Nikon D300, Nikon 80-400mm VR @ 400mm, 1/320, f/5.6, ISO 800

Early morning.  Low light.  Young male lion strolling down the road.

Every now and then he would stop to mark his territory so this gave us ample opportunity to fire away.  The early morning light was not quite there yet so a higher ISO setting and Nikon’s VR allowed me to get a nice crisp image.

The Madikwe Game Reserve is a phenomenal wildlife destination but photographically it can be very challenging.  Lots of thick sicklebush and other shrubs make for messy backgrounds but with patience you can still get good images.

Is there a lesson in here somewhere?  If anything, patience.

Don’t rush the process.  Take your time, check your backgrounds and wait for the moment!

Until next time!

Gerry

Giraffes in Rain

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-400 VR @ 400mm, 1/15, f/5.6, ISO 200

Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

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I captured the above image a few days ago in pouring rain.

We were sitting at a watering hole in the Madikwe Game Reserve as the rain started coming down harder and harder.  Eventually it was absolutely bucketing down so we decided it was better to sit still and rely on the Land Cruiser’s roof to keep us dry than try and drive through the torrential rains.

Quite some distance away a small group of giraffe lined up perfectly so the shutters started clicking.  The idea here was to use a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the subject yet slow enough the blur the rain drops.  After a bit of experimenting I got this shot which I absolutely love.

Perhaps it is the moment that was just pure magic or the visual simplicity of the moment.  The bottom line is – never stop shooting!

Don’t let rain stop you from snapping away.  There are amazing images waiting to be made!

Until next time.

Gerry

Elephant Scene

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-400 VR @ 230mm, 1/200, f/5.6, ISO 500

Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

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We all try and push the boundaries.

We try new things.  We try to take better images.  We keep on trying.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, and it is this drive that keeps us improving, but there is a lot to be said about the basics.  About keeping it simple.

Choose a subject, place it in the right position in the frame, check your background and snap away.  The result?  A nice and clean wildlife photograph.

Absolutely keep on trying the new things, but don’t forget the basics.  There are a lot of great wildlife images to be made!

Until next time.

Gerry

A Hard Life

Madikwe Game Reserve, 27 September 2010, 08h13

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-400 VR @ 300mm, 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 250

Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

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This old boy has had a tough life.

Those scars tells the story of many altercations with other male coalitions and to make matters worse his brother is quite seriously injured which means he has to fend for himself.

No doubt that all of us sometimes feels like this guy looks.  The difference however is that he just seem to carry on.  Forget about the hard times and all the negatives and just do what he is supposed to do.

I reckon there is a lesson in there somewhere…

Tomorrow is guest post Thursday. Now I am personally quite excited about this one.  You see, in January 2011 I am doing a 8 day road trip to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, a first for me, and the guest blogger tomorrow is somewhat of an expert on the area as he has photographed there on a regular basis.

After completing a Masters Degree in Nature Conservation, Villiers Steyn started a photographic company named Vision Photography and today he work mostly as a freelance photographer, writer and website designer.  He publishes monthly travel articles in the WEG/GO magazine and also presents a wildlife photography series on the conservation programme, 50/50.

Make sure to join him tomorrow as he looks at how to make the most of a photographic trip to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

Enjoy, and I’ll see you on Friday.

Bye 4 now!

Gerry

What You Lookin At?

Madikwe Game Reserve, 27 September 2010, 16h17

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-400 VR @ 400mm, 1/250, f/5.6m ISO 500

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There is nothing quite like looking at a male lion staring right back at you.

Capturing that intense stare is also quite a rush and takes a little more patience that you might think.  Too many people arrive at a sighting of a lion like this, fire off a few frames and leave.

Yeah, you might get lucky  but waiting for a moment, and then capturing it, is what wildlife photography is all about.

The more you wait.  The more you will see.  The better your shots will be.

When you are out in the field, what you lookin at?

See ya tomorrow!

Gerry

An African Moment

Madikwe Game Reserve, 14 August 2010, 07h00

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-200 @ 200mm, 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 400

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The in-your-face portraits of Africa’s big cats are special.  Very special.

But there is more.

There are moments, many moments, when you find yourself staring at a scene that is, well, special.  Even though it is our goal as wildlife photographers, these moments cannot always be captured in a single image.

The sights, sounds and smells all come together to create these African moments.

The above scene was one of the moments.  I was sitting having coffee at the lodge, watching the sun rising, when a herd of buffalo who had been drinking at the waterhole started moving off. No matter what animal you are watching, a dry winter and sun close to the horizon will almost always end up giving you spectacularly visual scene.  The dust that gets thrown up by the animal’s hoofs is simply magic!

