I might be in the privileged position to get out into nature almost every day but heading out with your camera and the intention of doing some serious wildlife photography is a whole different ballgame.  It also largely depends on who you go shooting with.  I have no qualms about heading out there on my own, actually quite enjoy it, but to be able photograph wildlife with other people who share that passion is something that can help keep your creative buckets full and give you a renewed energy for what you love to do.

After Paul McDougall’s guest post yesterday I cannot wait to head up to Kenya to share some sightings, images and experiences with Paul and other photographers.  Heading out on a photo safari in Kenya has got to be on the top three of many wildlife photographers worldwide so a big shout out to Paul for sharing his images, thoughts and passion.  Look forward to joining him on one of his photo safaris in the not too distant future!

Since I cannot get up to Kenya anytime soon, next week a few photographers, all previous guest bloggers, will be visiting me in Madikwe.  From Monday to Wednesday Morkel Erasmus, Kerry de Bruyn and Grant Marcus will join me as we head out into Madikwe for some unadulterated wildlife photography (can I say that?).  No funny business really.  Head out into he bush ridiculously early, play with the golden morning light, eat something, photograph some more, drink something, shoot sunsets and then drinks around the fire.  Should be good fun and I have no doubt there will be a lot of images to upload next week.  Watch this space!

Since my post on Monday, I have continued to play around with some old ideas the main one being ‘don’t think, just shoot’.  Did not have all that many mind-blowing photo opportunities but on a long enough timescale you will always find something.  We spent an entire morning with two large male lions which did result in a few interesting images.  The bug guy walked right by us so I waited for him to come into the frame and click.  Did a bit of post processing with the same ‘don’t think just do’ type approach and this is what I ended up with.

Different yes, but for me all part of going back to basics, photographic instinct and just enjoying the moment.  Filling up those little buckets.  Step by step.

Before I say goodbye a quick update on the Bush Warriors Photo of the Day Contest.  The four weekly winners for April has been announced and you can now go and vote for the monthly winner.  Please take a moment to go and cast your vote as it means a helluva lot to the photographers who take the time and effort to enter images in these kind of competitions.  I have personally been very very bad at entering competitions and it is something I plan to do a bit more of as soon as I get a chance so I really take my hat off to the guys and girls who put their work out their on a regular basis.  Click here to go and vote now.  There are some great images but I voted for the third image (hint!).

Also a quick reminder that the C4 Images and Safaris Wildlife Photo Competition closes in two weeks.  It’s free to enter and you can win a 4 night photo safari for two people to the Mashatu Game Reserve.  Very very nice!  Don’t miss this amazing opportunity of winning a fantastic photographic trip!  I am going on leave to JHB for a few weeks from next week Wednesday so will be entering my images then!  Click here for more info and to enter your two images now.

Right, time to say goodbye until Monday.  I have a interesting weekend of collaring Wild Dog, notching rhino and possibly darting some lions but more on that, and hopefulyl some pics, during next week.

Have a good one and remember  - don’t think, just shoot!

Gerry

In today’s world of social networking we share our images all the time.  We re-tweet images we like on Twitter, leave comments on Facebook and browse through literally thousands of online forums and blogs daily on search of great images that we can comment on.  On the flip side we post images on our blogs, Facebook and Twitter hoping for… something.  Recognition, nice comments and general ‘I-think-your-work-is-amazing’ type feedback.  Thats’s all fine and well and it is most definitely a part of the entire digital photography process but when was the last time you went out with another photographer to photograph nature and wildlife?  For yourself?

Going out into the field with someone, shooting the same subjects, sharing your freshly created images on your camera LCD and generally just have a fun and creative afternoon is one of the very best ways to learn and become a better photographer.  Yeah, there is a reason why going on a photographic safaris is such a fantastic way in which to learn, share and have fun!

