Flowers and other Beauties at Kirstenbosch

Garden Photography at Kirstenbosch

Flower Photography at Kirstenbosch Garden offers photographers the opportunity to capture vibrant botanical diversity, natural light, and seasonal blooms within one of the world’s most beautiful botanical gardens.

King Protea Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Experimental / Training Session at Kirstenbosch Garden

A few images while experimenting with a different camera / lens set-up during our Saturday visit to Kirstenbosch. I normally use the Canon EOS 70D / EOS 7D Mark II APS-C / crop bodies paired with my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. For this outing I used the Canon EOS 6D (which I almost exclusive use landscape photography) pared with the same lens, The crop factor of the APS-C bodies provides an additional 1.6x magnification (compared to a Canon Full Frame body) when using the same lens. Both body setups will have their advantages and disadvantages in terms of i.e. reach to subject (due to sensor size), autofocus tracking capability, burst speed, depth of field, dynamic range and physical weight.

2026 Update: Top king protea image with Canon EOS R6 Mark III paired with EF 1.4x Teleconverter and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens

These images were captured impromptu during the facilitation of an active student photography training session. Set-up times (for compositions, focal lengths / other settings) where not (always) available.

The three experimental images have a slighter different Lightroom adjustment (than my standard post-processing RAW adjustments) in terms of i.e. exposure, contrast, highlights and shadow properties. This was mainly due to the poor / busy backgrounds of where the images were captured.

Natal Lily Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Natal Lily Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Aperture challenge on the butterfly close-up

The butterfly image should have been captured at a smaller aperture than the f/5.6 used - I personally would have liked the back wing to have had more sharpness and definition. Aperture f/8 - f/11 would have assisted with this.

A Full Frame camera with it's larger sensor and pixels generates a shallower depth of field (more blur) using the same aperture (via the same lens) on an APS-C / Crop camera body. In the fast moving morning I left it at f/5.6 (as we were capturing small birds) and the depth of field provided by the larger aperture is visible.

Olive Woodpecker Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Olive Woodpecker Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Olive Woodpecker Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Olive Woodpecker Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Orange-Breasted Sunbird, Kirstenbosch
Orange-Breasted Sunbird, Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
 
Egyptian Goose Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Juvenile Helmeted Guineafowl Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Juvenile Helmeted Guineafowl Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Dragonfly Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Dragonfly Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Butterfly Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Butterfly Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Cape Honeysuckle Flower Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Cape Honeysuckle Flower Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Red Wildflower Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Red Wildflower Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Angulate Tortoise Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town
Angulate Tortoise Kirstenbosch Garden, Cape Town

Canon Equipment
  • Canon EOS R6 Mark III / Canon EOS 6D
  • Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens
  • Canon EF 1.4x Mark III Teleconverter

AF / Exposure / Lens Settings
  • Autofocus (100 - 400mm)
  • Aperture Priority (Av) Mode
  • Aperture: f/5.6 - f/11
  • ISO (Auto-ISO 100 - 2500)
  • Shutter Speeds (1/250s-1/800s)
  • Handheld / IS Enabled

Image Post-Processing
  • Adobe Lightroom Classic (Version 13)

Bird & Flower Photography Training Practical Kirstenbosch

Kirstenbosch Garden Sculpture Photography

Canon Photography Training Milnerton Woodbridge Island | Kirstenbosch Cape Town | Intaka Island

Milnerton Lagoon / Woodbridge Island Photography, Cape Town
Cape Town-based Canon photography trainer, educator, and Conscious Intelligence (CI) researcher specialising in nature photography, visual perception, Canon EOS systems and AI.

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