Nature Photography Equipment

Nature photography encompasses a lot of aspects including landscapes, wildlife, flowers, and macros.

Landscape Nature Photographer:

For the landscape photographer, a super wide angle lens with a focal length somewhere between 10-28mm is recommended to capture a vast area or to frame a large object such as a waterfall when the photographer is relatively close to to it. Wide angle photography uses different techniques; for example, usually, you'll want to be very close to your main subject, if possible, otherwise, your subject may be too small in the picture for it to be noticed. Waterfalls, rivers, landscapes, trees, and anything normally too large to be fully seen with a normal or telephoto lens are all excellent candidates for the super wide angle.

For Canon and Nikon users, Sigma has a super wide angle lens for about $500 for both Nikon and Canon, which is a 10mm-20mm lens built for DX DSLRs. Nikkor's 12-24mm lens is about $1000, and Canon has comparable lenses as well.

In addition to having access to wide angle shots, the landscape nature photographer will also benefit from normal focal lengths of 28-70mm when it's desirable to shoot something slightly closer than the super wide angle, and a telephoto lens of 70mm-300mm to zoom in on a distant object such as a mountain, waterfall in the distance, or other natural feature. Telephoto lenses compress space, and I've seen where people use this technique on rolling hills or mountains for dramatic effect.

Wildlife Nature Photographer:

The telephoto lens is the nature photographer's bread and butter. It's important to have a lens with as large an aperture and as long of a focal length as a person can afford. These lenses get expensive very quickly, but a reasonable lens can be purchased for about $500 such as the Nikkor 70mm-300mm VR lens. A faster (bigger aperture) lens for the same focal length is going to cost at least $2000, so it's a good starting point for all but professional wildlife photographers. With the lens, you'll still need to be relatively close to get a good shot of a small bird, but it won't be a problem for larger wildlife such as deer, moose, or bison.

A macro lens is also of use to the wildlife photographer that specializes in shooting insects and other small creatures because the macro lens can focus at a very short distance.

Flower Nature Photographer:

The macro lens is the mainstay for the flower photographer, along with any other equipment that magnifies and shortens the focus range. Bellows, extension tubes, and magnification filters are common to get in close to capture the delicate parts of a small flower. Having a huge aperture is also important keep a narrow depth of field. While you're getting started, a 50mm 1.8f prime lens combined with a 3x magnification filter will produce good results for about $100. For about $300, you can get a 50mm 1.4f, which will narrow the depth of field even further, but it's probably not worth it at first especially since a macro lens start at around $300 as well.

Other Equipment for the Nature Photographer:

In addition to camera equipment, you'll need a good pack. There are backpacks available that combine a pack with a camera bag for about $200. Since you'll be doing a lot of hiking, it's good to limit how bulky your equipment can be. Also, consider buying a monopod to help stabilize your photos. Monopods can be doubled up as a walking stick or can be stored away in your pack. You'll also need food and water while hiking and other safety precautions, which is described in detail in my article titled, what to take on a nature photography hiking excursion.