Trogon Photo Tours

February 2021 - This month's newsletter is about photography at Thiele Ranch in the Texas Hill Country.  We spend a couple of days there on our June Texas Hill Country workshop.  The ranch is just outside of Fredericksburg, Texas.

This is a Ruby-throated Hummingbird photographed by Darrell Cochran this past September at Thiele Ranch.  Darrell runs half day hummingbird multi-flash photography workshops at the ranch.  His settings for this shot were Canon 7DII, 100-400 at 190mm, 1/250 F16, iso 200, Yongnuo RF603C II trigger, 4 Yongnuo YN560 IV Speedlights at 1/16 power , Tripod, Printed Background.  As many of you are aware with the multi-flash setups the 4 slave flashes are providing all of the light, so the effective shutter speed is controlled by the flash duration which at 1/16 power is about 1/5000.  Ruby-throated Hummingbirds come through the Hill Country during spring and fall migration.  

Here are two female Black-chinned Hummingbirds Darrell photographed July 2019 at Thiele Ranch.  His settings for this shot were Canon 7DII, 100-400 at 160mm, 1/200 F16, iso 200, Yongnuo RF603C II trigger, 4 Yongnuo YN560 IV Speedlights at 1/16 power , Tripod, Printed Background.  Black-chinned Hummingbirds are the common summer resident hummingbird at the ranch and large numbers are present around the feeders, usually 50-100.  During our workshop we will have a morning of multi-flash photography and also do some natural light fast shutter speed photography, hanging some flowers with a plamp.  Darrell's half day workshops run May through August, contact him at 210-584-0931 or email him at darrellwcochran@aol.com for more information if you are interested in attending one.  

I spend a day last August photographing with Darrell at the ranch.  They also have a water table with drip set up, along with a feeding station and blind.  We set up some perches for the birds to land in as they came in.  Here's a female Painted Bunting and female House Finch, not nearly as colorful as their male counterparts but still beautiful birds.  In June there will be more males of all species around.   The settings for this shot were Canon 5D4, 500F4 1/2500 F5.6, iso 1000, (set up for action shots), Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head. 

This beautiful Yellow-throated Vireo was the highlight of my day at Thiele Ranch.  I had never photographed this species before.  It is a resident bird in the Hill Country, but not often photographed.  It perched on the perch where the drip line was attached.  The settings for this shot were Canon 5D4 500F4 1/1000 F6.3, iso 1000, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, Gitzo tripod, Wimberley head.  

Here's a Lesser Goldfinch I photographed on a thistle at the ranch.  The settings for this shot were Canon 5D4 500F4 1/2000 F6.3, iso 1000 Av mode, evaluative metering -0.3, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  This is another of the common songbirds of the ranch.  I dialed in a bit of negative exposure compensation to help hold detail in the yellows here.  

Thiele Ranch supports a good population of Wild Turkeys which can be photographed from the blinds.  They tend to spook easily and go on a mad dash when it happens.  Canon 5D4 500F4, iso 1000, Av mode, evaluative metering at 0, Gitzo Tripod, Wimberley Head.  

Mammal photography can be quite good at the ranch as well.  Melody Lytle photographed this Gray Fox there last summer and I was able to get some nice images of it when I went to the ranch as well as it comes to a waterhole there.  Her techs for this shot were Canon 7D2, 100-400 at 312mm, 1/2500 F5.6, iso 800.  There are also good numbers of beautiful White-tailed Deer as well as smaller mammals such as Fox Squirrel, Rabbits and Armadillo on the ranch.