African Wild Dog
Madikwe Game Reserve, 27 Feb 2010, 06h29
Nikon D300, Nikon 80-200 @ 200mm, 1/640, f/3.5, ISO 800
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Photographing one of Africa’s most endangered carnivores is definitely a highlight when visiting the Madikwe Game Reserve. On this specific morning we had just left the lodge when a group of Wild Dogs burst out of the bushes and ran down the road straight towards the rising sun that had barely broken the horizon and apart from a soft golden glow, we did not have to much light to work with. If you look closely you will see a very small bit of rim lighting around the ears of the three dogs. Normally photographing Wild Dogs require quite a bit of attention to your metering and exposure settings as it is not all that easy to get the dark eyes to show up properly on the black face, something that can make or break your image, but the above image was a lot simpler. As there were no harsh shadows and I did not have to worry about the eyes I simply used matrix metering, followed the dogs as they ran down the road and fired away.
With a number of workshops and photographic safaris in the pipeline, let me know if you would be keen to come to Madikwe to photograph the African Wild Dogs!
See ya tomorrow! 
Gerry
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They look like they’re on a mission, searching for something.
Paz
Absolutely. Full on hunting mode!!