Rainforest Photography: A Guide to Equipment

Rainforest photography occurs in one of the most difficult environments for both nature photographers and their photography equipment to work in and stay functional.

Tropical rainforests are wet, hot, and humid, and it is difficult to keep yourself and your equipment dry. In this guide, I’ll cover the equipment you need for successful rainforest photography and how to best look after it in these challenging conditions.

Recommended equipment for rainforest photography

Here is a list of essential and optional photography equipment for successful rainforest photography:

• Digital SLR or mirrorless camera
• Wide-angle lens, e.g., 14-24mm, 16-35mm
• Macro lens, e.g., 105mm
• Zoom telephoto lens, e.g., 100-400mm, 100-500mm, 150-600mm
• Dedicated TTL flash (ideally with radio trigger capability)
• Off-camera flash lead
• Tripod
• Waterproof bag/covers

Optional/More Specialized:

• Second or backup Digital SLR or mirrorless camera
• Second dedicated TTL flash
• Macro flash setup
• Flash softboxes
• Diffuser panel
• Fast prime telephoto lens, e.g., 400mm f2.8, 500mm f4, or 600mm f4
• Fisheye lens, e.g., 8-15mm
• Specialist macro lens, e.g., Laowa 15mm f4, Laowa 24mm probe macro

Read more: What’s the Best Camera for Wildlife Photography?

Lenses for rainforest photography

For successful rainforest photography, it’s useful to have a series of lenses to hand.

Wide-angle lenses

Wide-angle lenses are ideal for creating powerful compositions in tight rainforest confines that involve focusing on a subject like a fungus, insect, or frog in the foreground and placing it within the context of its habitat, which is seen as a broad expanse retreating behind.

It is important that the lens focuses down to 30cm or less so focus is possible when the subject is very near to the front of the lens.

Take care in creating your composition.

Not only is it important to have the subject close and dominating the lower 30% of the frame, but you’ll also need to make sure there are no distracting out-of-focus elements in the background that appear to “emerge” from the subject.

You should also make sure that the background is complimentary, and ideally does not contain too many distracting highlights caused by the sky peeking through the canopy.

Read more: Choosing the Best Foreground and Background

Macro lenses

Most “standard” macro lenses are short telephotos (50-60mm or 105mm) that allow smaller subjects like insects and frogs to occupy the majority of the frame. These are vital in rainforests as so many accessible photographic opportunities fall within their remit.

Macro lenses with fast maximum apertures, like 105mm f2.8, are the best as they not only allow the use of small apertures (often down to f32) that extend the depth of field, but they can also be used “wide open” at their maximum aperture to create lots of extreme out-of-focus areas.

In addition to standard macro lenses, there are now available rather “exotic” extreme macro lenses that fall into two categories.

Firstly, those offering super magnification, up to 5x life-size, and secondly wide-angle macro lenses that allow extremely close focusing, so small subjects appear large in compositions that incorporate plenty of background elements.

Both lens types can be great fun to use in a tropical rainforest.

Read more: What’s the Best Macro Photography Lens?

Extreme Close-Up Lenses

These include lenses like the Canon MP-E 65mm and the Laowa 25mm 2.5-5x Ultra Macro. Both lenses require manual focusing and offer a maximum aperture of f2.8*.

They can be tricky to use, but with practice, offer the chance to get images showing extreme detail of parts of larger subjects or frame-filling images of very small subjects.

With these lenses, getting enough light into the exposure is difficult, so it is often necessary to use flash. Such high magnification also means depth of field is reduced to the extreme, so very precise focusing is required, which is helped by using a focus rail.

Images taken with these lenses often require focus stacking to achieve sufficient depth of field.

*A note of caution – At 2x magnification, an aperture of f2.8 is the equivalent of f4 at life size, and therefore, at 5x magnification, the aperture is the equivalent of 5 stops smaller, i.e., f16.

This means that if you select an aperture on the lens of f16 at 5x magnification, it is the equivalent of an aperture of f96! Thus, at high magnification, very small apertures should be avoided to reduce diffraction, which causes images to appear “soft”.

At 5x magnification, an aperture of f3.2 and focus stacking is a better option.

Read more: How to Focus Stack Macro Photos in the Field

Wide-angle Macro Lenses

Venus Optics makes several innovative macro lenses, two of which fall into the wide-angle category. Both are manual focus only.