When you are shooting with someone even the smallest creature or seemingly dull landscape can become the source of hours of inspiration, creative thoughts and something that ignites new ideas.  During the last few days Grant Marcus and I went to the Krugersdorp Game Reserve to do some wildlife photography.  Yeah, that might sound kinda strange as it is only about 30 minutes from Johannesburg, the reserve is quite small and there is not a lot of game.  Spending weeks at a time in the Madikwe Game Reserve you would think that going to a small, non Big 5 reserve, would be disappointing but on the contrary.  We had the most fantastic time photographing general game, birds and landscapes.  During next week I will be doing a post on the Krugersdorp Game Reserve, the photographic opportunities it presents and thoughts on some of the equipment we used and of course a whole lot more images but it was an amazing few days of photography.

For most of the time we were there, when it wasn’t raining, we had cloudy and bright overcast weather which made for absolutely brilliant light for wildlife photography.  We also took along some seriously big lenses to play with.  More on this later but for now here are a few of the images I captured during the last three days.

These little guys were without a doubt the photographic highlight of our trip.  As we were driving along we saw a huge amount of ground squirrels almost next to the road in some kikuyu grass pastures.  We must have spent at least two hours flat on our stomachs not more than three meters from them as we, once the little guys got used to our presence, filled up our memory cards.  I was shooting with a Nikon 200-400mm f/4 which, at the distance, gave me an incredibly shallow depth of field.  I think I fell in love with photography all over as the lens, and the creative possibilities kept me clicking away.  The image above has almost not been processed at all.  Slight curve adjustment but no blurring or anything fancy like that.  The overcast conditions made for beautifully rich colors and I reckon I shot more image of ground squirrels in those two hours then I have in my entire portfolio of wildlife images!

Eland is another antelope that I have seen a lot of but never really had a chance to photograph successfully in the wild.  As we were heading home after our ground squirrel shoot we bumped into a herd of eland as they slowly headed up a hill with the diffused late afternoon light saturating the scene in photographic bliss.  For me the red grass that forms a natural frame around the animal makes this one work and at ISO 1600 not too bad!

Another images from the kikuyu pastures.  Easy recipe – one springbok, soft light, saturated background, cute pose and your all done.

I just had to try a quick monochrome conversion on one of my ground squirrel images.  Spent only a few minutes on this one but will still give some of these the attention they deserve.

This was the last image I snapped on our second day.  I had just finished capturing the eland image above when a flock of Hadeda Ibis flew overhead.  With no real time to change any settings I aimed, tracked them and fired away.  My camera was set on aperture priority and set to f/4 which ended up giving me a fast enough shutter speed with which to freeze the birds’ wingbeat.  Very simple composition but still an interesting image.

At the end of the day it is not about what you shoot but rather how you shoot it and, sometimes, with who.  You will not become a better photographer by always shooting on your own, commenting on online forums or browsing galleries on Facebook or Flickr.  All of those have there place but the only way in which you can become a better photographer, and create better image, is to go out there and take some pictures!!

Tomorrow, being Thursday, would normally be guest post day.  I have however decided to move the guest post to next week as I wanted to focus on a topic that, if you have been following my Twitter feed you will know, a community of  South African wildlife photographers have been trying to get noticed by standing together for one of their own.  Absolutely great to see but sad that it is necassary.  More details on this tomorrow so make sure to join me for ‘Proudly South African‘.

For now, go and phone a friend and make a plan to go and shoot together.  See ya tomorrow!

Gerry

The reality is that you will not always get the shot you want.  Sorry, but you won’t.  That’s just the way nature works. You can spend a week out in the wild places of Africa and not come across a single subject that we see gracing the pages of coffee table books these days.  You can sit with a pride of lions for an entire day and end up with nothing but a few images of lions sleeping and, if you are lucky, a couple of lazy yawns.

Working in the Madikwe Game Reserve I find myself in a very fortunate position in that I get to photograph Africa’s wildlife on an almost daily basis.  For most people however going on safari, and getting the opportunity to photograph the renowned Big 5 and Africa’s other large mammals in the wild, is a very special and sometimes once in a lifetime adventure. This being the case, should we not make the most of our wildlife experience and dig deep into our photographic bag of tricks to get memorable image?

Now if you are lucky enough to go on safari and bump into one National Geographic scene after another, by all means, keep on firing away but if you find yourself starting to get frustrated due to a lack of outdoor action you need to start thinking of ways in which you can make images rather than take them.

