Guest Post: “Wildlife Photographs That Work” by Chad Cocking

Greetings Photo-Africa readers!

My name is Chad Cocking, and for the last three years I have been working at a field guide in the northern Timbavati Private Game Reserve, part of the Greater Kruger Park.  I was based at Motswari Game Lodge, a warm and welcoming camp that allowed me to live a dream and be out I the bush on a daily basis, photographing the animals that I came to love so much.

One of the biggest benefits of being in the bush everyday is the number of photographic opportunities that one is presented with, and it was the chance of being able to capture these moments that helped keep my passion for the bush alive, and it is this love for photography that I will miss most during 2010 as I sit in Johannesburg to complete my studies.  But at least I have many thousands of images to remind me of the magical time I had in the bush.

Now as a photographer, I wont profess to be an expert, but I am a very keen enthusiast and believe that I have a fairly good eye for what makes or breaks an image, or how one could improve upon a ‘good’ image with a few changes to the composition or processing.  I learnt much of what I know about photography through giving constructive critique on many thousands of images on a South African based photographic forum, called Outdoorphoto.  By scrolling through the myriad of images and giving the photographer my opinion on the image, I slowly gained a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t in an image, but always did so in a way that would positively reinforce the good points about the image, so as not to break the photographers spirit, but rather give him or her the desire to go out there and improve on his or her work.

Now putting into practice what I preach is easier said than done, but a critical eye at least allows me to evaluate the positives and negatives of my own images, although I often find too many of the latter!  While it s never a bad thing to be critical of ones work, one must be careful not to be over-critical.

It was with this in mind that Gerry asked me to contribute towards a Guest Post on Photo-Africa, and to take a number of my images and discuss what I think makes them ‘work’.  I have selected a dozen odd images that caught my eye and rank amongst my personal favourites.  Not one of these images are a perfect shot, or anywhere near, but they all have a major element that stands out to overcome any of the minor negative aspects that stand in the way of making it a ‘picture perfect’ shot, so with that, let me present to you some of images.

“Dust Bowl”

Canon 1DmkII, Canon 70-200 f/2.8, 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400

This image was taken at the back end of a herd of 600-plus buffalo as they headed towards a nearby waterhole for a late afternoon drink in a riverbed.  My low position meant that the sunlight was quite muted in the shot, and just caught the background line of trees, but that didn’t really bother me as the dust created by the herd gave this shot a very moody atmosphere.  Animals walking away from the camera don’t often work, but I was lucky that this bull had stopped and turned to look at us while the rest of the herd disappeared into the dust.  Applying the rule of thirds led to a nice balanced composition.

The one issue with the RAW image was that the Auto White Balance had given the image a very cool feeling, and I needed to up the colour temperature to 6400K to restore some warmth to it.  To get a slightly higher shutter speed, I underexposed slightly, but the problem with this technique is that when it is lightened in post-processing, the noise in the image becomes a draw back.

“Hyena and Cub”

Canon 1DmkIIN, Canon 500mm f/4 lens, 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 400

These poor animals often get an undeserved bad name, and an image like this says much about their more tender and caring side.  You can never go wrong with young animals in a wildlife image, and this is only strengthened when you can capture interaction with a sibling or its mother.  Unfortunately the light was quite poor this afternoon, the sun being followed by a small band of clouds that refused to let the warm glow of the golden sun pop through.  One positive was that the muted light allowed me to extract a whole lot of detail from the shot, and get a very crisp portrait of the scene.

One very positive aspect of this image is the low angle that was achieved by having the hyena’s on top of a small termite mound that passed as their den.  In wild life, the lower the angle of view, the better, and this worked well in my favour here.  The biggest downfall of this image is the fact that I had to shoot through a twiggy bush, and the out-of-focus branches do mar the image slightly, but by opening up my aperture to f/4, I attained a shallow depth of field that limited the branches impact as much as possible

“Fighting Lions”

Canon 30D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8, 1/400, f/5.6, ISO 400

There is nothing more exciting or frustrating for a wildlife photographer than to photograph some intense action.  The excitement comes in the form of trying to capture the ultimate wildlife image, the frustration often comes when reviewing the images and realising that you didn’t quite get the shot!  This fight over a buffalo kill between two neighbouring prides of lions happened in such a flash that I literally picked up my camera and started firing away, and was very nervous to review the results!  Luckily in the 3 seconds that the fight lasted, I managed to get a handful of decent images; fairly well composed, nothing cut off, correctly exposed and sharp.  Unfortunately the light was against me, and after trying to process the colour version of the shot without much luck, I decided to try a B+W conversion, and I think that allowed me to get far more out of the shot that I would otherwise have got.

