Wildlife Photography

 On a recent trip up the Rio Negro in Brazil I discovered a new passion for wildlife photography. I became a big fan of the 3-toed Sloth. I suppose one reason I like the sloth is that it is slow moving, extremely slow-moving and therefore quite easy to shoot in action! Well first you have to find them hidden in the trees. I like their faces and how much they remind me of a robber or bandit trying to evade our detection. 

While out on our launches we would be looking for any wildlife and come upon birds which are A LOT harder to shoot at least with the equipment I had. Getting up close was not remotely possible as they were fearful and shy of us even when we were silent. I never saw a Toucan close enough to get a good photo. Only a shot of a kingfisher was what I got when shooting birds in the wild.

We could go out 4 times per day - the early morning launches at sunrise were really nice! We would also make a landing and hike through the jungle. At night we would go out again on the launches and our guide would use a spot light to find wildlife. We ventured on kayaks as well, but I was too worried how I could paddle (especially with Dawn on board) and handle my camera all at the same time.

I had fun shooting squirrel monkeys as well.


I learned though that with my 70-300mm lens in crop mode and then using Topaz to upscale and improve noise and sharpen I could get a really great shot! I have to wonder how it would have looked with even stronger lens even with fewer megapixels??

I an interested in a camera w fixed lens that one fellow traveler had. It is the Sony RX10 Mark IV - a 20 MG 28-600mm solution that seems like it would be a great travel camera. It has some extra cool features for Moon and astrophotography as well that interest me. I think there is a 2x doubler that can be enabled with it too, it isn't exactly a digital zoom, but something like it that a reviewer said SONY did a good job with. Since this SONY camera has been out since ~2018 I wonder if a Mark V model would come out soon? I can be patient! 

I don't know how the guides were able to find some of the wildlife that they found. It was amazing just how well-tuned their senses were to detecting and identifying birds and other wildlife while out on our expeditions.

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