Butterfly, Hinterland Regional Park

Recently I was at a local park looking for some birds to photograph but was amazed to see so many butterflies fluttering around.

Butterflies would be one of the most beautiful insects to photograph. I would normally use my 200mm f/4 Nikon Micro lens for butterflies but I did not have it available at this time, the 200mm Micro will focus down to life size. In this case I used the Nikon 30o0mm f/4 lens, as I was mainly looking for birds, the 300mm does not focus quite so close but appeared to do the job here.

For images such as this, a monopod or tripod can be a great advantage to help get sharper images, also many of the more recent lenses have Vibrtion Reduction or Image Stabilisation to help reduce camera shake, but this does not help with the subject movement.

If you are interested in nature and macro photography please take a look at some of the hints and tips in the categories section of the site.

Long-Billed Corella

There is nothing like capturing an excellent image of a beautiful bird. The above Long Billed Corella has been captured with a Nikon 300mm f/4 telephoto lens. This lens is the smallest of the Nikon super telephoto lenses that has the capability of excellent bird photography.

It should be kept in mind when using long lenses, that good lens support such as a tripod or monopod is essential to get the best image sharpness and quality.

Bush Curlew

The above image of the bush curlew has also been captured with a 300mm lens, with a monopod.

It should be kept in mind that all the super telephoto lenses from Nikon described here, are capable of using the Nikon teleocoverters with very little loss of image quality.

In the following, I have summarised some of the capabilities of the Nikon super telephoto lenses as to their capability for bird photography.

The Nikon, Nikkor, 300mm f/4D IF-ED AF-S, Lens, is the cheapest of all these lenses and has excellent image quality as do all these lenses. This lens is very compact and easy to handle.

The Nikon 300mm f/2.8, Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Lens is also easy to handle and has the added advantage of the smaller aperture and vibration reduction for low light usage.

The Nikon, Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED ASF-S VR II Lens, has become an extremely popular long telephoto lens and is very useful for bird photography. This lens being a zoom 200-400mm, is also very useful as a general long nature lens for subjects such as birds, animals, butterflies and other nature subjects. This lens also has a great close focusing ability compared to some other lenses.

The Nikon, Nikkor 500mm f/4G ED VR Lens is a very popular lens  for bird photography, however it is also quite large to transport and handle.

The Nikon Nikkor 600mm f/4G ED VR Lens is an very large lens but very difficult to manage. With this lens a very solid tripod is virtually essential for sharp images, making the lens less transportable.

For full reviews of all current Nikon lenses go to Nikon Lens Reviews.

In your local Botanic gardens you will always find something different to photograph. I recently paid a visit to my local botanical gardens. All the images here have been captured with a Nikon D700 camera with the first two captured with the Nikon 300mm f/4.

Eastern Water Dragon, Mount Coot-tha, Botanic Gardens, Brisbane

I found the above Eastern Water Dragon on a nice grassy patch so I captured him with a very narrow depth of field with a 300mm lens.

Bird of Paradise Flower, Mount Coot-tha, Botanic Gardems, Brisbane

The bird of paradise flower is always a beautiful and colourful subject to capture with your camera, in this case I again used the 300mm lens to give a well defined depth of field.

Japanese Garden, Mount Coot-tha, Queensland

At the gardens there is also a beautiful Japanese garden. The above image of the tree has been captured with the lake in the background. The lens used for this image is the 24-120mm zoom lens.

Fern, Binna Burra

The above image of the fern was captured in the Binna Burra rain forest, on the hinterland of the Gold Coast, Australia.

Rain forests are a wonderful place to capture some beautiful photography, but they can be very difficult to capture, as it can be very dark.

A tripod can be very useful, together with a cable release to help stop movement of the camera and to use slower shutter speeds. Also using a high ISO setting will help to give better images by enabling you to use higher shutter speeds without a tripod.

Berries, Binna Burra

The above berries were also captured in a rain forest environment. The brightness of these berries helps to create a very nice image.

Rain Forest, Binna Burra

The flora in the above image and also in the image below is very typical of rain forests, with the leaves, berries and the mossy environment.

Flora, Rain Forest, Binna Burra

Lace Monitors or Lace Goannas (Varanus varius), White Rock Conservation Estate, Goodna, Queensland

I love nature photography and managing to capture a great photograph is all about capturing the decisive moment.

The two mating lace monitors above, were captured while walking along a track in a conservation area. They were right across the track in an open area with good access to capture the image.

So as not to disturb the animals I used a 300mm f/4 lens with a Nikon D700 camera. The goanna’s were in a relatively shaded area, so I used ISO500, to help get the shutter speed up. I also used a monopod to help stabilise the camera from movement. I find a monopod very useful when using long lenses and walking distances, a tripod can be very cumbersome in those sort of situations.

