Lou Coetzer Nature Photographer

Lou Coetzer Nature Photographer Head Adjudicator
Nikon Africa Photographic Awards 2010 and Head Adjudicator and Director of Natures Best Photography Africa 2015/16/17.
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Highly acclaimed multi award winning photographer, master of three genres, holder of three Fellowships and one Associateship from The Photographic Society of South Africa, winner of the SA Professional Sport Photographer of the Year, father of the Nikon Training Academy, Inventor of the worlds first revolving custom photographic chair installed in vehicles and boats across the African continent, presenter of a Master Photography Talks series at the Natural History Museum London.

THE HISTORICAL VAULT 1 : Chobe River, Botswana Three birds. One strike. One story. A young Nile crocodile exploded from ...
18/06/2026

THE HISTORICAL VAULT 1 : Chobe River, Botswana
Three birds. One strike. One story.

A young Nile crocodile exploded from the Chobe River and caught three Turtle Doves in a single strike.
Two disappeared almost immediately.
The third wasn't so fortunate.

With a broken wing, it somehow escaped the crocodile's jaws and scrambled up the riverbank. For a moment, survival seemed possible.
Then a young Chacma Baboon appeared.

The dove hesitated.
The baboon advanced.

Realising the danger had simply changed shape, the terrified bird rolled back down the bank toward the water.
A fatal decision.

The movement was all the crocodile needed.
In an instant it launched from the shallows, grabbed the dove and ended the story exactly where it had begun.
Nature can be brutal, but it is never short of drama.
What strikes me today is not the crocodile, the doves, or even the outcome.It is the Metadata & Date:

Nikon D3S | 600mm +1.4 X Converter | F5.6 |@ 1/6400 sec | ISO 8000 | EV-1.012/5/2011 @ 18:28:37!

Fifteen years later with my OM Mirrorless System I am still working much the same way.

High shutter speeds. Prepared for the unexpected. Ready before the moment happens.
The technology has changed.
The principle hasn't.
Set yourself up for success and let nature write the story.

14/06/2026

Bee 6 Village Weaver 0 : Aloe Farm Hartbeespoort SA

Aloe Farm, Hartbeespoort.
Photography: Lou Lyrics : Lou Song Veronica

I wasn't photographing bees. I wasn't photographing Village Weavers.

I was simply set up for success when nature decided to write a comedy.

This bee completed a full circle around a rather confused male Village Weaver before disappearing as quickly as it arrived.

No planning.
No prediction

Just one of those wonderfully ridiculous moments that remind me why I love wildlife photography.

OM-1 Mark II • Pro Capture SH1 120 FPS RAW
150-400mm + 1.25TC
770mm FFE • F4.5 • 1/25600 sec ISO 12800 • EV -1.3

Stills Edited In DXO 9 and Stills To Video DaVinci Resolve Studio 20

Sometimes nature doesn't give you drama.
Sometimes it gives you stand-up comedy.

A Brief Visit From The Grey Go-Away Bird: Aloe Farm Hartbeespoort Dam RSA Before Veronica and I disappeared onto the roa...
04/06/2026

A Brief Visit From The Grey Go-Away Bird: Aloe Farm Hartbeespoort Dam RSA

Before Veronica and I disappeared onto the road for 30 days of bad weather, patchy internet and even patchier cellphone reception, I spent a few enjoyable hours with a friend at Aloe Farm in Hartbeespoort.

The aloes were magnificent as always. The birdlife was fairly quiet, but then this Grey Loerie (Go-Away Bird) suddenly arrived, announced its presence in typical noisy fashion, posed for a split second, and disappeared just as quickly.

No planning.
No prediction.
Just another reminder that nature rewards those who are prepared when opportunity arrives.

Over the next few months I'll be presenting practical photography and editing workshops in the Aloe Farm area.
Watch this space.

In the meantime, set yourself up for success, enjoy the process, and never underestimate the value of being ready when nature decides to share a moment.

OM1MKII • 150-400mm + 1.25x TC +2.0 X Ext Converter @ FFE 1428mm / F9 @ 1/32000 sec / ISO 6400 / EV -2.3

19/05/2026

AT1 - Salt, Steel & Thunder : Sebastian Inlet Florida USA

Song by Veronica Coetzer

He came screaming over the Atlantic like a silver fighter jet…locked onto a baitfish with impossible precision.
One split second later, AT1 owned the sky.
Royal Terns are elegance and violence stitched together by wind. Pure aerodynamic theatre above the chaos of Sebastian Inlet.

No second chances. No hesitation. Just instinct, timing and absolute commitment.
And somewhere inside 50 frames per second… one frame becomes a story.

AT1 • Royal Tern OM-1 Mark II • SH2 50 FPS • RAW 150-400mm +1.25TC F4.5 1/20000 sec • ISO 6400 • F9

15/05/2026

Salt On The Water : Sebastian Inlet Florida USA

The osprey does not dive. It negotiates gravity.
One second it hangs in the Florida light… the next it folds itself into wind, salt and chaos.