A small amount of cropping to centre the action and exclude some of the busy background was needed.  I often pass comment on people’s images about the fact that they mustn’t place the subject in the centre of the frame, but this is not a hard and fast rule, and it revolves around finding a balance.  In this shot, the two main subjects balance one other perfectly and that leads to a central placement being the best.

The B+W conversion adds to the drama of the scene and brings out the dust nicely.  Playing with the filter options for a monochrome conversion (settling on a Red Filter), the contrast, shadows and the WB settings, I managed to fins a result I was happy with, with enough contrast and light and dark areas to work; too much grey never works in a B+W conversion.

“Leopard Rock”

Canon 1DmkIIN, Canon 500 f/4, 1/400, f/5, ISO 320

It had always been a dream setting for; a large rock sitting in the middle of the seasonal Nhlaralumi riverbed that winds its way through the reserve.  All I needed was an obliging subject, then one morning I found two!  It was still early one winters morning, so the suns light was warm and golden, and the mother leopard and her nearly independent daughter were surprisingly full of life and were interacting at a level I had not seen for months.  Everything was perfect, mom was lying on the rocks, and the daughter was stalking up on her, all I needed to do was get into a good position…but the rock was big.  Very big.  I could not get closer to the subjects, and I already had a 500mm lens slapped on the camera, so I had to make do with the what I had, and that was a stunning environment.

Very often we forget to show the subjects in their natural environment, and we too often go for the close up portrait shots.  Look, if I had a choice, I would have preferred this to be a frame filling shot of the action, but I had no choice, and gave the interacting leopards a much smaller role to play in the scene, and the beautiful setting became the stage.  A panoramic crop of the scene helped emphasise the landscape, and using the rule of thirds I placed the subjects off centre to give the scene some balance.  I balanced the subjects by including a lot of ‘dead’ space to the left of them.

Not much processing needed to be done on this image as the light was just so good.  The camera’s metering overexposed the scene slightly, but that allowed me to control the noise when I dropped the exposure in the RAW processing.  An accurate white balance was gained through finding a white point in the image that I was happy with, and the dark background does a fantastic job of making the subjects stand out.

“Elephant Eden”

Canon 30D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8, 1/500, f/4, ISO 320

This image doesn’t immediately jump out at the viewer, but I just love the tranquil setting of the scene, the late afternoon light, and the elephant dwarfed against his environment.   The colourful reflection also adds much to the image, and the panoramic crop once more emphasises the landscape approach to this shot.

One thing I did do in processing was simply flip the image horizontally.  In the western world we read from left to right, so the mind naturally reads pictures in the same way, and if the elephant were placed on the left, the eye would start wandering to the right across the scene, and there is no other point of interest to stop it.  By flipping it and now having the elephant on the right, the eye stops before reaching the edge of the scene and holds the viewers attention for longer!

“Eyes of a Killer”

Canon 1DmkII, Sigma 120-300 f/2.8, 1/160, F/5, ISO 800

This is one of my favourite shots, and it is all down to the eyes and the lighting.  Night time photography presents a whole new set of challenges, especially if you choose to use a spotlight to illuminate the subject as opposed to the harsh flash.  The biggest issue is getting a sharp image as the shutter speeds needed to get an accurate exposure are often prohibitively slow.  To compensate for this, a high ISO is required, and that can lead to noisy images, but if you get it right, the results are pretty special.

