Back home from safari in Tanzania
Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 05:57AM After two weeks of excellent photography in the east African country of Tanzania, I am back home. I had 10 travelers with me, and I have to say that this was one heck of a group. We got up early each day, had some excellent experiences, took some great photographs, and above all else took the time to laugh until our bellies ached. Thank you to all who came on this unforgettable safari!!
I will be sure to post some photographs in the following days. My favorite images are almost all chimpanzee photographs from Mahale National Park, and all are high ISO images that require delicate processing. I will try my hands with the new Adobe Lightroom 3 beta application, but I may end up having to rely on my standard high ISO processing workflow with Photoshop CS4 and different plugins.
Time for a cup of coffee. It's early and I am jetlagged.
Reader Comments (10)
welcome back :)
pls post some photos and write about all you had experienced.
cheers,
~nir.
I have seen some LR3 reports where software corrupted monitors profiles. - watch out
I am thinking about taking this trip. Will you go again? I heard the flight weight limitations were pretty strictly 33 lbs and wonder what equipment you were able to take.
I am not planning on a return in 2010 or 2011, but I am definitely going back. It was one of the highlights from 2009 for me, for sure. I am putting together a mountain gorilla for September 2011 to Rwanda and Kenya, and that will round out my primate trips so far. 2012 may be a Mahale trip, though.
As far as weight restrictions go, yes the 33 pound weight limit holds true. It is easy to work with, as at the end of our Serengeti portion of our trip, we dropped off unnecessary items to be locked up while we were away at Mahale. No need for large lenses there!
From your comments, I am assuming you shot a good deal of the gorilla action above 800 ISO. Imagine the challenge 10 years or more ago of getting good shots in that light! Really makes one appreciate the older images one sees in NatGeo and other publications.
Really excited to hear about your latest trip. I'm constantly searching for a reason to go on another safari in East Africa and your blog helps!
Thanks for the reply. 2012 is something to shoot for then. I think I read that you took a D300 and D700 on this trip and saw your comment about all the chimp shots being high ISO, so I take it the jungle was thick or the time early or late, or both. I have the D300s and my shorter range zooms are not the fastest. Do I need to plan for getting a D700 or other high ISO capable camera and f2.8 lenses for a 2012 trip to Mahale to have a good chance for good quality chimp shots?
We hiked for the chimps on 2 consecutive days, and on the first day I tried the D300 and on the second day the D700. The D700 performed better, for sure, but we got lucky and had the chimps very close to us. If they are farther away, the 1.5x crop could be a good thing on the D300. In the end, I think a pair of D700 or D3 bodies with a 70-200mm f/2.8 on one and a 300mm f/2.8 on the other is the best way to go. Hiking with all of that gear isn't too bad, but not for everybody.
Thanks for the reply. Very helpful.
The laughing, belly aching group from Oct 2009 have the first dibbs on the Rwanda 2011 trip. Have sympathy folks, it is our reunion!