Spring Bird Photography Tours: Now open for booking! Explore Cazan Lake, Miller’s Lake, Jefferson Island, Lake Martin, and Henderson Swamp while capturing nesting birds like egrets, herons, Roseate Spoonbills, and Osprey in flight. Includes three half days by boat and three half days on land.
Fall Tour Highlights: 2024 season concluded with spectacular imagery of autumn cypress trees. View the best photos in our gallery. 2025 dates to be announced soon.
Tool Updates: Insights from using Fast Raw Viewer and Photo Mechanic during fall tours. Detailed comparison coming soon.
Backup Strategies: Guidance for Apple users on the latest options for protecting your photo files. Blog post coming soon.
Photography
Bird Photography Equipment on a Budget (2020 Update)
Bird Photography on a Budget
The equipment for bird photography can be very expensive. Part of this is the nature of the business, photographing small moving objects requires long telephoto lenses and effective autofocus systems
Beginning bird photographers would be well served with a good cropped sensor camera body and 400 mm f/5.6 lens or a 300 mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. By applying several common sense strategies you can acquire such a system at a reduced cost.
Boats for Photographing in the Swamp
Photographing nature in Southern Louisiana often means shooting from a boat. Previously, I discussed techniques for shooting in a boat. For this post, I'm talking about what type of boat to use in the swamp.
Read MorePhoto of Kim Voorhies of the Atchafalaya Experience
My good friend Kim Voorhies of the Atchafalaya Experience polling us through the swamp on the November photo tour. I've been working with Kim on these tours for 15 years now and he is the best, going the extra mile time after time to get us the best images.
Infrared Photography to Extend Shooting Window
I've been frustrated for some time about having a very short window of good light early and late in the day. The middle of the day has always been a challange. Fortunately there's one form of photography that is best in the middle of the day with bright light, Infrared (IR) photography.
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Scouting Trip for the 2017 Photo Tours
Yesterday, March 18th, 2017, I made my first trip to check out the sites I use for my April and May Louisiana Bird Photography Tours. I visited Lake Martin, Jefferson Island, and the Wading Bird Rookery located in Klondike Louisiana.
Read MoreMay 1st 2016 Photo tour
When I arrived early Sunday morning May 1st, the weather was not looking promising for the tour starting that evening. I sat out a torrential downpour in the car at Lake Martin and thre were reports of I-49 being closed due to flooding. The forcast was dismal until Wednesday morning, the last day of the tour.
Fortunately things did not work out as forecast I this is one of the best Spring Lousiana Bird Photo Tours I've done to date.
Read MorePlaying with Photoshop
Playing with Photoshop, converting a large panoramic image into a circular composition.
Read MoreBird Photography Equipment on a Budget
Bird Photography on a Budget
The equipment for bird photography can be very expensive. Part of this is the nature of the business, photographing small moving objects requires long telephoto lenses and effective autofocus systems
Beginning bird photographers would be well served with a good cropped sensor camera body and 400 mm f/5.6 lens or a 300 mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. By applying several common sense strategies you can acquire such a system at a reduced cost.
What I do in the "off season"
As I write this, Southern Louisiana is in the grips of an unusual cold snap. Not the kind of weather I would go wandering around finding things in nature to photograph and certainly not the kind of weather I want to be out on the water. I would argue, however, now is the most important time for my photography and the success of the shooting season is dependent upon much of what I do now.
Read More2015 Photo Tours and a Review of the 2014 Photo Tours
The 2015 Photo Tour schedule (link) has been published and I’m looking forward to another great year of photographing with a great group of people...
Photographic opportunities were spectacular for the 2014 Photo Tours.
Read MorePhotographing from a Boat
Living in Southern Louisiana, we are surrounded by water. Over 40 percent of the wetlands in the lower 48 states are within Louisiana. The crown jewel of Louisiana Wetlands is the Atchafalaya Basin. The Atchafalaya Basin is North America's largest swamp and has an abundance of wildlife. With all this water, a nature photographer in Southern Louisiana will at some point spend time photographing from a boat.
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