Tag: Osa Peninsula Photography

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April 2026: Photo of the Month

Tom and I celebrate great photos from photographers on our workshops by selecting a Photo of the Month. For April we chose an image from our Costa Rica Rainforest Workshop. The image was taken by Melissa Stanton at the Perica Sloth Garden on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. Melissa is a wildlife and travel photographer from Chardon, Ohio.

Congratulations to April 2026 ‘s featured photographer – Melissa Stanton

Melissa using her macro lens to photograph a Poisonous Dart Frog

The Story… 

So we were at the Sloth Garden and we had been there for a little while seeing the different sloths. We thought there was a baby in there but had only seen the paw so far.

It started moving and I really hoped it would stick it’s face out. It did! He had his tongue sticking out and he gave us a big yawn. Then he just sat there staring art us.

I shot it at 20 frames a second because it was dark back there. I was hoping to get something in focus. The image I chose was one of the few that were in focus.

I was shooting at 1/60th second on a 600mm lens. I was at 6400 ISO and that was the highest I could get for shutter speed. I had capped my ISO at 6400. I tried to stay as still as I could. It was exciting because it was a cute little critter.

Tom was standing right next to me. I was saying, “Oh my gosh, there’s the paw, there’s the face. Oh, it’s yawning.” I have photographed a baby Two-Toed Sloth a total of one time.

April 2026 Photo of the Month

EXIF Data:

Camera: Nikon Z9

Lens: Nikon 600mm

Aperture: f6.3

Shutter: 1/60th second

ISO: 6400

Aperture Mode, auto ISO

About Photographing on the Osa Peninsula

It is just so beautiful. There are animals everywhere. You can hear them from your room. You feel like you are in nature, becasue you are.

The guides are amazing. They can spot the tiniest birds 8 miles away in dense jungle. They tell us all about the behavious of the animals. They know all the calls they make. Sometimes the guides will imitate the Howler Monkeys call, which is a bit shocking at first. I am sure the Howler Monkeys appreciate that.

Squirrel Monkey mother and baby

Photographing in the rainforest had a learning curve for me. I think I got way better images on the second trip than on my first. I would absolutely encourage people to go back to Costa Rica a second time. I saw a lot of things on the second trip that I did not see on the first. With technology advancing and better cameras, it made it easier to get what I wanted.

I did not see the anteater on my first trip. I did not photograph a scorpion. On the first trip I did not get what I’d consider a usable photo of a Spider Monkey. Now I have the whole monkey collection.

My favorite outing of the trip is between the Sloth Garden and the Macro Day. They are both interesting experiences with very different wildlife. I would never encounter venomous animals on my own. It is nice to be able to photography them with someone who is experienced and do it safely. I am not about to photograph venomous snakes on my own. It is just not happening.

Eyelash Viper on a heliconia stem

Melissa’s Tips for Macro Photography with Reptiles and Amphibians

1) The macro lens was awesome for the tiny frogs. I could get closer to them and let their body fill the frame. I would not have wanted to be that close to the snakes.

2) I used the 100-400mm for the snakes. I recommend that you just keep shooting at 20 frames a second. They keep moving and flickering their tongues.

3) For the frog on the leaf you have to hunt therough the jungle and wait for the sun to come out at just the right angle…..ha ha.

The elusive frog on a leaf shot

On Melissa’s Horizon:

Alaska – Kenai Peninsula

South Africa

Antarctica

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Melissa and Brian at the Perica Sloth Garden

Upcoming Online Events:

Happy Hour – Spring Image Celebration: Join us to celebrate images created by our community of photographers. Send in 3 of your best images from this spring and see what others have created. Tuesday May 19, 2026 at 6 pm Denver time. Everyone welcome! Send a note for the link.

Workshop Openings:

Just 1 Space Left: Alaska Black Bears August 8-14, 2026 Photograph huge Black Bears in Alaska’s coastal rainforest near the town of Wrangell. Cruise the pristine waters in a small boat and photograph whales, sea otters, calving glaciers and flaming sunsets. Read more

Just 1 Space Left: Iceland Puffins and Waterfalls July 23-31, 2026 Walk right up to puffins on the cliffs of Iceland. Photograph some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Read more

Thanks for reading our trip reports!

Happy Spring

Tom and Cree

www.tombolphotoworkshops.com

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Costa Rica Rainforest 2026: Trip Report

Tom and Cree just returned from their Costa Rica Photo Workshop and are sharing the highlights with you. We had terrific mammal sightings this year. We photographed two species of sloths, two species of Dolpins, a mother Northern Tamadua Anteater with a baby and 4 species of monkeys. This is a great location for animal lovers.

To see photos of the Costa Rica Workshop, check out the trip report by clicking here

What’s Next: Tom and Cree are headed to Louisiana and then South Texas next. We have one space available on our Texas Birds in Spring Workshop if you would like to join us on May 11-16, 2026. Great way to improve your bird photography skills.

