Tropical Birding is offers a series of “photo journeys” to the best destinations on the planet for bird and wildlife photography. On these trips we get you to to where the animals are, and we get the animals to you. The objective of these trips is not to instruct on how to use a camera, and much of the photography is opportunistic. We do not sop shooting because conditions may not be optimal. Massive differences in lighting and photographic conditions means that at the end of one of these trips you have done daytime and nighttime macro photography, bird and animal photography in dark conditions, bright condition and everything in between. The animals are where they are, so lets do what we need to get great shots of them. Expect masses of great shots of an extremely wide variety of subjects.
WE WILL BE ADDING NEW PHOTO JOURNEYS TO THE WEBSITE VERY SOON
Tropical Birding Photo Journeys
Texas Photo Journey
Ecuador Photo Journey
Galapagos Photo Journey
Brazil Photo Journey
Australia Photo Journey
India Photo Journey
South Africa Photo Journey
African Photo Megafari
Madagascar Photo Journey
Professional Photographer Workshops
There are also the “photography workshop” and “photography learning” trips where you go out with one of the worlds top nature photographers and really learn how to get that shot in different conditions. This is just not Tropical Birding’s gig, so we have teamed up with the likes of Chris Dodds, Greg Downing and David Hemmings, so they can offer these learning experiences in areas that Tropical Birding knows very well. If you want to do one of these trips to locations such as New Zealand, Ecuador, and Madagascar, please check out their websites.
Chris Dodds
Greg Downing
David Hemmings
MORE ABOUT THE TROPICAL BIRDING PHOTO JOURNEYS
THESE ARE NOT WORKSHOPS
At Tropical Birding, we know what we do best and what others do best. If you want to learn how to use a camera in different conditions or how to process photos, then you are better off with one of the photo workshops offered by other professional photographers. What we offer are trips that get you to the best locations, and get you the animals. It is assumed that the clients pretty much know their way around a camera.
NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE NOT THE SAME AS BIRDERS
Photographers often join birding tours and can be frustrated when after seeing something for the first time, they are quickly whisked away to the next bird. By contrast, our photo tours are for people who want great wildlife photos, not a massive trip list.
Over our ten years at Tropical Birding, we have recognized the emergence of photographers as a growing community and have regularly run customized photography tours. We use our wealth of experience from operating natural history tours around the world to take you to the very best places to get memorable shots of wildlife.
OUR GUIDES DO NOT CLAIM TO BE THE WORLD’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHERS, BUT WE CAN GET YOU THE BEST PHOTOS
Because we are some of the World’s best bird guides and know intimately the behavior of birds and other animals, and therefore where to position you for the perfect shot. All the guides are very keen nature photographers who are skilled at finding birds and using playback to bring them closer when appropriate. The primary objective of these tours is to take you to the right places and position you correctly to get high-quality wildlife photos.
WE OFFER THE BEST DESTINATIONS FOR NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
We currently offer fifteen of the best photography destinations, covering six continents.
In Africa we offer four destinations. First, the plains of East Africa, famous for their massive numbers of large mammals; (this year we have added a Mountain Gorilla extension). Second, South Africa, which offers big game, a host of endemic birds, exquisite Protea blossoms, and some of the finest vistas on the continent. Third, Namibia, which comes with tame birds, big game, and dramatic desert landscapes. Last is Madagascar, which is so far removed from the rest of Africa that it is often dubbed the “eighth continent”. With its giant and miniature chameleons, otherworldly geckos, inquisitive lemurs, and strange endemic birds, there will be no shortage of photo subjects.
In Asia we offer three tours: the vast bird-packed wetlands and fascinating deer-filled game parks of India, which come with such striking photo subjects as the Bengal Tiger and the Asian One-horned Rhinoceros; winter in Japan, where hordes of cranes and giant eagles gather within spectacular snowscapes; and the island of Taiwan, a little known Asian gem with a number of endemic birds (including two spectacular, easy-to-photograph pheasants) and some of the most dramatic landscapes in East Asia.
Down under in Australia there will be the chance for prolonged photo shoots with some of the most bizarre birds and animals on the planet, from the snarling Tasmanian Devil and a variety of kangaroos to electric blue fairwrens, Technicolor parrots, glossy bowerbirds, and shimmering birds-of-paradise.
In North America a visit to the ranches of South Texas will provide such delectable subjects as Green Jay, Painted Bunting, and Greater Roadrunner, while the Upper Texas Coast teems with photogenic shorebirds, rookeries packed with nesting spoonbills and egrets, and photo blinds at the migrant traps on High Island for close approaches to the true jewels of springtime America, the warblers.
In the “bird continent” of South America we run shoots in Brazil and Ecuador. Brazil for the chance to roam and shoot in the bird-packed Pantanal, the largest wetland on Earth, and the opportunity for extraordinary close-up encounters with that most feared of South American cats, the Jaguar. Ecuador for the multitude of stunning hummingbirds and colorful tanagers posing by lodge feeders, and the incredible variety of macro subjects in the mega-diverse Amazon.
A cruise among the incomparable Galápagos Islands offers unrivalled views of birds and animals: the toughest challenge is getting a lens small enough to fit between the photographer and the subject! Boobies dancing at your feet, frigatebirds inflate scarlet throat sacs by your side, and red-and-green-dappled Marine Iguanas bask an arm’s length away.
We also offer three other “photo cruises”: to Wrangel Island, at the “Top of the World”, where the World’s greatest concentration of denning Polar Bears occurs along with Walrus and Beluga; to Antarctica, the Falklands, and South Georgia, where scenes like a quarter million King Penguins on a single beach, and dramatic seal-and-iceberg-littered bays make for endless photo opportunities; and to the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand, which possess the greatest diversity of nesting seabirds on Earth. Walking among busy penguin colonies and extreme close-ups with giant albatrosses are daily occurrences on this cruise.
Aside from what currently online, using our wealth of experience and knowledge in the field, we can also offer custom tours to any other quality photo destination you desire, such as Florida, Nebraska, Colorado, Ethiopia, New Zealand, China, and Costa Rica.
