This is the first platypus I had the pleasure of photographing. It was my first trip to Australia back in 2006. Platypus can be notoriously shy and elusive creatures so I was quite excited when I not only captured a photograph of this guy, but actually habituated him to my presence after about an hour or so of sitting by the edge of a pond in Flinders Ranges National Park on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. There was no one else around for the entire hour/hour and a half that I spent with the platypus. He/she kept diving and resurfacing, never still for a moment, making it a challenge as I was shooting with a 600mm manual focus lens back in those days. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/100th of a second
Macropods are any of the marsupials in the kangaroo family. Pademelons are very small macropods. This mother and her joey were foraging along the side of the road in Cradle Mountain National Park in Tasmania. I used the light from my car’s headlights to illuminate the animals as daylight quickly turned into night. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 3200, f/4 at 1/40th of a second
A koala spotted through the eucalyptus leaves on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 200, f/2.8 at 1/45th of a second
Here’s one from my first trip to Australia back in 2006. I saw a few different species of kangaroo on that trip, including the red kangaroo. This mother and her joey were grazing late in the day near Flinders Ranges National Park in the state of southern Australia. My old manual 600mm f/5.6 lens really created a nice smooth bokeh when the conditions were right with all that out of focus foreground and background and the soft late day light. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 manual focus lens, ISO 200, f/5.6 at 1/60th of a second
It has come to my attention that yesterday was “Wild Koala Day.” I figured better a day late than not at all. So here is a koala that I met back in 2007 on Kangaroo Island in Australia. He/She was enjoying a eucalyptus snack… Like always. Hope you had a great day, koala, and that it was appropriately wild. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 600mm lens, f/5.6 at 1/80th of a second
Robins are sweet little birds. They come in many color varieties, including a fiery, orangish-red. Meet the flame robin — a little guy that I had the pleasure of meeting on Bruny Island in Tasmania. That brilliantly colored breast can really light up the otherwise dull colors of the forest. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/320th of a second
This spotted little yellow monster was photographed in Daintree National Park in the tropics of northeast Australia. It will eventually develop into a four o’clock moth. I took the shot well before I had a macro lens but rather, travelled with a close up filter that I screwed onto the front of my 80-200 lens. An inexpensive and easy-to-carry solution for grabbing the occasional close up. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 200mm with Canon 500D close up filter) ISO 100, f/16 at 1/60th of a second, Nikon D-600 flash
These two photos are from Maria Island in Tasmania, Australia. The patters in the rock were caused by groundwater which seeped down through the sandstone thousands of years ago and left behind iron oxides which stained the rock. Top photo — Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 100, f/18 at 1/4th, 1/15th, 1/8th, 1/2 and 1 seconds
Bottom photo — Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 100, f/18 at 1.6, .4, 1/10th, 1/5th and .8 seconds
A koala takes a good yawn in-between bites of eucalyptus leaves on Kangaroo Island in Southern Australia. Eucalyptus is, of course, all that a koala eats, making the species very vulnerable as eucalyptus forests get more and more fragmented across southern and eastern Australia. Nikon D200 with Nikkor 80-200mm lens (at 130mm) ISO 100, f/4.5 at 1/40th of a second
This will be me last post for about a week as I head to Panama early tomorrow morning for six nights. Hopefully I’ll be back next week with some great new shots, including some nocturnal creatures like this brushtail possum from Tasmania. One of the nice things about a lot of the animals in Tasmania is that they were very accepting of my presence and didn’t spook very easily. This gave me time to really get my lighting just the way I wanted. I usually use two flashes, but in this case, and for most of my night shots in Tasmania, I used one flash on a tripod which I was able to set down in one spot, and then take my camera to another spot to get the photo. In this case, I was probably twenty feet from the flash, and twenty feet from the possum — me the possum and the flash forming a bit of a triangle. I use remote controlled units on camera and flash to be able to separate the two without using cables. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 1600, f/6.3 at 1/160th of a second, Nikon SB-900 flash
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This is the first platypus I had the pleasure of photographing. It was my first trip to Australia back in 2006. Platypus can be notoriously shy and elusive creatures so I was quite excited when I not only captured a photograph of this guy, but actually habituated him to my presence after about an hour or so of sitting by the edge of a pond in Flinders Ranges National Park on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. There was no one else around for the entire hour/hour and a half that I spent with the platypus. He/she kept diving and resurfacing, never still for a moment, making it a challenge as I was shooting with a 600mm manual focus lens back in those days.
