INTROUCTION EQUIPMENT LOCATIONS CONDITIONS GALLERY WEB LINKS
Included on this page is a list of basic equipment needed for reasonably good nature photography. Only the essentials are listed here, more eloborate items will be consideren on a separate page.Consider the following to be a check list to which you will add other items later:
35mm TTL camera macro lens with auto focusing zoom lens with auto focusing dedicated strobe light special tripod lens cleaner paper circular polarizer filter graduated neutral density filter 81A warming filter extra batteries 50 ASA film 400 ASA film
The 35mm TTL camera
The 35mm camera is light weight and easy to handle with or without a tripod. "TTL" refers to through the lens metering. When one looks through the viewfinder of a TTL camera, what is seen is a view that comes directly through the lens. By this method, correct focusing and better formatting can be accomplished. It is not absolutely essential to have automatic focusing, however when hiking over trails it is difficult to spend time obtaining correct focusing on an animal if that animal is moving or will not remain in one spot for very long periods.
Another extremely valuable attribute of a good TTL camera is metering light from a dedicated strobe at the plane of the film. That means that the strength of the strobe light is determined by an automatic metering system. No separate light meter is needed to illuminate an animal ready to move at the slightest motion of the photographer. Neither animals or plants are always conveniently located in the bright sunlight with an appropriate dimly lit background.
Lenses
What is extremely important for clear high quality photographs is to use the best lenses. Over the years, lenses have improved considerably. However, some companies produce better lenses than others.
Long lenses can be large and heavy. But under certain circumstances, to obtain the image you want large lenses are essential.
Below is a list of useful lenses:
25 mm lens AF 50 mm lens AF 55 mm macro lens AF 30 to 105 zoom lens mm lens AF 200 mm macro lens AF 400 mm lens AF
AF means autofocus
25 and 50 mm lenses are very light and easy to carry. They also have a broad field of view. This may be useful when taking photos in a forest, a cave or a small narrow canyon. Wide views are obtained with these lenses, 25 mm being the widest. One must be careful not to get distorted views when looking up into a grove of trees unless that view is exactly what the photographer desires for effect.
55 and 200 mm Macro lenses are the best for taking photographs of flowers and small animals such as small mammals, lizards, frogs and salamanders. The photographer can obtain a closeup without the use of extension rings. Extension rings are added between the lens and the camera and will enlarge the image. However, these rings must be removed before distant views can be photographed, thus the Macro lens is much more convenient.
A 200 mm Macro lens is more expensive than the 55 mm Macro lens, however the photographer can stand further back from a wary insect such as a butterfly or wasp and not cause the animals to move away yet still fill the field of vision.
If many closeup photos are scheduled to be taken on a single trip, then adding a closeup ring to the 200 mm Macro lens can be used to take photos of very small plants, fungi or animals. Hoever, the photographer must move in much closer which may disturb the animal.
30 to 105 Zoom lens is versatile and can be used in a variety if situations including taking photographs of larger plants, animals and landscapes. It is not always easy to obtain that "perfect" format, especially when confronted with fences, cliffs and rivers. A Zoom lens can bring you closer to that special object without leaving to road or trail and moving into poion oak, stinging nettles or blackberry bushes.
400 mm lens These lenses are very large, heavy and can be very expensive. But if it's bird photography you are interested in, then a 400 mm lens is a beter lens to use. In some cases it may be necessary to have a doubler that will double the size of the lens in mm length and narrow the firld of vision. Remember that a doubler will reduce the amount of light for which it must be compensated by increasing the lens opening or slowing down the shutter speed. Both of these options are not good because birds are so active and are constantly moving. A faster film speed would help, but above 400 ASA photographs become very "grainy" and show less clarity especially if the image is enlarged as a print.
Another problem is that a photographer must always work with a tripod when using a 400 mm lens. Any slight movement of the camera will be seen in the photgraph as a lack of clarity.
Tripods
Tripods are essential for good photography. Most (but not all) other photgraphs are considered as snapshots. It taks a steady hand to shoot a clear detailed high quality photograph a well as good lighting and reasonably fast film. Hand held photography also works with strobes, and yet even with strobes one can detect higher quality in photgraphs taken from a tripod.
For taking photgraphs of animals, most tripods are awkward. While making all of the adjustments that are ususlly located along the tripod legs, the animal quickly slips away. There are a very few good tripods for nature photogrphy (excluding landscapes). Someday, someone will invent the perfect tripod with easily adjustable legs that don't stick or take considerable amount of movement to change the height or position, but for now they are all a pain when it comes to sneaking up on a wary lizard, bird or butterfly.
Strobe Lights
Strobes as a source of light are extremely valuable, but do have some drawbacks. A dedicated strobe menas that the strobe is connected electronically to the camera in sucha manner that it reads the light coming through the lens with its filters and automatically adjusts the amount of light reaching the film. It must be of a particular type of strobe sold specifically by the manufacturer or made specifically for the brand of camera you may have. Sometimes, some companies may have special attachments that will make their strobe work perfectly well with your camera.
Strobes must have sufficient power to reach and illumninate the object being photograph. It is amusing to see strobe lights going off in a football stadium at night or as I saw one time a woman take a photo of Yosemite Valley while using her strobe. I determined that one would need a thermonuclear strobe to light up Yosemite Valley.
As for birds and other animals, the strobes must be close enough to the subject before it will do any good. Light falls off at the square of the distance away from a subject. So even if your strobe emits its maximum possible light, the shot will be in vain if too far away. For difficult situations where there is some question about the amount of light available as reflected back from a subject, a light meter must be used. Each type of strobe has a guide number that will give you some idea of its strength. A good strobe meter can read direct light from a strobe or the sun as well as incident light reflecting from an object. Care must be taken in selecting a strobe, not only for its strength but also its compatability with the camera. In a few cases, an incorrect strobe may cause electronic damage to a camera.
Dedicated strobes can shoot the photo of a flower or a person even if the object is in the shade and the background is bright. Just set the camera one f stop low for the background (or greater) and the strobe will light up the object and give you an excellent photograph. Even though strobes flash at very high speeds, you must hold the strobe as still as possible to obtain the best of results.
INTROUCTION EQUIPMENT LOCATIONS CONDITIONS GALLERY WEB LINKS