Trogon Photo Tours

This month's newsletter features bird photographs with settings and thoughts behind the shots from a trip I took to Ecuador last winter.  I got together and spend a few days shooting with Javier Zurita, who is now our local leader down there. 

Booted Rackettai photographed at Sachatamia Lodge, Ecuador December 2019.  Canon 5D4, 500F4, 1/160 F6.3, iso 2000, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, 600EX fill flash at -2.0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  First we did some hummingbird photography in the multi-flash pavilion at Sachatamia.  Because we were only shooting for a couple of days, we didn't bring our multi-flash equipment.  Instead we hung one of the feeders over one of the mossy perches and got a lot of action of birds perching before and after they went up to the feeder.  This being a pretty dark bird I had to lighten the photo a bit in post processing.  This area is under a canopy (which is great for multi-flash) but it means it's a  bit dark.  I wanted a natural looking shot so I didn't use too much flash and set the iso fairly high but not too high as I still wanted to get reasonable image quality.  The shutter speed and F-stop worked out pretty well when working with one perching bird. 

Violet-tailed Sylphs photographed at Sachatamia Lodge, Ecuador December 2019.  Canon 5D4 500F4 1/100 F8, iso 2000, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, 600EX fill flash at 2.0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  One of the great things about the multi-flash area at Sachatamia is the numbers of Violet-tailed Sylph which visit the feeders there.  The techs on this shot were pretty similar to the last except I found at F6.3, I wasn't getting both birds heads sharp so I stopped down to F8 whenever I thought 2 birds would be in the shot and that managed to get them both sharp.

Plate-billed Mountain Toucan photographed at Birdwatcher's House, Ecuador December 2019.  Canon 5D4, 500F4 1/500 F5.6, iso 1250, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  This location, which is the best for this species, has added some reflecting pools.  This is almost full frame. When the bird landed on the edge of the pond I quickly rotated to vertical mode.  Then I  back-button focused on the head, released the focus and recomposed to get the full reflection in.  Luckily he was fairly still for a few moments so the technique worked out well. 

Chestnut-capped Brush Finch photographed at Birdwatcher's House, Ecuador, Canon 5D4 500F4 1/1250 F5.6, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering -0.3, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  There is another reflecting pool for tanagers and smaller species at this location.  These smaller birds were moving around much more quickly than the toucan so the method of backfocusing and recomposing wasn't working with them.  In order to photograph them with their full reflections I moved the autofocus point which I was using in group mode from the center to the top AF point available and kept the focus button pushed down when I took the images.  The sun came out and lit this area so I was able to drop my iso and I also added a bit of negative exposure compensation to adjust to the conditions. 

Golden-naped Tanager photographed December 2019 at Birdwatcher's House, Canon 5D4 500F4 1/1600 F6.3, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering -0.3, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head. In addition to these species Black-capped, Flame-faced and Golden Tanagers as well as Masked Flowerpiercer and Rufous-collared Sparrow all came into the reflection pool during the short time I was photographing there. 

Violet-tailed Sylph photographed December 2019 at Birdwatcher's House, Ecuador.  Canon 5D4 500F4 1/1600 F6.3, iso 1250, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, 600EX Fill Flash at -1.0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  We hung a flower doused with sugar water on a Wimberley Plamp and gradually moved it from where the hummingbird feeders were undercover out into a nearby open area that was getting some sun in order to get more light and shutter speed.  By starting it out near the feeders the birds were able to find it and then continue to find it as I moved it away from the feeders gradually.  I had to use more fill flash here (-1.0 as opposed to -2.0) as you get less flash power with a faster shutter speed. 

Andean Condors photographed January 2020 at Antisana Ecological Reserve, Ecuador.  Canon 5D4 500F4 1.4x 1/1600 F8, iso 800, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, handheld from vehicle.  This was taken from quite a distance and is a pretty big crop, nonetheless it was thrilling to see 3 Condors on the ground and get some decent images of them.  With Javier's help we have figured out how to attract these birds and have a much greater chance of getting good photographs of them (as well I also learned another nearby location which should be productive for this species and enable us and the participants to get shots of the birds flying at eye level and below us).  Javier will be leading a tour for us to the locations covered in this newsletter in October.