NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY IN BORNEO BY JOHN NAT ARIFIN

The nature photography trip to Borneo focused on three key areas :

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1. Macro photography
   
   

2. Bird and primate photography
   
   

3. Scenic and landscape photography
   
   

Workshop will focus on the following skill set:

• Exposure skills in low light.

• Flash techniques in the forest

• Bird photography in forest

• Macro photography on insects and plants in daylight.

• Nocturnal macro photography

• HDR and panorama techniques in landscape

• Digital workflow using Adobe Lightroom 
  
  

The tropical rainforest wasn't always that gloomy with rain and mists all day as there were windows of beautiful blue skies.

Habitats information:

1. Kubah National Park (Lowland forest) 

2. Bako Natonal Park (Coastal forest)

3. Borneo Highland Resort (Montane forest)

During the trip, John will guide participants on how to capture and create powerful images. When time allowed, after dinner photo critique will be conducted among the participants to gain further insight and knowledge into the image, the subject and the environment. 

The 6 day workshop will be packed with daily & nightly outing plus invaluable learning experience.

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The 6 day photography workshop in Borneo will be packed with daily
& nightly outing plus invaluable learning experience.

PREVIOUS TRIP REPORT & HIGHLIGHT

The 6 day trip to Borneo recently was by far one of the most productive trips we ever had. Not only we saw good sighting of elusive tropical birds and frogs, collectively as a team of photographers during the Borneo Rainforest Photography Workshop and through the diversity of the group, we saw and captured more species as a group. 

We had a fabulous and rewarding trip even though the weather condition was hot and humid with occasional shower and thunderstorm. We photographed from Asian Paradise Flycatcher (White phase), Red-bearded Bee Eater (breeding), Orang Utans, Wallace's Flying Frog to Horned Frog.

Challenges in Photographing in the tropical rainforest of Borneo

Photographing in the rainforest is not easy because there is very little light and subjects are elusive. The tropical rainforest is one of the most diversified environments with more than 50 % of the world species. Unlike the normal wild life in the open area in Australia or Africa, light in the rainforest is very dim and subjects are not exposed. Good knowledge and skill are the key ingredients in locating and photographing the subjectsPhotographing in the rainforest was not easy as the subjects were elusive and the lighting was poor. 

The strategy is unique to the tropical rainforest when shooting in low light. The rain brought us blessing to the sighting of the tree frogs. The humid and wet weather also brought moisture that create spectacular mists in the forest when the sun's ray warms the temperature up.