The Laowa 15mm f4 wide-angle Macro is the more conventional and offers life-size (1:1) magnification, with a 110° angle of view. In practice, this means it can focus on a subject just 5mm in front of the lens while simultaneously revealing an expansive background.

The Laowa 24mm 2x Macro Probe is both bizarre and intriguing. It offers 2x life-size magnification with an extreme “bug eye” perspective. The front barrel is also waterproof, so it can be used to take photos in shallow water.

It has a maximum aperture of f14, but in practice, works best when used at apertures of f22 or smaller.

This, of course, means there is very little natural light reaching the camera sensor, so it is always necessary to use high ISO values (generally above 2000) to achieve even moderate shutter speeds, and some flash is required in most scenarios.

It is certainly a challenging lens to get to grips with, but the results can be spectacular, and the perspectives achieved are utterly unique.

Telephoto lenses

For most wildlife subjects, longer telephotos (300-600mm) are especially useful.

In rainforests, these lenses are generally used for birds and mammals in places where viewing options are less restricted, for instance, from canopy walkways, hides, viewing platforms, or from boats on a river.

Around many lodges, birds and some mammals can be approachable, so a lens of 300-400mm will certainly produce decent frame-filling images, especially if your camera body has a crop sensor.

To keep equipment manageable, it is often far easier to take a zoom lens that covers ranges of focal lengths.

One solution is to have two zoom lenses, one for close subjects and landscapes and one for more distant subjects, wildlife, and some landscapes: a combination of zooms around 24-120mm and 100-400mm would maximize your photographic opportunities.

If you are serious about your photography, then a prime lens of 400mm or longer will give the best quality results, but of course, these lenses are generally prohibitively expensive.

Read more: Should You Use a Zoom or Prime Telephoto Lens?

Adding support

After a camera and lens, what is the most important piece of equipment to take to a rainforest? A tripod!

Light levels in rainforests are often low, which corresponds to using slow shutter speeds, even in conjunction with high ISO values. This means that the capability to support your camera firmly is imperative.

Around lodges, there are always subjects to photograph – generally birds, but sometimes mammals and perhaps reptiles and amphibians as well.

Here, it is possible to set up in an appropriate location with a telephoto lens on a tripod and get good shots of several species in quick succession.

Similarly, many lodges have purpose-built hides that either target particular species or are placed in areas that offer a more general prospect of photographing a variety of species.

In some instances, these locations might be baited (e.g., some lodges in Costa Rica) or alternatively, they are set up to observe gatherings at natural resources, for instance, clay licks in some Amazonian destinations that attract various parrots and macaws.

Using a tripod or alternative camera support is imperative to achieving sharp images, as longer telephotos tend to be required and the birds are constantly moving.

Walking away from lodges, either through the forest or along streams where there might be open areas, can produce good opportunities at any time: perhaps primates in the trees or hornbills or toucans foraging?

Again, having your camera with a telephoto lens on a tripod is recommended.

Even during boat trips on rainforest rivers (e.g., the Kinabatangan River in Borneo), a tripod is very useful to help steady things, and this is especially true if you are using a telephoto lens of 400mm or more.

Read more: How to Choose the Right Tripod

Choosing a tripod for rainforest photography

A tripod is the most important photo accessory, so there should be no shortcuts. Buy the best you can afford.

The matchstick-legged varieties stocked in many high street shops (and often sold as “video” tripods) simply do not cut it. They couldn’t hold a packet of crisps steady on a calm day, let alone a weighty camera and lens combination on a breezy canopy platform.

There is no point in buying a decent camera and lenses, and then attaching them to something flimsy. Firstly, it simply will not do the job it is meant to do, i.e., hold the camera steady.

And secondly, there is a likelihood of disaster with the thing toppling over and causing major damage to your camera.

My preference is a carbon fibre tripod with chunky screw-locking legs, rather than the snap fixtures (which have a tendency to weaken and cause “leg sag” with time). I also prefer no center column, for two reasons.

Firstly, the column articulation is often a point of weakness that can cause “wobble,” and secondly, a column prevents the tripod from being lowered to ground level. With no center column, the tripod legs splay wide to 180˚, allowing ground-level positioning of the camera.

Some models with center columns have elaborate mechanisms that allow the column to be removed and reversed, so the camera is held beneath the tripod or off to one side.

I don’t like these either; they are awkward and fiddly to use and often allow the tripod to be set in unstable positions, which are likely to topple over.

