Beginners’ series on digital SLR photograpy

SLR photography — a beginners’ guide
The basics that will make sense of your fancy new toy

Learning from examples
Picking up where the first article finished

Understanding histograms
Making sense of this handy tool

Washed-out colours in photos
Why it happens, and how to prevent it

Understanding Exposure Comepensation
Why your camera gets it wrong, and what to do about it

Megapixels
How many is enough?

Photo Sales
Looking for an Australian nature pic?
My photo library is growing

Wildlife photography
An unhelpful guide
page 1
page 2
page 3

Indian mynahs
These little brown birds are taking over the best
nesting spots, at the expense of the locals

Noisy miners
Sometimes mistaken for Indian mynahs

Starlings
Another feral pest, or not?

Australian white ibis
Conservation takes an unexpected twist

Geese teeth
Some birds have teeth. No, really. Sort of ...

Rainbow lorikeets
Raucous and colourful, but not always welcome

Sulphur-crested cockatoos
Beautiful birds with an awful call

Glossy black cockatoos
Casuarinas' seed eaters

Common water birds around Sydney
This guide identifies the usual culprits

Pacfic Black ducks
A common Aussie duck

Black swans
Bird emblem of Western Australia

Are they crows or ravens in Sydney?
The answer's in the neck feathers

Brush turkeys
Cool birds with huge nests

Darters
Comfortable on land, in the air and in water

Australian pelicans
For such a big, clumsy-looking bird on land,
they sure look graceful in the air

Fire and the Australian bush
The story of fire is a complicated one

Lizard bite
Sometimes you get more than you bargained for

City critters
Some of the best critters hang out
where you'd least expect them

Cute stuff
Critters sure can look cute when they're little

Some big Australian trees
We're chopping them down so fast most people have
never seen a big gum tree. Here are some nice ones

A few unusual Australian trees
They might not be the biggest, but they sure look good

Will Australia's giant trees return?
Maybe not. This looks at some of the reasons why.
It makes you wonder why we're in such a
hurry to chop them all down

Is this the world's longest insect?
This critter is for real. All 42 cm (16.5 inches) of it

Common Australian orb-weaving spiders
Most of the time, in Eastern Australia, you can
narrow that big spider in your garden
down to one of these

Golden orb weaver spiders
Common, and harmless

Huntsman spiders
Big, hairy, scary and timid

Fear of huntsman spiders
Some things you can do about it

How many eyes do spiders have?
Quite a lot, actually

How many eyes do insects have?
The number varies

The amazing net-casting spiders
These handsome critters have a
remarkable method of catching prey

Commensal spiders
Eating the leftovers

Jumping spiders
These guys are some of the most decorative spiders

What is a spider?
No really. What makes a spider a spider?

How I catch spiders
Here's how I catch them to take them outside

Camouflaged critters
Blending in to a scene near you

Feeding wild animals
Is it a good idea?

Feral animals
What's the real meaning of that term?