Jefz Lim Photography Blog: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Exploring Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

at 11:25 pm
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Beside birds photograph at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (covered in my post yesterday), there are also many other interesting subjects. Each time I go there, I spot new things to photograph.

Close Encounter with Four-Legged Lizards

Four-legged lizards are perhaps the easiest and most common to be spotted among the mangrove forest and along the walkway due to their sizes which can be more than 1m long. The big ones does not seem to be afraid of human as I can get as close as 2 feets from them. In most cases, they would run away when I make too much noise or get too close. Anyway, precaution should still be taken although they appear to be "friendly" - I don't know if they will attack and bite :) I was also lucky to spot a baby four-legged lizard which is only less 10cm long.

Fast Moving Squirrels

There are a lot of squirrels around, and you know it when you hear tree branches snapping sound. Squirrels move very fast among the trees which makes it hard to track them with the camera. The low light condition also makes it difficult for a shutter speed fast enough to freeze their movement for a sharp picture. They are also quick to escape your view with the slightest sound made.

Observing and anticipating their movement, along with a higher ISO and large aperture would help in getting a shutter speed fast enough to get a good sharp picture of them.

Hard to Spot Insects?

Definitely in a mangrove forest, there are definitely lots of insects - ants, beetles, snails, grasshoppers, spiders and some insects that I never even see it before. Although there are many insects, I think it is very hard to "search" for them. I did not purposely hunt for them - I only photograph them only if I stumbled upon them by chance.

Dragonflies

Dragonflies can also be spotted at the freshwater pond area within the reserve. If you are interested in photographing dragonflies, you can refer to some of my tips given in my previous article on Punggol Promenade Riverside Walk.

Wetland Plants and Mangrove

Mangrove with their roots sticking out of the mud/water can make nice photography subject.

If you think that plants in the reserve looks "all the same" and nothing interesting to photograph, then you could be wrong. Try look out for plants that have interesting patterns such as spirals which will make good pictures.

Mangrove Habitat

There are wooden bridges that cuts across the mangrove area which will allow you to spot and photograph interesting living organism (e.g. crabs, shellfish, etc.) commonly found living or growing in mangrove area.

The picture of a huge mudskipper which I spotted by observing the mud swamp.

Important Things to Note

Get hold of the wetland reserve map at the visitor centre (or download it online beforehand). The map indicates the location of the resting stations/huts for shelter which could be useful if caught in sudden rain. The map will also come in handy if you are lost.
Make sure you are medical fit enough to "survive" the walk in the wetland reserve. It is more than 10km to explore all the available routes. You could get exhausted fast if you are going to carry lots of photography equipment.
Decide what photography equipment to bring as they will add on to the weight. The variety of photography subject requires lens with a wide range focal length (i.e. from macro to wide angle to super telephoto).
Avoid venturing into the wetland reserve during rainy weather or thunderstorms. Always check weather forecast before deciding to go to a wetland reserve. You will be surrounded by tress and definitely do not wish to get struck by lightning.
Singapore weather is very humid and you can get dehydrated from the walk, especially carrying additional weights from your camera equipment.
While it is good to get closer to your subjects when photographing them, you also have to be careful not to fall into mangrove swamps. Safety comes first.
Insect repellents! I was bitten by tons of mosquitoes (really a lot)... These mosquitoes are one of a kind - they continue to stick on my skin even when I try to wave them off. I had to smack and kill them.

Please visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Destinations/Singapore/Sungei-Buloh-Wetland-Reserve/ to see more photos ...

Birds Photography @ Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

at 11:34 pm
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Seeing that the weather is not too bad in the morning, I went down to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and see if I can catch some photographs of birds. The last time that I came here was almost 3 years back, and I did not manage to spot and photograph any birds due to bad weather.

This time round, I was happy to be see many birds. However, photographing bird can be very frustrating as they never seem to keep still long enough for you. Although I am not exceptionally good with birds photography, I will still share some of my experiences relating to photographing birds at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Sufficient Light and Speed is Key

High shutter speed will avoid potential camera shake and freeze birds' motion. A shutter speed of at least 1/320s is required for a sharp photograph of birds that are not in flight. If you want to freeze the birds in flight, an even higher shutter speed of at least 1/1000s is required.

Due to the need for speed, photographing birds in direct sunlight would be ideal. Unless the lighting condition allows me to use a lower ISO, I would use an ISO of 400 or higher in exchange for the shutter speed that I need.

Long Telephoto Lens

At Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, birds are photographed from observation stations which could be quite a distance from the birds resting spot. As such, a super telephoto lens of at least 400mm is required if you want a close-up photograph of the birds.

If you do not have such a super telephoto lens, then just have to live with a cropped version of the taken photograph with the birds close-up, which is of a smaller photograph size. An extender can also be used on the telephoto lens to increase the focal length, but may result in two-stops of effective light loss.

For me, I used my longest available telephoto zoom lens (i.e. EF70-200mm F/2.8L IS II USM) on a cropped camera body for the additional reach.

Aperture Priority (AP) or Time/Shutter Priority (Tv) Mode?

Shooting in AP mode will allow greater control of the depth of field when photographing birds at eye-level view. Shooting with an aperture of F/4 - F/5.6 will produce a striking sharp with a strong bokeh in the background.

At Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, the observation station are on a much higher level ground and the bird photographed will always be having the water or ground of swamp as background. So it makes no difference what aperture is being used as the depth of field will be beyond the background. Therefore, Time/Shutter Priority mode could be a better choice in this case to maintain the shutter speed that is required.

Use AI Servo Focusing (i.e. Continuous Auto-Focus)

Using continuous focusing mode will allow the subject to be tracked and stay sharp in the focus when the bird is moving around until the shot is ready to be taken.

Use a Tripod

Do you want to carry that weight of the telephoto lens and take the shot without a tripod? Camera shake may be introduced if shot is taken without a tripod considering the weight of the lens and need to move your camera/lens with the subject. So, use a tripod such as one with ball heads, that can allow you to quickly changing angle and position while tracking the birds.

Focus on the Eye

It is important to focus on the eye, as the sharpness in the eye will bring out the liveness of bird. For ease of doing that, the camera should be set to auto-focus on the center spot only i.e. turn off automatically detect focusing spot.

Continuous Multiple Shots

Try going for multiple shots with a single press on the shutter when the birds' movement are too unpredictable and difficult to anticipate. Surely one of these shots will capture the split moment that the bird keep still enough for the shutter speed.

Be Patience and Observe

I always debated within myself on this point. If I spot a nice-looking bird that landed somewhere near me, I would want to take the shot as fast as possible before the bird fly away - that "moment" is important for me and there is no time to observe them first.

However in the case of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, the flocks of birds gathered at the resting spot is unlikely to just fly away immediately. Thus I recommend to watch and observe their movement for a while, so that you can better anticipate their actions in your shots.