Wild Dingo, Fraser Island, Queensland

This wild Dingo was photographed on the beach at Fraser Island, Queensland.

Fraser Island is basically a sand island stretching some 120 kilometres in length and 20 kilometres at its widest point. It is the largest sand island in the world. Fraser Island is a place of great beauty, with its long uninterrupted white beaches, coloured sand cliffs and many freshwater lakes and clear fast flowing creeks. The main access on the island is by driving along the beach and the long stretch of beach is regarded officially as a main road and monitored as a main road by the Police.

The Dingo is native to Fraser Island and is readily found in the natural bush and along the beaches. The above image was captured using a Nikon D700 camera and 300mm lens. In general to photograph these animals in the wild, lenses of 200-500mm are required. The dingos of Fraser Island are wild and should not be approached by people who are alone, also the dingos should not be fed or encouraged to approach camp sites.

Whale - Gold Coast

Whale watching will require a long lens of the order of up to 300mm for success. If taken from a boat, generally the boat will roll and make it dificult to frame the image. A lens with vibration reduction or image stabilisation would be very useful for this type of photography. A lens with a large aperture will help to keep the shutter speed up to avoid camera  movement.

The image above was taken from a boat with a 300mm lens on a very dull day.

The image below was taken from a viewing platform on the shore at the Great Australian Bight where the whales come in close to the shore for breeding every year.

Whale - Great Australian Bight

Photograpy under water can be a great challenge. Here we will discuss photograpy in aquariums as the use of cameras under water is a very specialised field requiring specialised and expensive equipment.

When photographing in aquariums the biggest danger is reflections from the glass sides of the aquarium. It is best to be at an angle to the side of the aquarium, less than 90 degrees, so that you do not get a reflection of yourself directly back from the glass. Also check for reflections of other people as they move around. If using flash for illumination ensure that the flash does not reflect back directly into the lens, hold it at an angle of around 40 degrees.

The glass walls of aquariums are quite often of poor optical quality and generally not so clean, so you will loose some contrast in the image, this can be rectified by giving the image a boost to its contrast in Photoshop in post processing.

Harlequin Tusk (Choerodon fasciatus) Tropical Fish

Tropical fish

Semicircle Angelfish (Pomacanthus semicirculatus) Tropical Fish

Nurse Shark

Fungi amongst moss

Nature photography is defined as the displaying of natural elements in an outdoor environment.

Sometimes the objects of nature will exist in very difficult to photograph places with very difficult lighting. Electronic flash units with a diffuser attached can be of great assistance in providing fill in lighting to nature subjects in these circumstances. Nature photography can be a very challenging field to produce excellent results.

On many occasions Macro lenses will be usefull to photograph small objects. Certain animals or insects may be frightened off by close proximity to the camera, in situations such as this a telephoto Macro lens of up to 200mm would prove to be very usefull to keep a satisfactory distance between the subject and the camera.

Fungi on tree

Fungi taken with Macro lens and tripod and diffuseg electronic flash
Fungi with electronic flash

Bee on Daisy

Bee on flower with monopod and 200mm micro lens

Butterfly on Geisha Girl Flower

Butterfly on Geisha Girl Flower with 200mm lens and monopod

Possum

In general there are two types of photography covering animals.

Domestic Animals and Zoo Animals

With domestic animals or animals in the zoo, the photographer generally has the confidence of the animal and a lens in the range of 50-200 mm may be sufficient.

When animals are in cages a very large aperture should be tried to give a very low depth of field, as this may help to give a blurred background to reduce any interference such as cages or other intrusive objects.

Wild Animals

Nearly all wild creatures are timid and fast, thus making them difficult to photograph. Quick refexes, planning and perserverence are required. Knowledge of their feeding habits and movements during the day is needed to predict their behaviour. Some wild creatures will accept your presence provided you do not appear threatening to them. In many cases a long telephoto lens will be required, greater than 300mm with an aperture of f/4.0 or greater, due to their distance from the photographer and the need for fast shutter speeds due to the need to eliminate movement.

Photographing animals is similar to photographing people in that the illumination will be more flattering when the lighting is soft and diffuse as on a cloudy day.

These Australian possums above have been photographed using electronic flash to provide sufficient lighting for these nocturnal animals.

Elephant keeper

This elephant and his keeper combined with a man made environment and the large  image of the tiger added to the complete image.

Elephants

These elephants were taken at the Australia Zoo.

The use of depth of field to focus on the snakes head, has isolated  the head of the snake from the rest of the image.