Tag: Bird Photography Class

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What’s Coming Up at TBPW December 2020

Greetings Photographers!

We hope you are enjoying the holiday season! Tom and I are photographing every morning from our backyard bird blinds. We fill up a large thermos with coffee and wait for the birds to come in for their portraits! We took the cover photo of the finch with snowberries just this morning. As we move towards the New Year we wanted to let you know what is happening at Tom Bol Photo Workshops….

New and Upcoming Online Classes

Everyone seems to be signing up for classes in the last few weeks. And we appreciate it! Online classes are filling quickly. Several of you will be receiving a class from a loved one as they have been popular Christmas gifts this year! We have added new sessions for existing online classes and will continue to create new classes to help everyone stay creative in the next few months.

New Class: Macro for Cabin Fever:  Details:  Ready to get creative this winter with macro photography and not even leave your home? Join Tom and Cree for a three day macro photography class that picks up where our spring classes left off. The focus for this class will be everything but flowers. Dust off your Studio in a Box, charge up your Lume Cubes and get ready to try something new. Feb 8, 10 and 12 MWF from 10-11:30 am Cost $289

Power Workflow:  Overwhelmed with your photography workflow? Want to learn how to get your images from the field to “ready to use” as efficiently as possible? Join Tom and Cree for three ninety minute sessions of tips and techniques for maximizing your workflow efficiency. We will cover 1) Workflow Overview and Shooting Habits 2) Reviewing and Choosing Images and 3) Editing and Backup Strategies Jan 25, 27, 29 MWF from 3-4:30 Cost $249

Bird Photography:   If you have traveled with us in the field before, you know that Tom and Cree have a life long fascination with birds. We have been photographing birds ever since we first picked up a camera. We want to share with you what we have learned through the years about photographing birds from the Arctic to the Antarctic and all points in between.  Jan 25-29 from 3-4:30 SMT Cost $349

Ice Macro from Fort Collins, Coloroado

Advanced Landscapes:  Ready to take your landscapes to the next level. This class targets advanced concepts that are not normally covered during our workshops. Learn to create emotion, meaning and purpose in your landscapes while also learning new technical skills like focus stacking and maximizing acuity in your images.  January 11, 13 and 15, 2021 from 2-3:30 pm SMT Cost $249

PhotoShop 1: From Lightroom to PhotoShop:  Learn the basics of PhotoShop for photographers in just 5 days. We will spend 1.5 days reviewing tools to remove objects. We also cover working with layers, layer masks and changing backgrounds. January 11-15 5-6:30 pm SMT Cost $349

PhotoShop 2: Applied Layers:  Interested in moving beyond using simple tools in PhotoShop for your landscape and travel images? This class is the perfect progression from our ” PhotoShop for Landscape and Travel Part 1″ class. We will take your understanding of tools, layers and masking in PhotoShop and apply it to new ways to take on landscape and travel images.  Think of this as an applied PhotoShop class. Feb 8-12 from 5-6:30 pm SMT Cost $349

Adobe Portfolio Create your own online portfolio of photographs and digital artwork. This two session class will cover the basics of using Adobe Portfolio to create a webpage with all of your best images. There are also two 1 on 1 working sessions with Cree to personalize the content. Best part: Adobe Portfolio is free for Adobe subscribers. January 24, 26 Sun & Tues from 10-11:30 am Cost $249

See all of our online classes by clicking here

Update on Workshops in the Field

We are looking forward to traveling again in 2021 and are optimistic about the new vaccines coming out. We have all had to put travel plans on hold this year and we know that it has been frustrating for everyone.

We managed to run six workshops in the field this year and felt very good about the safety of the locations and the conditions for each of those workshops. In addition we offered 14 new online courses to keep hundreds of you involved in learning more about photography and editing.

We postponed many of our workshops this year and will be offering them in 2021 and 2022 instead. We will continue this strategy of postponing workshops until travel conditions improve and vaccines are readily available to participants who want to travel. Instead of canceling our trips months ahead of time, we try to wait until two months before the workshop to evaluate the conditions for travel. If you have questions about upcoming trips, we always encourage you to contact us.

