It’s Time to Start Planning a Costa Rica Photography Trip
photo by miroslav_1 via iStock
Costa Rica is one of the most peaceful countries in the world. If you know what you’re looking for, Costa Rica also happens to be a wildlife photographer’s mecca.
The moment you step off of your plane, you’ll know you’ve arrived in a place that feels almost like another world.
Costa Rica features gorgeous beaches, cheap and delicious street food, and some of the nicest locals you’ll ever meet.
If you’re thinking about planning a Costa Rica photography tour, there’s no better time than now. Once the pandemic has subsided, airlines and hotels alike are going to be desperate to get their tourists back, which means your Costa Rica photography trip will be cheaper than ever before.
Photographing Costa Rica
Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash
If you’re planning a Costa Rica photography tour, then you need to know all of the different types of photography you can pursue there.
The first two obvious photography niches you can complete in Costa Rica are landscape and wildlife photos.
Costa Rica has some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world, and is filled with less popular ones buried deep in the jungle. These waterfalls provide the perfect environment for both landscape and wildlife photography, since the wildlife need water to survive.
photo by gmirandah via iStock
But, there are also some different photography niches that people travel to Costa Rica for. As an example, Costa Rican fine dining is on the rise, and there’s a really intriguing push amongst Costa Rican chefs to include more local and indigenous ingredients into their cooking.
This means that food photography is also on the rise in Costa Rica because many of the dishes these chefs are creating are both colorful and intricate.
Additionally, many photographers join a Costa Rica photography tour because they are looking to photograph one of the indigenous tribes in Costa Rica.
There are 24 different government reserves for indigenous tribes in Costa Rica, and 8 different tribes. Many of these tribes continue to live as they have for thousands of years, practicing their ancient cultures and living off the land.
Tips for Your First Costa Rica Photography Tour
photo by MatsBehring via iStock
No matter your reason for embarking on a Costa Rica photography tour, you will need some basic tips to prepare yourself first.
The first is to prepare for dark photos. Jungles are beautiful, but they’re also dense, which means very little sunlight filters all the way down onto the jungle floor.
The second is to watch out for fogging on the inside of your camera lens. Depending upon your budget for your Costa Rica photography trip, you may end up staying in one of the tourist-centric hotels in the area and these hotels typically have air conditioning. When you go from an air conditioned hotel room to the steaming jungles, the condensation will be too much for your camera to handle.
You can prevent this by always storing your camera in its bag and by keeping your room just a little warmer.
A third tip for your Costa Rica photography tour is pretty obvious, but one you may still not be fully prepared for. You need to prepare for rain, and a ton of it.
photo by MichaelSvoboda via iStock
Make sure you bring rain covers for your camera equipment, and backup garbage bags. You should also ensure you’re going to be comfortable by purchasing quick-drying clothing that is available at most sporting goods stores. You’ll want a light jacket, too. You’d hate to cut any days short on your Costa Rica photography tour because you’re wet and freezing.
One final tip is to pay close attention to your surroundings. A ton of photographers get swept up in photographing large birds and monkeys and forget to pay attention to things they may be stepping on.
Macro photography is huge in Costa Rica because of the amount of creepy crawlers. Bring a macro lens to capture them all.
Research the Best Professional Costa Rica Photography Tour
When travelling to another country for photography, it can oftentimes be easier to join a preexisting photography tour. The problem with joining a Costa Rica photography tour is that many of them aren’t high-quality.
You won’t want to be in another country in a terrible hotel with tour guides who don’t know much more than you. That’s why I recommend ColorTexturePhotoTours.
Scott Setterberg of ColorTexturePhotoTours loves Costa Rica so much that he holds more than one Costa Rica photography tour each year. In fact, they are doing 8 in early 2021.
Some of these tours specialize, like the Costa Rica Landscapes Photo Tour happening in January. Others, like the Colors of Costa Rica Photo Tour happening in March, have something for everyone.
But, importantly, they all have incredibly small groups (just 4 people), diverse locations, and are led by a master tour leader who has been working in Costa Rica for decades.
Plus, every tour by ColorTexturePhotoTours is all-inclusive, which means you won’t need to worry about finding hotels, meals, transportation, or carrying change on you for park entrance fees.
An all-inclusive photography trip to one of the world’s most beautiful places? Count me in!