In today's article I bring you a series of accessories to photograph nature that I consider essential when diving into this discipline. And it is that, after buying a camera with its corresponding objective, and after beginning to see which foot we are limping on (see what ends up attracting us the most in photography), it is usually time for accessories.
And since nature is a topic that, in one way or another, we are all passionate about, this article may be of particular interest to you ;). Because, how can we resist the charms of a landscape, in the light of a sunset, the reflection of a mountain in a calm lake, or see our patience rewarded with the capture of some elusive animal.
Nature has a thousand forms and, what is best, it is always around us, from the flowers on your balcony to the park where you take your children to play, where you run or walk every afternoon.
Now, as always when we specialize in something, it is true that nature covers many possible scenes. And many possible scenes, equals investment in accessories ;).
WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL ACCESSORIES FOR NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY?
In my opinion, these are the accessories to photograph nature that you should not miss if you decide to delve into this discipline:
- tripod and head
- filters
- Neutral Density (ND)
- Polarizing
- Neutral Gradient Filter
- Remote Switch
- Aim
- wide angle
- normal or standard
- telephoto
- hide or hide
- Flash
TRIPOD AND HEAD FOR NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
If yours is nature photography in its broadest sense, the tripod is one of the most important accessories and one that is most worth investing in. These are the features that a good landscape tripod should have, but you can also take a look at our guide to buying one .
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TRIPOD
- Of robust construction.
- Too few leg sections: Each section is a potential point of instability, so try not to have too many.
- Make it tall enough so that you don't have to extend your central spine (it's more unstable than the legs) but also don't force you to bend over.
- The best material today is carbon fiber.
- Hold the weight of (at least) your camera with the heaviest lens you have, and preferably something else.
- Easy to assemble and disassemble.
- Let it reach the ground.
HEAD
The best heads for nature photography in general are the ball head type. With this type of head you can maneuver the camera in all possible positions, both vertically and horizontally.
In addition, it will serve you for all kinds of photography you want to do :).
FILTERS FOR NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
The most used filters in nature photography and the ones that we believe will be most useful to start with are:
NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTER
this filterIt has the quality of reducing the amount of light that the sensor receives without changing the colors of the scene or any other aspect.
If you like landscape photography and you are a fan of what we call the silky effect in seas, rivers and even skies, this is the lens for you, as it allows you to work at slow speeds in broad daylight.
You have them of different intensities as you want to subtract more or less light.
NEUTRAL DENSITY GRADIENT FILTER
This has one half that acts as a neutral density filter, and the other that does not change the image at all, it is simply a glass. Hereyou can find both square and round that are compatible with your goal.
It is aimed at correcting the difference between the lights and shadows of an image, generally a landscape, which occurs between the area of the sky and the area of the ground.
Between both halves of the filter, there is a gradation or gradient that makes the transition from one zone to another more realistic.
POLARIZING FILTER
Another essential filter for nature photography and for photography in general, is the polarizer . This filter increases the contrast between the sky and the clouds and, most importantly, removes reflections from surfaces.
This will be very useful if you want to photograph a lake, a river, and in general, any surface that is likely to produce a reflection that does not interest you on your nature walks.
REMOTE SWITCH
This is another of the basic accessories for the nature photographer but in general for any type of photographer. A remote shutter release allows you to take photos without directly touching the camera, which can cause image shake.
The best thing is that you get one without cables, it is more practical and less cumbersome ;).
Always check that the trigger is compatible with your camera model.
GOALS
In nature photography, all kinds of objectives can be used, because it ranges from macro photography, to wildlife or landscape photography, each of these disciplines needs completely different optics.
Let's see in a general way which ones are best for you according to the type of photography you are interested in doing.
TELEPHOTO
If wildlife photography (birds, mammals, etc.) is your thing, this is your ideal type of lens. Within the telephoto lenses you have a wide range of focal lengths: short telephoto lenses (65mm to 100mm), medium ones (100mm to 160mm) or long ones (160mm to 600mm).
Depending on the photograph you want to take, you will need more or less focal range. Although the ideal would be to reach at least 200mm to start taking photography of this type.
Always keep in mind the conversion (or multiplication) factor of your camera when choosing a lens.
STANDARD OBJECTIVE
Not that the others are super rare, but those between the 25mm to 65mm focal lengths are known as standard lenses :).
They are the most similar to the human eye (especially in the 50mm focal range) and are usually very bright. You can have a 35mm or a 50mm as fixed optics at a very good price and great sharpness.
These types of lenses offer you great image quality and fascinating bokeh or blur, as well as being very versatile.
WIDE ANGLE
These are classic landscape lenses. They offer a wide angle of view and a great depth of field, as generic characteristics. You have them with more or less angle, but they are usually between 8mm and 25mm.
Beyond 8mm we would enter the world of the so-called fish eye, with angles of up to 180º.
HIDE OR HIDE
If what deeply encourages you from nature are its animals, you will have to learn to blend in with the environment to try to make your presence go unnoticed and have some opportunity to photograph them.
You have several options, from covering your objectives with camouflage fabrics to a real tent where you spend hours and hours in silence until you find the image you are looking for ?
FLASH
Another of the essential nature accessories if you want to master the light in 100% nature photography. Getting a flash will allow you to finish modeling the light at will by adding it to what you can obtain naturally.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD FLASH?
Here is a summary of the main ones:
- Rotating head to bounce the light (ideally it should rotate vertically and to the sides as well)
- Zoom head to adapt it to different focal lengths that you may be working with
- Recycle rate (the time it takes to reload between shots)
- Guide number (or flash power)
- Max sync speed
- TTL mode and manual option
Some flash recommendations:
CANYON
NIKONS
With this team, a pinch of sacrifice, a large dose of passion, a certain degree of madness and many doses of patience and creativity, nature photography is served.
As you enter this world, you will add your own essential accessories and you will end up knowing exactly what works best for you and what does not, but for that, you know, practice, patience and perseverance.
Now go ahead and get out there and enjoy the best unions there can be; photography and nature. And, if you feel like it, tell us in comments which are the essential accessories for you. We read each other in the next article ?
