Essential accessories for nature photography (Are you missing any?)

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 what foot we limp on (see what ends up attracting us more about photography), it is usually time for accessories.

And since nature is a subject 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, the light of a sunset, the reflection of a mountain in a calm lake, or seeing our patience rewarded by taking an elusive animal?

Nature has a thousand forms and, what is better, 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 encompasses many possible scenes. And many possible scenes, equals an 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:

1. tripod and head
2. Filters
   • Neutral Density (ND)
   • Polarizing
   • Neutral gradient filter
3. Remote Switch
4. Goal
   • wide angle
   • regular or standard
   • telephoto
5. Hide or hiding place
6. Flash

Tripod and head to photograph nature

If nature photography in its broadest sense is your thing, the tripod is one of the most important accessories and one that is most worth investing in. These are the characteristics that a good landscape tripod should have, although you can also take a look at our guide to buying one.

Characteristics of a good tripod

• Of robust construction.
• With few sections in the legs: each section is a potential point of instability, so try not to have too many.
• Make it tall enough that you don’t have to extend your center column (it’s more unstable than your legs) but don’t force you to bend over either.
• The best material today is carbon fiber.
• That supports the weight of (at least) your camera with the heaviest lens you have and preferably something else.
• Easily mount and dismount.
• Let it reach the ground.

Head

The best heads for nature photography in general are those with patella of ball 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 that you want to do :).

Filters for nature photography

The most used filters in nature photography and those that we believe will be most useful to start with are:

Neutral Density Filter

this filter It 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 are a fan of what we call the silky effect on 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 depending on whether 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. Here you 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, that occurs between the sky area and the ground area.

Between both halves of the filter, there is a gradation or gradient that makes the transition from one area to another more realistic.

polarizing filter

Another essential filter for nature photography and photography in general is the polarizer. This filter increases the contrast between the sky and the clouds and, more importantly, removes reflections from surfaces.

This will be very useful if on your walks through nature 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.

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 pictures 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.

Objectives

In nature photography, all kinds of objectives can be used, because it ranges from macro photography, to fauna or landscape photography, each of these disciplines requires completely different lenses.

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 your thing is wildlife photography (birds, mammals, etc.) this is your ideal type of lens. Within telephoto lenses you have a wide range of focal lengths: short telephoto lenses (65mm to 100mm), medium telephoto lenses (100mm to 160mm) or long telephoto lenses (160mm to 600mm).

Depending on the photography you want to do, you will need more or less focal range. Although the ideal would be to at least reach 200mm to start doing photography of this type.

Always keep in mind the conversion (or multiplication) factor of your camera when choosing a lens.

standard lens

It’s not that the others are extremely rare, but those between the focal lengths of 25mm to 65mm 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 features. 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 fisheye, with angles of up to 180º.

Hide or hiding place

If what inspires you deeply about 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 an opportunity to photograph them.

Learn to camouflage yourself with the environment 😉

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 dominate the light in nature photography 100%. Getting a flash will allow you to finish modeling the light as you please, 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 be able to bounce the light (ideally, it should rotate vertically and to the sides as well)
• Zoom head to adapt it to the different focal points you may be working with
• Recycle speed (the time it takes to reload between shots)
• Guide number (or flash power)
• maximum sync speed
• TTL mode and manual option

Some flash tips:

Canyon

Nikon