Forbes Traveler article

Some of my images and tips were used in a recent online article found on the Forbes Traveler web site, entitled "10 Safari Photography Tips" by Gabe Weisert.

The Shot

As you may recall from a few months ago, I wrote a blog entry about a leopard sighting and photograph from Tanzania. We had come across an adult female leopard in a tree, and took the time to wait until she jumped out of the tree. I was thinking that the actual jumping out of the tree would be the best way to capture the essence of the scene, but in my excitement I filled up the buffer on my 1DsMkII camera just as 'the moment' transpired. Lost photo opportunity for me. Well, I am glad to say that my words of encouragement and instruction were being heard from my two other Land Rover mates that day, Lee Sanders and Arthur Grossman.

Lee has just sent me a fantastic photograph illustrating the moment in one photograph. This is a collection of three frames. I love how each of the leopard positions are perfectly assembled. Very cool shot. Thanks for sharing, Lee.

 

Photo of the Day

If you happen to see a vehicle with this sticker out in the bush, please remember to say hello.

Lightroom Crop Overlays

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has a nice Crop Overlay feature, which allows you to view your images with different grids, or overlays, on top of your images. There are six (6) different crop overlays available. Here is what you do:

1) Hit the 'R' key to go to the Develop module and have the Crop feature enabled.

2) The default display will be the 'Rule of Thirds' crop overlay.

3) Cycle through the other overlay options by clicking the letter 'O' on your keyboard. Not the zero key. For those overlays that are not symmetrical, you can use the Shift+O combination to alter the orienation of the overlay.

I have been playing around with these different overlays over the past few days, and I am most intrigued by the Golden Ration and Golden Sprial overlays.

Enjoy!

Rule of Thirds

Golden Ratio

Diagonal lines

Triangles

Triangles

The above image and below image are known as the 'golden mean' or 'Phi'. They occur frequently in nature, and some studies have shown that humans may be genetically programmed to recognize the ratio as a pleasing ratio or composition. Studies of top fashion models revealed that their faces have an abundance of the 1.618 ratio.

Golden Mean or Phi

A grid pattern. I have used this overlay to identify converging lines.

The Photographic Safari Best Practices

Going on a photographic safari in Africa has so many complexities with packing, equipment selection and picking out clothing. Here are some bullet points to help you prepare for your big safari.

Camera equipment

• Two cameras are best. This insulates you from camera failure, and it also allows you to have two cameras with two different lenses at the ready. I use a 100-400mm on one camera and a 500mm f/4 on another. I use a third camera (currently a Rebel 400D XTi) that has been converted to infrared, and I use a 24-105mm that never leaves the camera.


• Redundant data backups. I use an Apple Macbook with a 160GB hard drive, and also have an Epson P5000 storage device. In case my Macbook dies on me, I still have a way to download my images from my compact flash cards. I often see folks with a laptop and an external USB or Firewire hard drive, which is great, but if your laptop dies you have no way of offloading your images from your media cards. Food for thought.


• Do not use camera bags that are rigid. For safari photography, you will be shooting from vehicles most of the time. If you have a Pelican case or rolling camera bag, you will have difficulty getting in and out of your bag. You want to have a bag that you can shoot out of. You will grab a camera, use it, and put it back inside and away from the dust. You do not want your bag bouncing around on the floor of your vehicle, as this is the quickest way towards equipment failure. A Pelican case or rolling bag does not easily sit in the seat beside you. The problem is that most camera bags on the market that can fit a ton of gear are either too large, too heavy or both. I am developing my own camera bag that will be coming to market in the near future (blatant plug!).


• Clean your digital sensor as often as you have the time to do it. It is easier than cleaning up your images after the fact. I have heard that cleaning your sensor can be accomplished while enjoying a glass of red wine after sunset. wink wink.

Clothing

• Dress comfortably. Safaris are not fashion shows. Do your research before you leave, because temperatures vary wildly from dusk to mid day to dawn. For example, Tanzania might have a 90 degree afternoon with mid 50's at night. Or Botswana might have a freezing morning and a mild afternoon. Dress in layers.


• Most lodges and camps can do laundry for you. Take advantage of it and pack your bags with as few items as possible. On a 10 day safari, I usually bring enough clothing to last 4 days. So I will do laundry once, maybe twice on a safari. It sure is nice to have a small duffle bag with me.


• Don't wear white clothing.

Photographic Technique

• Learn your autofocus system on your cameras before you leave for Africa. You will benefit from this experience. Understand when to use AI Servo (Canon) or Continuous Focusing (Nikon) and when to use a single shot autofocus mode. Learn all of the beeps your camera makes during this process.

• Determine what the slowest shutter speed you can use for your longest lens and still have a sharp photograph. Replicate the shooting situation at home first. For example, use a beanbag in your vehicle and go out shooting. The rule of thumb is 1/focal length. So if you are shooting with a 500mm lens, it would be 1/500sec. I often shoot at 1/160sec with my 500mm, but this requires practice and proper long lens technique.

• Learn how to expose in tricky situations. I have found that most metering situations for African wildlife is fairly simple: most subjects are either middle tone or within a stop of middle tone.

• Don't stay up late the nights before early game drives. Your photographs will suffer. Get good rest, as most safari days will take it out of you.

• Have fun!!

The New Thomson Safaris catalog

The new Thomson Safaris catalog will be out soon, and one of my more recent elephant photos has graced the front cover. Check it out:

 

This image was taken in June, 2007 in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. Normally I prefer a more wide open feeling to my images, but we came across a large family of elephants and all I had handy was my 1DsMkII on a 500mm f/4 lens. So I went with it and attempted to capture an image that had a sense of scale. Almost like an 'essence' of the moment. So I used a wide open f/stop to create a more shallow depth of field. All I was interested in was having a sharp eye to make the connection with the viewer.

This image has already turned out to be a popular one in my stock collection, as it has been licensed three times in the past month and a half. Gosh, I cannot wait to get back to Tanzania at the end of this month!

Photo of the Day

Sunset from Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, June 2002