A look up into the canopy and... Idea

Scientific photography in the hands of crazy ecologists can easily become artwork. Less than a week ago we were conducting field work in the subtropical rainforest of Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia. An opportunity for me to try out 3 new things: the Canon 50D, a Sigma 8mm fisheye lens, and a standard way to measure canopy cover (i.e. fisheye canopy photographs which would be computerised and analysed afterward).

It didn't take me long to realise that, by arranging these photographs in a particular way, I can turn the labourious scientific work into fun (okay, I admit that the montage process can be time-consuming too).

The Canopy Blossom. 2011. Canon 50D. Digital photomontage. Photo by A Clark, S Day & HR Lai.

Sadly time is a constraint. The hardcore reality (as per Prof. Kirchhof) is that you just don't have unlimited time for both worlds. Often you realised that you've spent too much time on fun and it's time to go back to serious science.