about the Laguna Seca Ranch click here
To learn more about the Santa Clara Ranch click here
Click on the oriole image below or the link to see highlights of our recent bird photography workshop in South Texas. Learning to photograph birds in flight and seeing so many South Texas specialties were highlights for us all.
We appreciate you signing up for our mailing list. Our goal is to let our mailing list know first about our new trips. We have just started adding workshops for 2022 and also have a new one for 2021. Here is more information:
2022 Workshops
Norway – Lofoten Islands: this workshop is perfect for landscape photography. We have timed the trip in September for fall color and the possibility of seeing northern lights if the skies are clear.
Texas Birds in Spring: we are just getting back from our February trip to Texas and had a great trip – the trip report will be out soon. In 2022 we will time our trip for late April and early May to have a chance to photograph Painting Buntings – one of the most colorful birds in North America. The first session is already full and the second session is filling fast
Costa Rica in 2022: we are now taking sign ups for our 2022 Costa Rica Workshop…..scarlet macaws, monkeys and macro sessions with dart frogs. This is the perfect follow up trip for participants who just finished the Texas Birds Workshop.
2021 Workshops
Utah Landscapes: Looking for a workshop a little closer to home? Head to Utah with us to photograph the beautiful red rock spires at Bryce National Park. We will also take advantage of the clear dark night skies at Capitol Reef National Park for night photography.