I got this one right, and did so using a spotlight shone from a second vehicle which takes a lot of the ‘hotness’ out of the scene.  One benefit of spotlight over flash is that you don’t get red-eye, instead you get a very helpful glint in the eye which brings the subject to life.  I was lucky with this in that the light did fall on both eyes, and both pupils.

The red blood on the chin helps tell the story without needing to see too much of the kill, and the way the head stands out from the black background draws all the attention to the lion.  I can possibly nit myself on the fact that I shot this in a landscape format as opposed to a portrait shot, but the lion looked at me for a second, and then resumed feeding.  Had I had the time, I could have tried a different composition, but I was just chuffed to have got one pin-sharp image in the bag.

I did need a bit of post-processing on the background to help deal with the noise, but it is very easy to do when you have a pitch-black area.  I also flipped this image horizontally to improve the balance.

“Night Watch”

Canon 1DmkII, Sigma 120-300 f/2.8, 1/60, F/2.8, ISO 3200

Yet again I used a spotlight from a second vehicle to illuminate this scene, but as it was a bit further away than the previous shot, the intensity of the light was substantially less, and as a result I had to push the camera far more than I would otherwise have liked and went for ISO 3200.  Despite this I still had a sharp but noisy image, but with a lot of meticulous post-processing, I could whittle the noise down to an acceptable level and ended up with a shot I had always wanted.

The pose that is both relaxed (with draped legs) yet alert (with pricked ears and eyes wide open) makes the shot for me, as does the soft side lighting that the spotlight gave the scene.  More space for the leopard to look into would have been preferable, but I could not afford to clip off the front paw, and so I had to settle on this composition.  I also used manual exposure throughout this shoot to keep the exposure balanced as the light was continuously moving around, and that would have disturbed the camera’s built in metering system.

“Leopard on a Log”

Canon 1DmkII, Sigma 120-300 f/2.8, 1/400, f/5, ISO 200

I have not worked in the easiest place to photograph animals, based on the generally thick, bushy bush that is characteristic of the area.  As a result, most of my shots include some distracting elements of natures studio, even when I use a very shallow depth of field with my telephoto lenses.  It was thus with great joy that I could sit and photograph this young leopard sitting on a fallen log with a clean background for a change!

The nice greens of summer showed though slightly, and the soft light didn’t create any distracting shadows and allowed for a crisp, clean portrait.  The alert pose of the leopard, space on the left for her to gaze into, and the wonderfully textured log are all components that go into making this image work.  Although I underexposed the image, I lightened it by less than 1/3 of a stop in post processing, but as I used a low ISO setting, noise is not an issue.  There were one or two darker spots in the background that I had to fix in post processing, but overall the leopard did all the hard work for me in this shot!

“Hunter Hunted”

Canon 1DmkIIN, Sigma 120-300 f/2.8, 1/100, f/3.2, ISO 800

This was the start of one of the most dramatic sightings I witnessed in the Timbavati, and sadly ended with the lioness in the middle being killed by three nomadic male lions not long after this shot was taken.  And for me, that is often what photography is about; the story behind the image!  Many of my favourite images are those that bring back memories of the sighting, but while they are good for me, they still need to tell the viewer who wasn’t there something too!

Technically this shot is far from perfect.  The low light, the ‘action’ and trying to push the camera to its limits didn’t produce the sharpest image – the middle lioness is pin sharp, but the two young males are sadly just out of the lenses depth of field.  Fortunately, being the central subject, if you had to choose for only one lion to be sharp, it would be her.  On a story telling front, the image is much stronger, and there is no doubt about what is happening here as the out of focus buffalos gathering behind the three lions are enough to give the viewer an idea of what is going on.  The dull conditions of the early evening, after the sun had set didn’t produce the most eye-catching colours, so some WB adjustments, as well as a bit of contrast and saturation helped to bring this image to life a bit more.

“White Lion”

Canon 1DmkIIN, Canon 500 f/4, 1/640, f/4, ISO 320

Another challenge to any wildlife photographer is to capture something rare, even if it is just a ‘record’ shot.  Now as far as rare animals go, they don’t come much rarer than wild white lions!  I was extremely fortunate to have been able to view and photograph two wild white lion cubs in the week prior to my departure from the bush.  For such rare animals, it was special enough just to see them, but to be able to capture it on camera was just amazing.