As with most other genres, in wildlife photography there are many different ways in which you can approach a scene or subject to create striking images.  To tell your visual story.  Look for interesting perspectives.  Zoom in.  Zoom out.  Use different lenses.  Use different shutter speeds to blur movement.  The options are endless however there is one approach, which does not get used all that often in wildlife photography, which can add a whole new dimension to your wildlife and nature images.

Shoot Africa in black and white.

Our eyes are drawn to colour which in turn and when used correctly has the potential to evoke powerful moods and emotions.  In nature there is no denying the colourful brilliance of a Lilac Breasted Roller in flight or the golden afternoon sun playing around on a lion’s mane.  However, when you desaturate an image such as this your visual story changes.  When you remove colour from a scene you remove the reality however you end up with an image that is more real.  There are no colours to distract your eye from the real story underneath and you have to rely on your subject to stand on its own.  But how do you look past the colours?

Initially it is quite difficult to look at and see your subjects in black & white but as with anything this does become easier with practise.  By embracing the digital aspects of modern photography you can use imaging software such as Adobe’s Lightroom, which has a very useful Grayscale option, to help you to look at ‘see’ your images in black & white.  You get to create a virtual copy of an image and then view the two images side by side.  Soon enough you will find it easier to look at and see which images will work in black and white and which are better left saturated with colour.

The ideal, when creating black and white wildlife images, is to have as close to pure white and pure black in the same image without losing the mid-tones in between.  We are visually drawn to this contrast between shadows and highlights but when you are shooting in black and white it is important to remember that images with too much contrast could come across as too harsh so less contrast will end up making better monochrome images.  The reason for this is that your eyes are capable of taking in a great deal more information than even the fanciest cameras and this can translate to disappointing results when you look at your images afterwards.  If you look at a high contrast scene your camera will not be able to capture the entire tonal range that you see and you end up with images that lack details in the mid tones.

If only there was a way in which we could see what the camera sees it would make assessing a scene so much easier.  There is.

People might think you are quite strange when you do this but it works.  When you are next looking at a scene to decide whether or not it will look good as a black and white image close one eye and squint with the other.  By doing this you are reducing the tonal range of what you are seeing and removing a lot of the mid tones from the scene.  If, while you are squinting, you can still see the details in the mid tones the scene or subject will work as a black and white and your camera should be able to capture the entire range of tones, from white to black and everything in between.  This squint technique will also help you to see lines and shapes rather than colour which will assist you when composing your images.

Even though numerous modern cameras have settings which will allow you to shoot in black and white or sepia I suggest that you always shoot in RAW and then convert your images to black and white during post processing.   Remember that when shooting in black and white mode the camera will still be capturing the data in colour and then converting it to monochrome.   To create powerful, striking black and white images you have to process your images and by shooting in RAW you will not only have all the digital information available to work with but you will also have the choice of returning to the digital negative at a later stage should you want to create a colour version of a specific image.

The goal when converting your wildlife images to black and white is not only to remove the colour but to accentuate the textures, shapes and lines in your image.  There are a large number of ways in which you can convert your images to monochrome and a quick search on the internet will give you many different tutorials.  Ultimately it is not how you get there but that you end up with the black and white image you had in mind when clicking the shutter in the first place.  In this case it is the destination, not the journey.

When converting my wildlife images to black and white I will normally open the RAW files in Lightroom where I crop the image and make any necessary exposure and other minor adjustments such as brightness and contrast.  At this stage the focus is to make sure that I have no burnt out highlights and at least a certain amount of detail in the shadow areas of the image.  From here I would normally export the file to Photoshop CS4 for conversion to black and white.   As mentioned earlier I like to use Lightroom’s Grayscale feature to get a quick preview of the image in monochrome but even though Lightroom is capable of doing a fantastic job of converting images to black and white I prefer to use Nik’s Silver Efex Pro plugin for Photoshop.

Once my file is open in Photoshop I open the Nik Silver Efex plugin which offers a range of presets to get you started, and will give great results on their own, but you also have the option of adjusting all the variables to get the image closer to your own black and white vision.  You can easily control the brightness, contrast and structure of the image by adjusting three sliders and also add various colour filters to your images which either neutralises some colours or makes others pop out.  The Silver Efex filter also gives you an easy way of adding a vignette effect around your images, in a very similar way to Lightroom, so rather than having to go and add this afterwards you get to do most of the conversion and processing in one convenient filter.  Once I am happy with the black and white image will sharpen the image based on whether it’s final destination is print or digital media.

