Four Super tips for photographing in the jungle

It is Wednesday August 19th World Photography Day  An annual, global celebration of the art, craft, science and history of photography. Share your own top 3 photo on social media today with #WorldPhotographyDay as tag.

Op #WorldPhotographyDay I would like to let a professional speak. Michelle Peeters traveled to Suriname for the first time with Suriname Holidays in 2006. She tells the story below. After that trip I continued to follow Michelle. In her blog below she gives four great tips for photographing in the jungle.

Photo tour with Michelle

Currently, many people will have enough time to read her photography tips and practice them in the Netherlands. The plan is to organize a wildlife photo trip to Suriname in 2021 under the guidance of Michelle. It will be a trip for a small group with an above-average interest in nature, bird and wildlife photography. Michelle's tips below and many other tips will be discussed during this trip. Are you interested? Please send a short email to suzette@surinameholidays.nl, then I will keep you informed. 

Lots of reading and photography fun in the near future! 

Suzette

Four Super tips for photographing in the jungle

by: Michelle Peeters – Deuxbleus Photography

Suriname trip in 2006

In 2006 I went to Suriname myself, together with my husband Huub Sanders. For Suzette Eeltink (director of Suriname Holidays) and her friend Vincent it was a study trip, during which we had a wonderful time 'piggyback' with their spectacular try-out program. The photo album of this trip is online to watch.

photo 1: A perpetually laughing sloth just sat in the tree in our backyard (Commewijne)

photo 2: In the Kayser Mountains: from left to right: Vincent, Michelle and Suzette

Paramaribo, Plantations and Sea Turtles

In Paramaribo we visited the (also spectacular) standard attractions such as the Palmentuin, Fort Zeelandia and Waterkant. Then we took a bike ride in the Commewijne District and spent the night at Plantage Waterland Frederiksdorp Plantation, which has been completely and beautifully renovated and refurbished by a Dutchman. We visited the maroon village Santigron, and took a spectacular boat trip with Suzette and Vincent to the north coast of Suriname (Matapica) where huge sea turtles came to lay and bury their eggs at night. An extremely fascinating spectacle!

Kayser Mountains

Finally, the four of us flew in a small plane to our temporary destination in the Netherlands Kayser Mountains where we had a private airstrip in front of the door of our accommodation. We have a lot wildlife can photograph and film, including the life-size Harpy eagle, various sloths, weaver birds, howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys and tarantulas. Suriname's jungles are still incredibly untouched and it is so fascinating that you can just speak Dutch with many locals!

 

The pristine jungle of Suriname, seen from a plane

 

Harpy eagle in the jungle of the Kayser Mountains

Professional

In 2007 (a year after my Suriname trip) I became a professional photographer and my business is Deuxbleus Photography started. Assignments ranged from school/portrait/product/company photography to designing logos, flyers and business cards, writing articles about photography and organizing and teaching photography courses.

Wildlife and nature photography

My heart has always been with it nature and wildlife photography, but it is not that easy to earn a living from it. I mainly did this during my travels (now also in my own country while testing equipment) and I was able to gain a lot of experience in the wildlife photography specialty in Suriname. The diversity of natural life in the jungle of Suriname is exceptionally great but often difficult to find. The fauna is well hidden and blends in with the environment. To discover that invisible world, Suriname Holidays uses very good local guides. The apparent ease with which they find monkeys, giant frogs, eagles, sloths and all kinds of insects is astonishing. As a tourist you often just pass by this. Often there is a guide specialized in a particular animal group. With Suriname Holidays you can tailor your photographic wishes to the specialty that interests you.

Sloths you could easily have missed without a guide

Four great tips for photographing in the jungle

The blood flows where it can't go, so at the moment I'm mainly concerned with nature and wildlife photography. Due to corona, I am currently only doing this in my own country, which is also wonderful of course. But when you look back at the beautiful photos taken in Suriname, you soon long to return to that beautiful country! And with better equipment of course. I am very aware of the limitations of digital cameras in the year 2006 and beyond.

Nowadays you can take a good photo with any digital camera. There is of course a difference between expensive and cheaper equipment, but there are many techniques and tricks where you can use your simpler camera to take photos of comparable quality to a much more expensive setup. As long as you are aware of the limitations of your equipment.

Up today #WorldPhotographyDay I'm giving away four great tips for photographing in the jungle!

Tip 1:
Bad light

It looks light from above, but once under the trees it is dark...

