Long exposure of fireflies in Nipah palm, Borneo. Location: River Sekonyer, Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan, Indonesia.
At night – on each side of the river Sekonyer – fireflies twinkle like Christmas tree lights in the Nipah palms by the river’s edge. I’ve photographed them many times using a variety of long exposures to capture some of their faint yellow light trails that they make as they fly around. On this image I’ve also used a second camara positioned about 3 metres to my left to give a burst of fill flash at the end of the long exposure to light up some of the patterns of the Nipah palms.
Technical information:
Camera used to take photo: Nikon D700; Lens: Nikon 70-200 2.8; Aperture: f2.8; Shutter speed: 20 sec; Manual mode and manual focus; ISO 6400; High noise reduction: On
Camera used for side fill flash: Nikon D300s with Sigma 150mm macro lens and Sigma ring flash; 1/150th sec fill flash.
Post processing: White balance changed to tungsten; Noise reduction using Topaz de-noise 5 Photoshop plug in. plug in.