As the last buffalo made his way away from the waterhole there was a lot of dust hanging from the herd’s earlier departure leaving a golden haze as he moved away.

Click.

African moment photographed.

Well, not quite.

The early morning winter sun on my face, the smell of the coffee and dust, the sounds of Africa.  Those things I could not capture.

At least, not with my camera.

This is probably one of the most over used quotes out there, but for now I will leave you with it as Africa’s has a tendency to make you feel like this.

‘Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.’

See you tomorrow!

Gerry

Old Elephant

Madikwe Game Reserve, 6 September 2010, 16h12

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-200 @ 200mm, 1/800, f/5, ISO 200

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How do you go about portraying your subjects in a single frame?

Difficult thing really.  Take the above elephant for example.

Large, grey and very wrinkly.  If that was all that I wanted to show in my image I would probably have ended up with a very ‘documentary’ type image.

See elephant.  Point camera.  Click shutter.  Anybody can do that.

The difficult thing is to show the essence of your subject.  Show in a single image what you see and feel when watching your subject.  That’s the real challenge.

As we were photographing this old bull yesterday I noticed how calm and gentle he was.  Almost wise.  But how do I show that in an image?

First step was to get in tight for a close up.  Include the eye, texture of the skin and the muddy tusk which together shows the subject in more than a documentary type fashion.  During post processing I then added a soft, dreamlike glow, desaturated the image and added a subtle brown town.  All of the processing was aimed at trying to show what I felt when I saw the elephant.

I tried a different crop as well but still prefer this original image.  You can see the other version by clicking on the thumbnail at the top of the post.

Digital photography is a process.  Don’t be afraid to use your post processing to complete your visual story.  To show what you saw and felt!

See ya tomorrow.

Gerry

Eyes Wide Open

Madikwe Game Reserve, 31 August 2010, 06h46

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-200 @ 135mm, 1/125, f/4.0, ISO 320

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One male lion on a mission, eyes wide open staring directly at the camera, a little bit of catch light and golden, early morning light makes for a pretty decent lion image.

If you could loose one of the above ingredients, which do you think would influence the final image the most?

Eye contact can make or break a wildlife photograph.

A lot has been written about catch light bringing your subject alive, and that most definitely holds true, but there is something to be said for direct eye contact.

If your subject is one of Africa’s large cats eye contact, and especially wide open eye contact, can take an image from good to great.

By photographing big cats early in the morning or late in the afternoon you stand a much better chance of getting an image with their eyes wide open rather than the half-moon eyes we see in so many images.

Next time you have lions in your viewfinder make sure to keep this in mind.

Look for eyes wide open!

See ya tomorrow!

Gerry

Oryx

Namib-Naukluft National Park, 30 October 2008, 10h32

Nikon D300, Sigma 28-200 @ 135mm, 1/640, f/8, ISO 200

(Click thumbnail for larger view)

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Two day ago I went on about photographing other animals than just the Big 5.

I photographed this Oryx in Namibia a few years ago and, even though it is not one of the Big 5, it’s probably more a part of the area than any of Africa’s other large mammals.  These guys are stunning!

When you go out photographing wildlife it is worth speaking to guides or checking up which animals are the main ‘attraction’ of the area.  Big 5 or not, putting an animal in it’s recognizable environment can do wonders to your images.

I will be heading back to the Namib-Naukluft in October next year as a part of a photographic safari  Cannot wait to get out there and have another go at photographing these amazing animals in their natural environment.  Why not come along?

Tomorrow see the return of guest blogger Thursday and for the first guest post of September I am very pleased to introduce Brendon Cremer.

Brendon began his career as a Professional Guide, over a decade ago, he never knew he would find another way to express his love for nature, her wildlife & her beauty… until he picked up a camera.  Having spent most of his career in some well known reserves in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia & South Africa, his passion for wildlife and photography has only but grown and tomorrow he shares some of images with us.

I will be back on Friday so make sure to pop in then to download your free desktop wallpapers for September 2010!

Bye 4 now!

Gerry

Leopard Cub

Madikwe Game Reserve, 28 December 2007, 17h53

Nikon D50, Sigma 50-500 @500m, 1/500, f/6.7, ISO 800

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The leopard is definitely the holy grail of African wildlife photography.

I photographed the above youngster a few years ago and as I was looking through an image for this post it caught my eye.  The look in the young cat’s eyes.  The empty space on the left   The foot in the corner of the image.

Working in Madikwe I have not had a lot of great chances to photograph leopard.  Gonna have to put together a trip to the lowveld soon!

Remember you can click on the thumbnail for a larger view.

Busy day.  Time to dash.

See ya tomorrow!

Gerry