• This is also the most important tip for photographing in the jungle, where lighting conditions are far from optimal. There is often little light and you often have to aim upwards for wildlife that is moving high in the trees Often there is not much left of your subject (a howler monkey high on a branch) than a blurry black spot because you against the light have to take pictures.
• A solution to this could be to to overexpose or by to flash in. A clip-on flash with a decent... guide number that you can flash in different directions is a requirement. Be careful not to scare away animals!
• Since the light is limited in the jungle, it is useful to use... bright lenses to work. They are often a bit more pricey, but it gives you the opportunity to go with one large aperture to photograph, allowing more light to reach your camera's sensor.
• It is also useful to have a lens with you wide reach (from wide angle to quite telephoto) so you don't have to keep changing lenses. However, these types of lenses are often less light sensitive and also often of lower quality.
• Through the low light you often have to longer shutter speeds to work. In that case one can lightweight travel tripod be a solution to avoid blurred photos.
• With fast-moving subjects (wildlife) you will use faster shutter speeds and therefore a... larger aperture (less depth of field) or even very high iso sensitivities have to work. With cheaper cameras with a small sensor, this can lead to noise in your photos.
• If you have a small a bit overexposed (this is also called 'pluses' or 'exposure on the right') you will be less bothered by noise. If you underexpose and you have to bring up the shadows again, you immediately create a lot of noise.

Weaver birds flying back and forth to and from their nest

Tip 2:
Moisture!

• It's also bad in the jungle damp, which can be a drain on cheaper and non-waterproof equipment. So make sure you have rain covers if your camera is not weatherproof. Also store batteries and flashes in a dry place.
• The high humidity sometimes also causes condensation on the front and back of your lenses and sometimes also in the lens itself. Leave your camera bag open at the end of the day so it can dry. In addition, put some silica gel (available at the drugstore) in your bag to absorb as much moisture as possible.
• Check your equipment regularly and see if everything is still working properly, because the tropical conditions put your equipment to the test.
• An extra tip: always change lenses with the camera pointed down. It is damp everywhere and you don't want a drop of water from a leaf or a drop of sweat from your head on the mirror or sensor of your camera.
• In addition, also take one into account tropical rain shower, which can appear out of nowhere and against which you must properly protect your valuable equipment. The more expensive SLR or system cameras are often weatherproof (they can withstand a splash of rain), but not completely waterproof. They are not intended for long periods of photographing in the rain.
• Protect your belongings against moisture when photographing in the jungle and use a waterproof photo backpack or protective cover for your lenses. If you don't have one, use a plastic bag or umbrella.
• De moist heat also affects the noise formation with digital cameras. The warmer your sensor gets, the more noise you will see in your photos. Especially if your camera is left baking in full sun for a long time, this will result in noise, even at lower ISO values ​​where you would normally see no noise. Place your camera as much as possible in the shadow place to cool.

Tip 3:
Lots of contrast

• The program dynamic range of a cheaper camera (often with a smaller sensor) is often more limited. If you photograph in a landscape with lots of contrast in light (such as in the jungle) your highlights quickly become overexposed while the shadows often become too dark.
• It is a solution for limited dynamic range shooting in RAW instead of JPG. You can set this on your camera. You must have the photos post-processing on the computer because you cannot print a JPG file or share it on social media.
• But the advantage of photographing in RAW is that there is much more information in the photo. So you can still raise shadows and bring down overexposed highlights. Any noise is also easier to remove from a RAW than from a JPG file.
• You save the edited photo as a JPG file, while you save your RAW files as a kind negatives where you can edit them again (and differently) if necessary.

A cheat sheet (handy to take with you when traveling) for the so-called 'exposure triangle' (the 3 variables that you can set on your camera to achieve the correct exposure). All variables have their own consequences

Tip 4:
Dealing creatively with light and composition

• Try to be creative grazing light. This is very nice light to photograph in. The light comes from the side on your subject and the light rays are almost horizontal. Grazing light makes details very clearly visible. In the morning and evening you often have grazing light in the landscape due to the low sun. Incident light (through open spaces between the trees) sometimes creates beautiful light harps (sunbeams).
• In addition, look for interesting compositions. Give it a try frog or bird's eye view and don't photograph everything from eye level.
• Use tree stumps and leaves insights in leading lines (towards your subject). Or try to change your subject frame with twigs so that you get a kind of window effect.

A cheat sheet for the composition rules in photography

First imagine yourself, and then start taking pictures

Hopefully these four tips provided good ideas for photographing in the beautiful jungle of Suriname, for example. In any case, they can help you a long way in creating an interesting photo series during your holiday or photo trip.

However, realize that it is never just about technique or composition. Because if that is the case, then you are disconnected from your subject. Empathize with the local animal world (and that is something the guides or supervisors can really help you with!) and try to make 'real' contact. Then the photography part only begins!

Stay informed

Michelle Peeters (1965)

My interest in photography and film arose around the age of fifteen. In 1987 I started my career as an IT specialist. However, my free time was spent on journey, photography and filming. In 2006, photography finally won. I did my training at the Photography school and started his own company, which mainly deals with making photo reports. Read more on my website.