And then comes the lift.
Wings fighting water. Talons carrying silver. Ocean spray exploding behind one of nature’s great fishermen.

These sequences were never about predicting the moment perfectly. They were about being ready when nature decided to improvise.
That’s the real lesson.

Because wildlife rarely performs according to our plans. But every now and then… it gives us poetry with salt on its wings.

OM-1 Mark II / SH2-50 FPS • RAW/ 150-400mm +2.0 X Ext Converter / F9 @ 1/32000 sec

13/05/2026

32,000ths of a Second In Black & White-From 66 Stills To Magic

At first, it looks like an ordinary penguin running out the surf.
Then the video slows down… and the ocean starts repeating the shape of the wing in the water spray.
Again. Again. Again.

A tiny African penguin creating poetry at 1/32000 sec and 50 FPS.
People say you don’t need extreme shutter speeds. And they are right… if you’re okay missing the magic your eyes could never see in real time.

These birds are highly endangered, wildly beautiful, and somehow still ignored as “serious” wildlife subjects by many photographers.
Meanwhile, Africa keeps producing moments like this.
Tiny warrior.
Black and white feather.
African light.
A second of impossible beauty.

SH2 • 50 FPS • RAW OM-1 Mark II • 150-400mm +1.25x TC @ 1/32000 sec • ISO 6400 EV -2.0

23/04/2026

05:45 - First light, First laughter: Samara Karoo Lodge Greater Karoo SA
At 50 FPS and 1/20,000 sec, this moment lasted barely a heartbeat…
…but what it carried was bigger than speed.

The front cub had already lost most of its tail in a Chacma Baboon attack. By all logic, the morning should have felt heavy.
Instead, in the first soft light of day, the cubs played.
That’s what I love about nature: it does not waste too much time feeling sorry for itself. It heals by moving. By playing. By staying in the story.

And suddenly, what could have been a sad reminder became something else entirely - a small, beautiful lesson in resilience, wrapped in first light and a bit of wild joy.
Sometimes magic is not in perfection. Sometimes it’s in the fact that life still finds a way to smile.

Meta Data: OM1 +150-400mm F4.5 FFE 300-800mm F4.5/F4.5 @ 1/20000 Sec/EV-1.7 SH2 @ 50FPS- Photography By Lou Song by Veronica

14/04/2026

24 Frames in 0.2 Seconds : Greater Masai Mara Kenya Africa
Lilac-breasted Roller take-off…
or what your brain calls:
“Wait… what just happened?”

At 120 FPS, this moment unfolds in about 0.2 seconds - but gives me 24 chances to see what the eye completely misses.

One second it’s calm.Next second - colour, wings, chaos, and a full-blown argument with gravity.
These birds don’t take off… they explode into flight.

And somewhere in those 24 frames - is the one that makes it all worth it.

Meta Data: OM1MkII + 150-400mm F4.5 + 1.25 X Conv (FFE 375mm -1000mm) / F5.6 @ 1/32000 Sec/ ISO 3200 / EV 1.3 PROSH1

09/04/2026

Gravity Has a Sense of Humour : Sebastian Inlet Florida USA

Osprey dives… look vertical - until you try to photograph them. 😄
Coming from years of horizontal panning, this was a proper wake-up call.
They don’t drop straight down. They curve. They twist. They adjust mid-dive with ridiculous agility - and suddenly you’re trying to pan vertically while everything in your muscle memory says “left to right.”
At first… not pretty.
Towards the end of my time at Sebastian Inlet, I made a simple change - I switched to my video gimbal.
Game changer.
Smoother movement. Better control. More keepers.
Proof (again) that sometimes it’s not about a new camera or settings… it’s about adapting your technique to what nature is actually doing.
Never too old to learn.
Hell… I’m in injury time - and still figuring things out. 😄
Same recipe. Same result. More fun.



Meta Data: OM1MkII + 150-400mm F4.5 + 2.0 X Conv (FFE 600mm -1600mm) / F9 @ 1/32000 Sec/ ISO 3200 / EV 1.7
SH2 @ 50 FPS RAW

31/03/2026

When Results Override Opinion : Aloe Farm Hartbeespoort SA
It’s often a foreign concept when I say: being set up for success is sometimes more important than fully understanding behaviour.
I’ve taken a fair bit of flack for that.
But think about it for a moment.
The first time I photographed a White-bellied Sunbird, I understood nothing about its behaviour - yet I was successful from the start. Ditto for the Hummingbird’s of Sedona , The Ospreys of Sebastian Inlet.
Why?
Because most of the real moments in wildlife photography don’t happen where we expect them. They happen in the wrong direction… at the wrong time… outside prediction.
The same applies everywhere. Set your camera for the impossible moment-always- and have more fun please!

Meta Data: OM1MkII + 150-400mm F4.5 + 1.25 X Conv (FFE 375mm -1000mm) / F5.6 @ 1/32000 Sec/ ISO 3200 / EV 2.0
PROSH1

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Umgeni Street
Pretoria
0181

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Monday 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00
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Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Friday 09:00 - 17:00

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