FREE EVENT: Join us for our free online Spring Image Celebration: May 19 at 6 pm Denver time. Send in three of your best images from this spring and see what everyone else has been photographing. Everyone is invited! Send us a note here for the invite, or leave a comment below requesting the link.

Upcoming Workshops for Tom Bol Photo Workshops

Happy Spring!

Tom and Cree

Photos of Tom and Cree by Jon D’Alessio

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Trip Report: Costa Rica

Tom and Cree just returned from their Costa Rica Workshop and are sharing the highlights with you. Ten photographers joined them in the rainforest of Southern Costa Rica to photograph spectacular mammals, birds and reptiles. Highlights of the workshop were photographing the Fiery-billed Aracari and seeing a Northern Tamadua Anteater.

To see photos from our Costa Rica Rainforest Workshop, check out our trip report by clicking here

What’s Next: Cree and Tom are off to Tucson next week for their Tucson and Saguaro National Park Workshop. They will be joining 10 photographers to photograph the Sonoran Desert and it’s magnificent backlit cacti at sunset.

Any upcoming openings?

Just one space left on our Louisiana Bayous Workshop May 7-11, 2025. Explore the cypress swamps by boat looking for herons, egrets, spoonbills and alligators. Photograph nesting Great Egrets chicks at a private rookery. This trip is already full in 2026.

Ouray Fall Colors : September 28-August 2, 2025 1 Space Available. The best of Colorado’s aspen forests just in time for brilliant yellow foliage.

Enjoy the spring weather!

Tom and Cree

From our balcony at Botanika

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Photo of the Month – April 2022

At Tom Bol Photo Workshops, we celebrate great images created on our workshops by selecting a Photo of the Month. For April we chose an image from our Costa Rica Rainforest Workshop created by Joe Campbell. We hope you enjoy Joe’s images as much as we do!

Congratulations to April 2022 ‘s featured photographer – Joe Campbell

Costa Rica

The Story … 

I had been sitting on a log having lunch by myself. I looked around and asked myself, “Where is everybody?” The guides said there was an anteater down the road so I decided to mosey down there.

I went down the road and everyone was shooting from the side by the road. Tom was on the beach side so I went and started shooting near him.

The anteater was climbing down the tree and sat down to rest for awhile. It was like I asked him to pose like that – sitting and enjoying the ocean breeze.

I was telling myself, “This is a damn good shot” How can you miss with a pose like that.

April 2022 Photo of the Month

I like using the ring to set the exposure compensation. With the Nikon Z9 you can see it happen right in the viewfinder.

The ISO on the anteater was 2800. I used Topaz Denoise and it worked fine. It does a great job of removing noise most of the time.

EXIF Data:

Nikon Z9 with a 500 mm pf lens

F8, 1/640 sec, ISO 2800, Exposure Compensation +1.3

Manual Mode, Auto Focus Pattern wide-area small

Eyelash Viper shot with a 500 mm pf lens

This was the best shot I got from the eyelash viper shoot. Eduardo was using his hook to place the snake on the heliconia. I used content aware to remove the hook from the photo. I try to walk around the subject to get different angles and shading.

I recommend changing your position until you find something that works.

I had never really shot snakes before. I plan to do it again.

About photographing in the Costa Rica jungle

It’s hot. It’s sweaty. And it’s worth it.

I like the variety. Without the guides I would not have seen anything. I do not know how they drive and see things way up in a tree at the same time.

The same was true of the river guides. The boat driver would stop and say, “There is a boa in the tree.” How the hell did he see that. I look over and it looks just like a bee’s nest.

The Sierpe River is where I learned that toucans eat more than fruit. We heard a lot of noise up in a tree. We saw several great-tail grackles chasing a toucan. We saw that there were actually 2 toucans. One was distracting the grackles while the other stole a baby grackle from the nest.

It flew off and I was lucky enough to get a shot of the chick in its beak.

I thank the Z9 for that.

A Bare-throated Tiger Heron in the Jungle

On Changing Positions:

We got a lot of shots of the Tiger Heron from right below the tree branch. Jose, the guide, suggested we move to the other side of the tree.

It popped. That was the place to be.

On Joe’s Horizon

Rookeries in New Jersey at Ocean City and Cape May (great egrets, white ibis, night herons)

Machias Seal Island for puffin

Alaska for Grizzlies

Norway for Northern Lights

Joe in Fairbanks – not dressed for the Costa Rican jungle

We are off to South Texas next for two bird workshops at Laguna Seca and Santa Clara Ranch. After that we are headed to to Southern Spain with Strabo Photo Tours – space still available.

We will add another trip to Costa Rica in April 2024 and have a similar workshop in 2023 in the cloud forest of Ecuador, click here to learn more.

Enjoy your spring and thanks for reading our posts!

Tom and Cree

www.tombolphotoworkshops.com