We see loads of tutorials online teaching aspiring photographers how to retouch portraits of people, but it’s not very common to see one that deals with our avian friends. Nevertheless, retouching in bird photography is every bit as important (maybe more so) than retouching people. Since most birds haven’t had the chance to apply makeup before the shoot, we’re going to have to give them a little bit of help in post production to have them looking their best!
As a teenager in the Boy Scouts, I had several opportunities to attend summer camp at Central Florida’s McGregor Smith Scout Reservation, one of Florida’s hidden gems (since acquired and operated by the 
On Sunday, I had the great fortune to make a road trip down to southwest Florida to visit Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, along with two friends from NAPP, Michael White and Bob Arlen. The late spring is generally a good time in Florida for birding, and we hoped to get a chance to exercise our photographic muscles. Rather than head out the night before, we toughed it and left our respective homes prior to 4am (!) in order to make it to the sanctuary by opening time of 7am. The weather cooperated, as the powerful storms that were threatening Florida held off until later Sunday night.
The tone was set for excitement as we spotted an 8-point buck near the park entrance. Deer that size are rare in Florida! We proceeded into the sanctuary, cameras ready and with bated breath. Alas, two natural occurrences prevented the day form being everything it promised: due to the cold Florida winter, there had been no wood stork nesting activity in the Sanctuary this year, and due to the unusually wet winter, there was a lot of water everywhere – so instead of the birds congregating in the center of the swamp, there were very few wading birds in sight.