It’s a Koala’s Life!

We were up at Yanchep National Park yesterday at a meeting with Jenny (the Park’s Marketing Manager) talking about getting some of our products into their shop. The meeting went very well (watch this space) and afterwards we went for a walk around the park ending up at the Yanchep Inn for a quick lunch.

Yanchep National Park is a great place for a day out and what better way to end our visit than a quick trip through the Koala enclosure.

The Koala’s were in their naturally laid back state, perched on branches and snuggled into the nooks and crannies that they always seem to find up in the heights of the trees.

These guys sure make a stress free life look appealing, it sure is a Koala’s life 🙂

Capturing these sleepy little guys is not as easy as you’d think, here’s a few tips for getting better pictures of Koala’s as they doze the day away in the tree tops:

• Whenever possible shoot away from the sun, that will help you get those nice blue skies while lighting up the Koala at the same time
• Use a higher ISO speed (400 – 800) to make sure you get a fast shutter speed
• To get a well lit shot of the Koala try overexposing your shot by a few stops as the auto metering will try to expose for the much brighter sky
• Hang around for a while, eventually even sleepy Koala’s will move around or shift into a better position
• Using the longest lens / focal length you can will get you some nice close ups of the Koala’s but make sure you keep your shutter speed high enough to avoid camera shake
• Sometimes it’s nice to zoom out a bit and get a shot of the Koala in his surroundings
• Try to keep the surroundings natural, avoiding sprinklers and buildings in the background
• Have fun and remember these guys are endangered so no touching or disturbing them
• Respect the animals and environment you are photographing, always remember the old adage “Leave nothing but footprints”
• Respect the owners of the park you are in and abide by their rules at all times