When you start shooting Africa in black and white it is important to remember that you still have to apply all the basic principles of photography.  You still have to make sure that you get the exposure right.  Guidelines like the ‘rule of thirds’ still count.  It is also worth mentioning, and many people do this, that converting a weak colour image to monochrome will not save the image even though sometimes it might end up being stronger than the original.  You might get lucky but there is no doubt that you will end up with much stronger black and white images if you plan, and see it, from before you click the shutter.

So if you are keen to shoot wildlife and nature in black and white remember these few points before, during and after you fire away.

• Lines and Shapes – Look for strong leading lines and shapes when composing your images.
• Contrast – Look for contrast in the images but remember, in monochrome less is more.
• Squint – To assess contrast and mid tones, close one eye and squint with the other.
• RAW – Shoot in RAW so that you have enough digital information when converting you images.
• Shoot in Colour – Shoot in color so that you have the option of reusing your RAW file again to create a color copy of the image.
• Process – Convert and process your images to highlight lines, shapes and contrast.
• Practise – As with anything shooting in black and white gets easier with practice.

By adding black and white photography to your range of visual skills you will not only make sure that you always have something to photograph when you are out in the wild but you will also start looking at all your subjects differently.  You will start seeing lines and shape.  You will see contrast and texture.  You will think about your images more and this will only lead to you becoming a better photographer in general.

Next time you head out to a game reserve with your camera at the ready, try something different.  Try looking past the colour.  Try shooting Africa in black and white.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to comment or contact me.

Will be back tomorrow to wrap up a very busy week!

Gerry

After a fantastic three week break it’s back to work and with new ideas, mixed feelings and a whole lot of inspiration there is no doubt that 2010 is gearing up to be quite an interesting year.  The break away from wildlife and lodges was very necessary and it is good to sometimes step back, put things in perspective and make clear decisions on where everything is going from both a professional and personal point of view.  There is an old cliched Chinese curse which goes something like ‘May you live in interesting times’ which pretty much sums it up.  For now.

Having done a lot of non-wildlife photography the last few weeks, which ranged from portrait and hospitality assignments to pretty much anything you can imagine in Bangkok, I am photographically very ready and keen to get back into the wild.  Photography is a continual learning curve and the more you do it the more you learn.  Shooting something that falls outside, way outside, of your comfort zone is one of the best ways in which you can get a whole fresh feeling and approach to your photography.

Portrait photography teaches you different posing techniques.  Exterior photography helps you to look for patterns, lines and shapes while food photography makes you focus on texture and depth of field.  By shooting different subjects and scenes it is almost inevitable that you will improve as a photographer.  And it’s great fun as well.

Now that I am looking forward to getting back to wildlife photography, and trying some new things, it was great to read through David Lloyd’s guest from yesterday. I find David’s images inspirational and his approach to his wildlife photography is quite refreshing.  A big shout out to David for a great post!  If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out David’s website and image galleries.

Now apart from the great images, the last line of David’s post got me thinking.  It never hurts to have a dream.

So, when was the last time you had a dream?  I am not referring to the kind of dream that you half remember during the first cup of coffee the next morning but a dream you can see and feel.  A goal.  Photographic goal?  Personal?  Professional?

A dream might be a little bit more ‘optimistic’ than a concrete goal but the journey can be just as rewarding.  Photographically you will learn a lot along the way and in between a lot of missed shots you will end up with one or two images that will act as stepping stones to take your work to that next level.  I’m sure professional and personal dreams might be the same – if you are willing to deal with a few hiccups along the way.

So with the weekend coming up, why not try something different. Go out, with someone else if you can, and take photographs of something that you have never photographed before.  Go out and shoot something for the first time, learn from it and then go back to your favorite subject and see what new ways you can think of to create images of it.  Good exercise and, hopefully, even better images!

I’ll be back on Monday.  Have a good one!

Gerry