I recommend Really Right Stuff carbon tripods, which are light and very sturdy with excellent leg-lock mechanisms. Other reliable models are made by Gitzo, Benro, and Leofoto.

Similar careful consideration should be given to the tripod head and the way your camera/lens attaches to this. DO NOT assume you have to buy a matching tripod with a head.

Buy them separately.

Again, many of the choices offered in high street stores are poor and will ultimately lead to frustration. A good quality ball-and-socket head that uses the Arca-style dovetail system is perhaps the most versatile option and is suitable for most circumstances.

For many years now, I have used the Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball-and-socket head with a lever-release clamp.

I then have appropriate Really Right Stuff camera plates on my different bodies, and similarly, an appropriate replacement Really Right Stuff lens foot on each of my larger telephoto lenses.

Again, manufacturers like Gitzo, Benro, and Leofoto all make ball-and-socket heads employing a compatible system. Kirk Enterprise Solutions also make excellent ball-and-socket heads with a full complement of accessories.

Read more: A Guide to Choosing a Tripod Head

Taking care of your kit

First things first – in tropical rainforests, you’ve got to keep your gear working. Rain, of course, is no good for camera equipment, and rainforests are some of the wettest environments on Earth.

Staying dry

Often keeping yourself dry is hard enough, sometimes impossible: good quality rainwear keeps most of the water out, but during torrential tropical downpours, there is no garment on Earth that is totally effective.

Coupled with this, the extra layers generally cause an increase in perspiration (even with so-called “breathable” fabrics), and you may find yourself soaked from the inside. In most instances, I give up trying to keep myself dry and concentrate on looking after my equipment.

Here, an oversized poncho that covers both me and the gear I am carrying works well.

You can afford to get wet, but photographic equipment does need to be looked after.

Although good quality gear is far more robust and resilient than most people give it credit for, the intricate and sophisticated electronics within modern cameras can be very susceptible to moisture.

Watertight hard cases (such as Peli Cases) are ideal for transporting (in aircraft holds) and storing equipment (they also have another important application, more of which later), but conversely, they ot are not practical for carrying gear around in a rainforest.

Read more: Using Cameras in Tropical & Cold Environments

Bring only what you need

Once in the field, it is obviously impractical to carry all your gear all the time. Hence, it pays to plan which combination of kit is likely to suit anticipated photographic situations.

An early morning spent on a canopy walkway, viewing platform, or in a hide will normally involve using a longer telephoto lens, whereas the middle of the day or night walks are generally devoted to smaller subjects, so a couple of small lenses with a flash setup fits the bill.

Under these circumstances, the selected kit can be carried in a photo backpack (with a waterproof cover).

Read more: Taking Your Camera on Expedition? Here’s Some Crucial Advice

Minimize moisture

No matter your level of care, equipment is still likely to get damp at some point. Even if you avoid direct drenching, the excessive humidity in rainforest environments will always find its way into cameras and lenses.

In extreme cases, this can be a severe problem as damaging fungus may form on lens elements or the camera sensor, sometimes as quickly as within a week (although this is exceptional).

So, make sure all surface moisture is removed from your equipment as soon as possible (I carry a small towel on excursions) and NEVER leave equipment sitting in a damp bag or backpack for any length of time.

Also, carry bin liners or other large waterproof bags that can be used in a variety of circumstances to protect your gear.

Use overnight storage

Furthermore, every night (where possible), put your equipment in a sealed container with a desiccant-like silica gel.

This is the other use for a Peli case: I empty my case completely (protective foam, dividers, and all), then place each camera body, lens, and accessory inside with plenty of space in between for air circulation. I then add containers of silica gel and shut the lid tight.

Overnight, the gel absorbs all the moisture from the air inside and from the gear. Silica gel crystals are deep blue when ‘dry’ and turn pink when fully hydrated. They can later be heated or ‘cooked’ (in a saucepan) so the absorbed water ‘evaporates’, and they revert to being blue for reuse.

In conclusion

None of what has been outlined above is meant to make the rainforest sound daunting and inhospitable. Quite the contrary.

In reality, most people visiting rainforests (especially for the first time) will be staying in a lodge or well-run field camp, with facilities to dry clothing and gear and electricity to charge equipment.

Following some of the suggestions outlined here will simply make things easier and will ultimately help you maximize your enjoyment and hopefully get better photos. Rainforests are endlessly exciting and invigorating and a constant source of photographic inspiration.