It is in cases like this where minor technical imperfections can be forgiven, but always do the best you can to get a good shot.  This cub stalked up a grassy termite mound to get a better look at me, and this inquisitive nature allowed me to capture her stunning eyes, with direct eye contact which is such a bonus in any wildlife shot.  The dark background amplifies her unusual colouration too, and contrasts nicely with the vivid summer greens in the foreground.  I would have preferred to have had no grass, but the low angle didn’t allow for a different view to be attained, so I have to live with it.  In a way it is complimentary, and as the grass is out of focus (due to me using the widest aperture), and it doesn’t cut in front of the eyes, its impact is lessened.

It would have been easy to slip into the trap of a central placement of the subject here, but by just shifting the head off centre, a more interesting, yet balanced composition was achieved.

“Leopard Decent”

Canon 30D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8, 1/80, f/4, ISO 500

Yet again, this image shows how effective direct eye-contact can be in making an image more appealing and more endearing to the viewer.  The lighting in this image, achieved using a spotlight shone from my own vehicle, also creates for a far better atmosphere than if I had blasted the leopard with a flash.  The usual problems of slow shutter speed and high ISO were partly overcome due to the proximity of this leopard to the vehicle.  I also overexposed the image slightly, and that allowed me to effectively deal with the noise when I dropped the exposure again during the RAW processing.

The fact that I had a shallow depth of field was fine, as I focussed on the most important part of the subject; the eyes!  The body fading into softness compliments the scene and allows the detailed face to stand out even more.

Once more, an off-centre placement of the point of interest in the image gave it a comfortable and well balanced composition, and good colour was achieved through a careful selection of a white point to get an accurate white balance that wasn’t too warm due to the use of a spotlight.  This is where shooting in RAW becomes invaluable!

“Hyena with Kill”

Canon 1DmkIIN, Canon 500 f/4, 1/400, f/5.6, ISO 800

My last image is also a bit of a story telling one, about a hyena that dragged a stolen impala kill for almost 2km, back to a den site to feed a starving cub that wasn’t even her own!  By positioning myself in front of the hyena, and using a long lens to get a low angle and nice clean background, I managed to get the shot.

The overcast conditions helped eliminate most of the shadows from the shot, but the dull light required a high ISO, and my shutter speed was borderline for this sort of shot, but I didn’t want to open up the aperture to f/4 as then depth of field then becomes too shallow, and with AI Servo focus engaged, one has to make sure that enough of the subject is in focus when you review the results.  If the AI Servo is slightly off, and your DOF is too shallow, you end up with perfectly focussed legs and chest, but a soft head!

A more central composition had its place here, as the hyena was walking straight towards me.  As for the second hyena in the background, I do personally like it there, and have a general predilection for the inclusion of such out of focus animals in the backgrounds of my images where possible, so long as you include the whole animal and don’t cut anything off!

And that is it!  Just a brief review of some of my images, by no means comprehensive, and by no means correct.  Everyone views an image with their own eyes, and will experience different feelings and thoughts when looking at something.  There are no wrongs or rights, just something’s work better than others in certain circumstances, and it is up to you, as a photographer, to learn when one technique or style is better suited than another, and you can only do this by trying them in the field, and then critically evaluating your images afterwards.  Also, take time to go and look at other photographers work, and pick out what you like about an image, and try and incorporate that into your own style, but do remember to not be a copy cat, but to mould what you like from different photographers into a style that suites your way of operating!

I do hope that you have found some of what I have written useful, and that you may have picked up on some of the points that I have mentioned, as well as the many that I didn’t mention.

If you are keen to look at other photographers work and give your own critiques and opinions about their work, as well as receive some on your own work, go and have a look at Outdoorphoto, a South African based photographic forum with a growing community!

Until next time, happy shooting!

Regards,

Chad Cocking

Chad’s Links

• Portfolio: Chad’s Images on OutdoorPhoto
• Email: Email Chad