Photo of the Day

Geronimoooooooooooooooooooo........

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. January 2008.

Canon 1DMkIII, 100-400mm, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Photo of the Day

Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. July 2006

Canon 5D, 24-105mm f/4 L IS, 1/50 sec @ f/8, ISO 160

Photo of the Day

Cheetah and gazelle

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. October 2007

Nikon D2x, 200-400mm f/4, 1.7x, 1/500 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 400

Photo of the Day

Raging Elephant

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, January 2008

Canon EOS 1DMkIII, 100-400mm @ 180mm, 1/8 sec @ f/8, ISO 100

This isn't a raging elephant as stated in the title, but rather an impression of what I am trying to convey. This bull was walking beside our vehicle for a good 5 minutes, and he would go from one side of the vehicle to the next. After eating a clump of tall grass, he would sometimes do a quick shake of the head before moving on. I was trying some push/pull blurring techniques of slowing the shutter down and zooming in or out when the shutter was pressed. Not many of these experiments were successfull, but it was a fun few minutes. Keep in mind that as photographers we are storytellers, and it is up to you to define the tone, gesture and mood of your photographs. This can be done in many different ways, and my approach was to use a blurred zoom to show a sense of movement that could be interpreted as rage.

Photo of the Day

Bicycle Crossing Male

Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa, April 2008

Canon 1DsMkIII, 400mm f/4 DO IS, 1/80sec @ f/6.3, ISO 1000

 This was my last frame of the day, as the light had already faded to a point where my shutter speeds were getting woefully too slow for a sharp photograph. I had to use a bean bag on the dashboard of our Land Rover to be able to shoot at 1/80 of a second. We decided to drive ahead of this beautiful male leopard to try to include a shot of another vehicle that was coming to the scene as we were leaving. I love the body language of the guests in the other vehicle, which indicates that this is not a big deal and that leopards are seen all of the time walking down dirt roads. Well, it is a big deal, but after a few days at Mala Mala, you really do have a chance to get some nice moments with these absolutely gorgeous predators.

Photo of the Day

Afternoon Game Drive

Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa, April 2008

Canon EOS 1DsMkIII, 24-105mm f/4 L IS, 1/30 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100

Photo of the Day

Fighting Hippos

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. January 2008

Canon 1DsMkIII, 400mm f/4, 1/400 @ f/5.6, ISO400

I love sitting at a location and watching for activity at a hippo pool. I could just sit there all day. On this particular morning we had nice, soft light overhead. My perfect day would have a clear sky for sunrise for long shadows and golden light, then soft light from 2 hours after sunrise all the way until 2 hours before sunset. Soft light is my preferred type of light for hippos, primarily because in brighter, more direct light you will get specular highlights that are difficult to deal with. Softer light brings the tonal range within an acceptable range.

Photo of the Day

Leopard, Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa, April 2008

Canon 1DsMkIII, 400mm f/4 DO IS, 1/125  f/5.6, ISO 1000

 
We had a fabulous few hours with the Bicycle Crossing Male leopard at Mala Mala last week, and we had many opportunities to photograph him walking towards our Land Rover. Many times in nature you have your subject walking away from you, which severely limits the types of compositions you can assemble. What is nice is when you are able to position your vehicle in such a way as to photograph the essence of your subject, and this can happen when you have the intimate eye contact with your lens. On this day the light was fading, and he was walking down a dirt path. I was changing between ISO 800 and 1600, and was trying to balance enough shutter speed with a shallow depth of field. Some shots were 1/250 of a second, but at f/4.0 and ISO 1600. I knew that I wouldn't have enough of his face in sharpness, and I did want at least his nose and eyes sharp. So I moved around with my settings and settled on 1/125 and f/5.6. One doesn't always have the time or opportunity to switch around settings, but on this day we were able to photograph him coming towards the vehicle on at least 6 different occasions. When he would pass the vehicle, we would drive off road and go ahead of him enough so that we were able to setup and not be in his way, but be in position to hopefully get a glance. One must also pay attention to your shooting position, as you will ideally want to be at eye level with your subject, and in this case it meant sitting in the front seat of the vehicle, next to our excellent ranger, Matt.