Presentations for Camera Clubs and more….

We are currently reaching out to photographers through local clubs and organizations. We can schedule a presentation for your club on a variety of topics.

Tom will be presenting on Bird Photography for the Westbridge Camera Club in Ohio on January 4. Thanks Roberta Kanye for coordinating this!

Tom and Cree will give a joint presentation on Bird Photography: Afar and Closer to Home to the Massachusetts Audubon Society on January 15 at noon ET.

We always love hearing from you! creetbp@gmail.com or (970) 631-9383  

Happy Holidays!

Cree and Tom

  • Alaska
  • Yellowstonescout
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November Photographer of the Month

Tom and I celebrate the great images being created by our community of photographers each month by selecting a Photo of the Month. For November we selected Dianne Biddison’s image of a reddish Egret from our Bird Photography Class. We hope you enjoy Dianne’s images as much as we do

Congratulations to November’s photographer – Dianne Biddison

Dianne in the lavender fields of Provence, France

The Data: ISO 1250 500mm 1/1250 f f13

The Gear: Canon EOS 6D with a 150-500mm lens

The Story … 

I signed up for Tom and Cree’s online Bird Photography class, and knowing there would be assignments, I planned to take a Friday off work to go to Fort DeSoto State Park. I had been there before with a local photography group. The park has a website with a list of birds that have been seen there by season and where to find them. I also used eBird hotspots to see what birds had been seen recently.

The Reddish Egret was very interesting. There was a photographer walking 30 ft ahead of me photographing the egret. I slowed down so I wouldn’t spook the bird. When the photographer left, the Reddish Egret almost seemed disappointed that his audience was gone. I moved in closer and started taking photos of the bird and his behaviour.

The November 2020 Photo of the Month

The sun came out from the clouds just at that moment to light him up the right way. I chose to go to the North beach because I anticipated that the sun would come from the east and look best.

I used my new tripod with a new Neewer gimbal head. It was the first time I had used either. This made it very easy to move the camera. I could manipulate my movement easier as the bird changed his position.

I found that shooting 3 ft off the ground was ideal. Because the beach was uneven, I did not want to get too low.

After photographing the egret, I turned a corner and found a sandbar with 100 American White Pelicans. While other photographers were waiting for them to fly and hopefully come in closer, I started looking around. I found a pair of American Oystercatchers and photographed them.

On my way back to the car the Whimbrel appeared. The birds at the park are used to people and don’t get scared. I lowered the tripod more and it started walking towards me.

I was able to get both a profile and a straight on shot. I like them both. The straight on shot helped me identify the bird because I could see the darker eye band.

Dianne’s Whimbrel on the beach at Fort De Soto State Park

About Photographing Birds:

It’s fun! Being down here in Florida, I can usually find a bird. I like watching what they are going to do and how they interact with each other.

Bird photography is a challenge, especially getting them in flight. But it is a fun challenge!

American Oystercatcher

Tip from the Photographer

Keep looking around you when photographing birds. You never know what is watching you.

When everyone else was watching the pelicans, the oystercatchers were creeping up behind them.

Get as many shots as possible from different angles. Even if the image is blurry, it may help you identify the bird.

Dianne roaming the beaches of Tasmania with her Canon in hand

On Dianne’s Horizon

The Winter Yellowstone Workshop in January

Going back to Fort De Soto. This time I plan to go in the evening. I want to photograph Roseate Spoonbills in warm evening light.

I have plans to put in a backyard bird habitat, after I cut back some Elephant Ear Philodendrons from my pond and waterfall. This will clear the way for birds to take a bath. We have Red-Shouldered Hawks, Cardinals, blue jays and finches regularly in this area. It will be exciting to see what other birds are around here, too.

Our next online Bird Photography class starts this Monday. Learn more about our upcoming classes, including Power Workflow, Advanced Landscape and PhotoShop 1 Click Here

You are also invited to join us for an online Happy Hour on Friday Dec 4 at 7 pm SMT to see a virtual gallery of images from our latest classes. Leave a comment below to receive an invite.

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