Kakadu and Nitmiluk Photographic Special Gallery
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A page like can give you no more than a taste of what this trip will involve. Every serious photographer has his or her own particular vision which they want to communicate to the people who look at their photographs. This trip will show you some of the techniques which you can use to capture your vision. The photo at right shows one of Paul's clients photographing a pandanus fruit. This is very different to the original uncropped photo. The original was cropped to change the emphasis to fit the text here. |
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| Cropping a photo can be used to turn one picture into something very different. If you are using a digital camera, it is important to take a high quality original if there is any chance you might want to do an enlargement of a particular part of the image. |
Macro Photography
| Small things can be just as beautiful as the large ones. All of our trips give you the chance to stop and appreciate the little things. This one helps you get the photos to help you remember the magic of the moment. | |
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Many digital cameras allow extreme closeups. Macro lenses on SLR cameras can get you just as close, sometimes closer. The two photos below show you the grasshopper in the photo at left and some incredible detail on a hairy caterpillar. |
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Using a different point of view to the norm, can often produce particularly interesting photos. The photo at the right was taken from low down looking up, emphasising the blooms in a way which a more typical angle would not. With macro photos you might want to get as much detail as possible as in photo left below (enlarge it to see just how much detail is there) or you might want to use selective focus to create a mood as in the photo at the right. In both cases, the individual flowers are about 1 cm long. |
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Birds
| Photographing birds requires a lot of patience. Although it is best done with a long lens, you can sometimes get good results with moderate length zooms. The two photos below were taken by Paul Benjafield and show incredible detail. | |
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The two photos below were taken by Russell Willis with a good quality, point and shoot digital camera, maximum zoom 200 mm. They do not have as much detail as Paul's photos but they do show that you can get good bird photos without incredibly expensive equipment. The shape of the photos shows the slightly different format between film and digital. | |
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Wildlife
| Below are a few of Paul's wildlife photos. With luck, you'll be able to take similar photographs. The large crocodile below left was photographed on the Yellow Waters cruise. This is the only time you will be near the big crocs. The firetail skink below right is incredibly shy. It takes patience, planning and perhaps a bit of luck to get a shot like this. | |
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Up close or in the distance, time and patience are rewarded. | |
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Getting a photo like the one at right takes incredible luck or a motor drive. Fortunately many digital cameras allow you to shoot a series of photos and discard those you don't want without any cost other than a bit of battery power. If you don't see what makes this photo so special, click to enlarge it and look closely at the snake's head. It was over in a fraction of a second. |
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Night Photography
Long exposures at night is one area where film is still far superior to digital. The photo below left was a 15 minute exposure on a moonlit night. You can see the star trails in the sky and reflected in the water. The only light was from the moon and stars. The photo below right was taken in far different conditions. The principles are the same, wherever in the world you may be. | |
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Weather
Rainy weather can produce some of the most dramatic photos -- provided you are prepared for it. The photo at left below was taken during a rainstorm holding the camera under a collapsible umbrella. Twelve hours earlier you could have stepped across the creek with dry feet. The photo at right was taken immediately after a short, sharp thunderstrom. You will almost certainly get rained on during our photographic trip. As long as you are properly prepared, this should mean better and more dramatic photos than you would get in fine weather. It's worth noting that overcast skies are often excellent for flower photography. | |
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A useful tool
You may often find yourself in a situation where the contrast is too much for either a digital or film camera to cope with. In this case a split neutral density filter can allow you to capture an image that would otherwise be impossible. Look at the sunset images below. In the one at left, taken without a filter, the details in the foreground have been almost completely lost. In the one at the right, you can see much more. (With a better filter, you would have seen more still.) You can make some corrections in processing, especially digital processing, but you can't bring out something that isn't there. | |
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The golden hours
| Sunrise and sunset normally provide the best and most dramatic lighting of the day. On a trip where photography is the object, you may find yourself encouraged to get up a bit earlier than normal and your dinner might be a bit later than is the case on most of our trips, but you will be rewarded with the best possible photographic experience we can offer. |
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