Birds of Long Island Photography July 20-21
Birds of Long Island Photography July 20-21
July 20 - July 21 2024
This is a great opportunity to photograph oyster catchers, black skimmers, terns, plovers, gulls, etc. in flight, feeding their young, preening, interacting with other birds species, etc.
This is a great opportunity to photograph oyster catchers, black skimmers, terns, plovers, gulls, etc. in flight, feeding their young, preening, interacting with other birds species, etc.
It is also a wonderful place to learn about bird behavior and practice BIF (birds in flight) photography.
Learn when NOT to take the photo (which is important, otherwise you have to download and cull thousands of images)
Low instructor to participant ratio (1:4). Lisa & Tom have an intimate knowledge of this area and will be providing instruction and encouragement during your time together!
You will receive insight and advice from Two OM System Ambassadors. Any camera system welcome; We can help anyone with any brand improve their photography
Description of NEW YORK: Birds of Long Island Photography
We will spend sunrise and sunset photographing terns and skimmers at Nickerson beach. This is a great opportunity to learn how to see and photograph interesting birds exhibiting breeding and nesting behaviors. Come and improve your patience, your knowledge of bird behavior, improve your photographs of moving and flying birds, make more dynamic compositions, and look for interesting behaviors before you trip the shutter. Expect to begin photographing in the early morning and again at sunset!
Hotel included (double occupancy* $200 single supplement may apply if no roommate is available]). Transportation and meals are not included..
Day 1 – Saturday — Arrive at the Lido Beach Nature Area, 12pm for a meet & greet and formal instruction. Lido Beach Nature Area is well known for osprey and many other bird species. Lisa and Tom will go over camera settings and what to expect once we arrive at Nickerson beach. We will eat a early dinner (meals not included), between 2pm – 3pm together. After dinner we travel to Nickerson Beach for 5:30pm. Once at Nickerson Beach, we will walk on sand to where the nesting birds are located. It is a short (<0.2 miles) flat walk over sand. Throughout the weekend, we will concentrate on the terns, black skimmers, oyster catchers, etc. and show you how to look for good light, good head angles, tips for flight, etc. We will show how to approach the birds without ‘pressing’ them to fly away.
Day 2 – Sunday — Arrive at Nickerson Beach before first light, 4:45am. Walk out to nesting birds. Along the way we may see a spectacular sunrise. The early morning light is a great time to photograph oyster catchers feeding! As the sun rises and sky gets brighter it will be time to turn our attention to the skimmers as they skim over the calm water and the terns as fly up and down the beach diving and catching food. At any time of day, it’s a always great to get tons of flight shots. We will end the morning at 9am and return to our cars, breakfast and then downtime mid-day. We will eat a early dinner (meals not included), between 2pm – 3pm together. After dinner we travel to Nickerson Beach for 5:30pm to create more bird images. We will continue to photograph birds in flight, portraits and capture preening, mating behaviors, etc. If the sky allows and the sun sets in a crimson glow back lit birds are awesome to capture! This might be a good time for intentional blurs. End ~7:30pm.
Things to bring:
Enthusiasm (any skill level welcome)
Longest telephoto lens you own. 600mm, 500mm, 300mm with converter
Camera body
Second camera body and wide angle lens optional
Plenty of camera batteries
Lot of memory cards (SD, Compact flash cards, etc)
Depending upon the weight of your lens you might want to bring a sturdy tripod with a Gimbal
Optional If you own one, bring a skimmer or a frisbee for getting down low for eye level shots
Hat, long sleeve shirt, light and airy, long pants and sturdy shoes
Suntan lotion
Water
Knee pads, garden pad, elbow pads
Rain gear for you and camera gear. If you are an Olympus/OM SYSTEM owner there no need for rain gear!
You have easy access to your car.