Backup and workflow considerations for professional wildlife photographers.

I’ve written (and routinely update) this article so that (1) it’s easy to refer people with questions about the gear I use, and how I set it up, and (2) I can remember what settings I use, too.

A little gem of a park for coastal wildlife in Byron Bay, Australia.

Julian Rocks’ subtropical location is near the southern extent of range for lots of warm-water species, including exotic tropical minibeasts like the ornate ghost pipefish and megabeasts like reef manta rays, and represents a northern holiday for cooler critters like grey nurse sharks.

When good birds go bad.

The Galapagos is the best place to see truly gigantic adult whale sharks.

Of the 7,998 photos I took with the 200-600 mm shots in Kruger (excluding those taken with the 1.4x teleconverter, discussed below), 6,930 (87%) were at focal lengths from 404-600 mm. The extra reach over the 100-400 mm was definitely useful, and I used it a lot.

As iconic as the dragons are on land, they may be matched by the manta rays underwater. Reef manta rays are one of the largest of all fishes, growing to around 5 m wide across their “wings”.

Biofluorescence occurs in over 250 fish species, as well as hard corals, jellyfish, mantis shrimps, sea turtles, and other groups. It’s particularly common in “cryptic” species. Many coral reef fish species have vivid color patterns, like angelfishes. “Cryptics,” such as lizardfishes and scorpionfishes, appear well-camouflaged to our eyes.

Whale watching is a big deal in Kaikoura. You can see whales from a boat, helicopter, or small plane. I’ve done flights with Wings Over Whales a couple of times. They’re absolutely brilliant; it’s how I got the photo above. Chatting before a trip, one of the pilots also mentioned that he’d watched a sperm whale hunt down a blue shark.

I’ve just been testing and refining my gear configuration for macro, so I thought it’d be useful for Future Simon – and hopefully you too – to write up some notes on underwater macro photography with the Sony A7rIII camera, Sony 90 mm macro lens, and Nauticam NA-A7RIII housing.

A 10 cm goldfish, swimming through the water at leisure, leaves a wake that persists for over five minutes. Imagine if a fish-eating animal could detect and track that turbulence. It’d be one unlucky goldfish. Seals, which are basically Jedi, are way ahead of me.

Mexico, specifically the area north of Isla Mujeres on the Yucatan Peninsula, is the seasonal home of large numbers of whale sharks over the summer months. It probably offers the world’s most consistent sightings of whale sharks for tourists over the northern hemisphere summer.