Bird Photography Workshop

WORKSHOP OVERVIEW

The Outback Experience presents the perfect opportunity for all you budding bird photography enthusiasts to go beyond the basics and master advanced techniques of bird photography. This specially crafted two-day photography workshop is designed so that you can begin to nail capturing images of birds in flight, get through tricky lighting situations and ultimately produce captivating images of birds.

The workshop will be held at The Outback Farm & Homestay, our own property on the edge of a gleaming lake, which is the perfect gateway to experiencing the joys of birding and bird photography.

The Bannerghatta National Park is a bird enthusiast and photographer’s dream destination, with over 150 species of birds including the yellow-throated bulbul and rufous-bellied eagle. The Outback Farm and Homestay also features a special bird photography hide that overlooks a large bird bath and natural perches that attract many species of birds, some of which are red spurfowl, barred buttonquail, yellow-eyed babbler, white-rumped shama, puff-throated babbler and many more.

What’s better, with award-winning wildlife photographer Phillip Ross as your workshop instructor, you are sure to have a fun-filled, educational, interactive and creative time. Phillip will also ensure that there is a lot of individualised attention and will cater to all of your doubts and questions.

Phillip knows this region like the back of his hand and will lead you  areas of Bannerghatta seldom visited by tourists.

The workshop will include not only theory-based learning but a lot of practical learning too.

Come join us and enrol yourself for this one-of-a-kind workshop!

WORKSHOP AGENDA

Dates: 27th & 28th July 2019

DAY 1:

On arrival at The Outback Farm & Homestay in Bannerghatta, workshop instructor Phillip Ross will welcome all participants to this beautiful campsite on the banks of a lake amidst the forests. After check-in, Phillip will introduce the property to you while you enjoy a refreshing welcome drink.

The one-of-a-kind workshop in a picture perfect ambience soon begins. Phillip will first present everyone with an introduction to bird photography to help you understand the basics.

Once we have a good grasp of the basics, Phillip will explain the core aspect of photography – EXPOSURE. We briefly discuss the exposure triangle, exposure program modes and help you understand Aperture, Shutter, ISO, Exposure Compensation and Metering in order to master various lighting situations while photographing birds. You will certainly have a better grasp of and feel more confident with your camera after this session.

We’ll soon give in to the enticing smells coming in from the kitchen. Yes, lunch time has arrived and the chef reveals the delicacies prepared.

After lunch, Phillip will help you understand two very important aspects to bird photography – Focussing and Depth of Field. You will learn how to master focussing in order to capture images of birds in-flight or of birds taking off or landing with instructions on autofocus, autofocus points and focus modes. Phillip will then concentrate on the various aspects that influence depth of field and teach you how to create images with a shallow or deep depth of field.

He will then lead the group to the bird photography hide, for an entire evening (3-hour session) photographing birds as you never have before. Be assured of many stunning images of the various species of birds that visit the bird bath as Philip, an award-winning photographer, provides you with tips and insights on how to capture the perfect shot.

We return to the campsite and relax by the lake while enjoying a snack and a hot beverage.

After freshening up, Phillip will now introduce Adobe Lightroom to you, and teach you an ideal post-processing workflow to bring out the ‘oomph’ in your images. He will ensure that each one of you understand the software and will guide you while you process the images shot earlier at the bird photography hide.

Over a succulent dinner, we’ll review experiences and celebrate the day.

Just before hitting the sack, we’ll gather around the campfire and Phillip will display some of his finest images and talk to you about composition to give you an idea of exactly what you would want to capture the next day.

DAY 2:

We awake to the sweet calls of the birds found within the campsite and walk out of our room’s to watch the mist rising over the lake and the sun rays lighting up the surrounding forests.

We’ll return to the bird hide once again and hope to implement whatever we have learnt during the workshop so far. Having Phillip around, you can clear your doubts right where you are sitting and he will constantly advise you with tips on how to better your images.

We’ll then return to the campsite for a steaming hot breakfast.

After a hearty breakfast, we’ll disembark on an exciting trek to a nearby hill and birdwatching trail, from where we are treated to a panoramic view of the forests of Bannerghatta. From here, you have the best chance to sight the rare yellow-throated bulbul, blue-bearded bee-eater, rufous-tailed lark, sirkeer malkoha and many raptors such as the rufous-bellied eagle, black eagle, short-toed snake eagle and oriental honey-buzzard. It’s a great place to birdwatch in the morning and a great opportunity for you to learn how to identify and study the diverse birdlife and how to approach birds without disturbing them.

After spending the entire morning photographing birds we return to the campsite, marking the end of a brilliant workshop with a question-and-answer session.