Short guide with tips to photographing Haiti's Disappearing Biodiversity

1. Photographing Haiti’s
Disappearing Biodiversity
Ron Savage, Sierra Vista Images,
Leiocepalus schreibbersi
Indigo Beach Club

2. Getting it right

3. Hawk Moth
1/250 at F 8 ISO 1250 – Had to pan with the moth as it flitted from flower to flower

4. Tips for Photography
• Keep equipment covered to avoid dust
• Charge up extra batteries, have an extra charger
• Take a few shots when you arrive at a place to check out
light
• Reduce the area you camera’s sensor reads from as sun
gets brighter
• Stay under ISO 800
• Shoot largest possible JPEG, or RAW, for cropping
• Bracket in non-uniform light conditions
• Number you memory cards and batteries
• Order extra lens caps, you will need them
• Put hooks on your backpacks, in order not to lose stuff

5. Photographing Butterflies
• Good butterflies can be in
your yard
• Usually active later
• Careful of wind
• Watch your shadow
• Stay low
• 125-400 ISO
• Macro lense best
• Often with flowers
• Red and yellow best

6. Butterflies in Action
Myscelia sp.
Front View -1/200 at F 3.5, ISO 125
Fritillary
Top View-1/800 at F 6.3, ISO 200

7. Butterflies Alighting on Flowers
Side View -1/800 at F 7.1, ISO 160
Bottom View – 1/500 at 5.6, ISO 200

8. Photographing Birds
• Have your biggest lense on your camera
• 400-800 ISO
•Manual focus often works best
•Center weighted
•Be quiet
•Two photographers best
•Focus on the photo, not ID
•Backlighting often a problem
•Steady yourself

9. Birds in the Bush
Lizard Cuckoo
1/400 at F 5, ISO 250, Canon 70-200
w/ 1.4 adapter
Hispaniolan Siskin
1/200 at F 5, ISO 250, Tamron 18-270

10. Birds in Flight
Juv. Blue Heron
Side View -1/800 at F 7.1, ISO 200
Kestrel
Bottom View -1/1600 at F 10, ISO 400

11. Shooting Big Game
Le Selle Thrush,
1/800 at F 7.1, ISO 800, Canon 70-200
lens
Hispaniolan Spindalis
1/640 at F 5, ISO 800, Canon 70-200
lens

12. Shooting Hummers and Todies
Thick Billed Tody
1/320 at F 7.1, ISO 400, Canon 70-200
Antillean Mango
1/320 at F 7.1, ISO 400, Canon 70-200

13. Photographing Lizards
• Bigger is better
• Acute sense of hearing and
movement
• Some like sun, some like
shade
• Often camauflaged
• Many species
• Feeding, fighting and mating
• Many endangered
Rhinocereus iguana
1/640 at F 7.1, ISO 400, Canon 70-200

14. Lizards on Rocks

15. Lizards on Plants
Anolis Cybotes Anolis coelestinus
1/100 at F 6.3, ISO 640, Canon 100 macro

16. A Lizard in the Hand
Anolis cybotes, Stout Anole
1/800 at F 7.1, ISO 200
Celestus stenurus, Keeled Galliwasp
1/640 at F 8, ISO 200, T 18-270

17. Photographing Plants
• Sedentary
• Predictable
•Best no wind, diffuse sun
• Flowers ephemeral
• Different types of lighting
• Attract wildlife
• All shapes and sizes
• Many threatened
• Can be found in urban areas
Taro Leaf
1/150 at F 3.5, ISO 400, Tamron 18-50

18. Bromeliads and Agaves

19. Flowers
Datura flowers
1/320 at F 7.1, ISO 200, Tamron 18-270
Native Shrub
1/250 at F 4.5, ISO 400, Canon 70-200 lense

20. Big Trees
Mesquite
1/320 at F 8, ISO 200, Tamron 18-50
Forest canopy, 1/160 at F 6.3 ISO 1250,
Bracketed to get the light right, late
morning sun

21. Shooting Big Game
•No large mammals
•Very few mammals

22. Night Photography
Moth Tarantula

23. Finding the Right Habitat
Semi-desert,
Northwest Haiti
Forets de Pins,
SE Haiti

24. What to do about people?
People in action Local Guides

25. What about science?
GPS Websites
• Inaturalist
• National Geographic
• Smithsonian

26. Identifying Species

27. Still Life Shots
Art Science

28. Once in a lifetime shot