• the 100-400 f4.5-5.6, which is compact relative to the other options, but known for some dust problems and does not take a tele-converter well.
• The 400 f4 DO, which is light and compact, but a little pricey and a fixed focal length
• the 300 f2.8 which is quite fast, but is a ‘tweener’ with not enough range for most safari shots.

I am excited about the new lens, but I must warn that I think it will be rather expensive (as is the Nikon 200-400), at a price north of $6000 and also quite heavy, so make sure you bring along the bean bag.  One cool feature of the new lens will be the incorporated 1.4x teleconverter (extender) built into the design.  This feature will decrease lens changes and thereby lower dust on the sensor.  Time will tell if this lens is loved as we currently have no info on sharpness, speed of focusing, etc.  but, it’s here! I would love to own this new lens, but see that as a supplement to my existing 100-400 rather than a replacement due to weight/size considerations.

Here is the press release for the new Canon offering:

New Canon 200-400 f4

London, UK, 7th February 2011 – Canon today announces the development of a telephoto zoom lens featuring an integrated focal length extender – the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM EXTENDER 1.4x. The lens will be displayed for the first time during CP+, held in Yokohama, Japan.

Designed for Canon’s leading range of EOS Digital SLR cameras, the new lens will be an ideal addition for sports and wildlife photographers, offering exceptional flexibility with a built-in 1.4x extender that creates an increased focal range of 280 – 560mm.

Perfect for photographers who require high performance, fast aperture and a flexible telephoto range, the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM EXTENDER 1.4× will enable photographers to shoot a greater breadth of subjects using a single lens, delivering the best possible image quality at all focal lengths.

Developed as a new addition to Canon’s acclaimed L-series of professional lenses, the new lens will offer an unsurpassed combination of versatility, first-class optical performance and an enhanced weather-proof construction. The model will be released as part of Canon’s continued development of its EF lens line-up, offering enhanced performance and improved functions that cater for the needs of photographers from beginners through to professionals.

The EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM EXTENDER 1.4x is scheduled for launch during 2011.

• 

  National Geographic's Great Migrations

  Great Migrations, National Geographic DVD (in Blu Ray if possible – $60) – While one can get a book and DVD combo, the DVD set is the big winner in the package.  Three years in the making, and from award-winning National Geographic cinematographers, Great Migrations takes viewers around the world on the arduous journeys millions of animals undertake to ensure the survival of their species.Shot from land and air, in trees and cliff-blinds, on ice floes and underwater, Great Migrations tells the formidable, powerful stories of many of the planet’s species and their movements, while revealing new scientific insights with breathtaking high-definition clarity. Narrated by Alec Baldwin with lots of footage from Botswana as well as eastern Africa.

• HDR Software – I am a big fan of the Photomatix product, but NIK Software has a new product out getting great press.  I predict that this will become a favorite tool in your photographers photography workflow.  If you don’t know what HDR is the simple answer is High Dynamic Range.  The more complex answer is that this tool will allow the photographer to recreate what the eye actually saw versus what the limits of the camera sensor recorded.  Depending on your choice, prices run from $100 to $150.

• Apple iPad – I really struggled adding this one to the list.  Not that it isn’t a great product for the photographer, it’s just that it seems like a cliché on every site to recommend it.  Great for viewing images and simple internet surfing, but don’t confuse it with the need for a travel laptop.  A little pricey at $400 and up, but I haven’t found an owner that doesn’t love theirs.
• 

  A Lens? No, it's a coffee mug

  Canon or Nikon Lens Mug – You may say “what?” but trust me, this one is a winner and won’t cost you much.  I have only seen this on eBay, so the link I provide may become obsolete; however, if you search Canon (or Nikon), lens and Mug you will certainly get current links.  At less than $20 shipped, this will be one of your cheapest safari photographer options.

• BIG, fast Memory Cards for the camera – There is never enough.  I typically buy Sandisk or Kingston, but there are other brands that you may wish to consider.  The devil is in the details.  Don’t buy small.  My recommendation is specifically for 16GB or larger.  The link is for a 600x speed CF card for under $100.  There are a lot of sales this time of year, so make sure you shop around.
• Hoodman Hood Loupe – It may be a little overpriced at $80, but I’m willing to pay the price.  After all, I paid
  

  Hoodman - simple but very useful

  thousands to be on safari.  If one can’t see the image histogram due to the bright sunlight, images can be wasted … and what’s the cost of that?

• Infrared camera conversion – Maybe I am approaching true luxury item here, but most photographers have an extra camera body they never use.  For about $400, that camera can be converted to capture infrared images.  This, my friend, will have you shooting outside of your comfort zone … which means the thrill is there like when you got that first dSLR.  LifePixel is well known for doing quality work, so I can highly recommend this one.  For illistration, I am borrowing an image from Andy Biggs.  See more of his IR and other wildlife images at AndyBiggs.com.

An example of Infrared on Safari. Image copyright Andy Biggs

• 

  Shona artwork of an Elephant

  Zimbabwe Shona Art – You probably have enough African wildlife photos from your trip.  Now it is time to add a little art to the mantel piece.  There are numerous places to buy these stone sculputures on the internet, but my preference is one of the not-for-profit organizations.  Prices range from $50 to as much as you are willing to spend.  Shona sculpture in essence has been a fusion of African folklore with European influences. World renowned Zimbabwean sculptors include Nicholas, Nesbert and Anderson Mukomberanwa, Tapfuma Gutsa, Henry Munyaradzi and Locardia Ndandarika.

So that’s our list for this year.  We would love to hear additional ideas you may have discovered.

So you don’t think lighting is pertinent to what you do? Just ask Art Wolfe or Frans Lanting about the importance of understanding lighting. These top professionals, like many other outdoor photographers, understand that augmenting ambient light with flash and reflectors can be the key to make a fine photo into something spectacular. The same principles that apply to lighting a product apply when photographing a flower, just like the same lighting principles that help a subject stand out from a studio background can help you identify, and modify, lighting in the landscape. All photographers, regardless of subject, work with light.

Whether Frans Lanting’s perched precariously in the treetops or half-submerged in a swamp, many regard Lanting as the world’s foremost nature photographer. He has been named the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year and won the Sierra Club’s prestigious Ansel Adams Award for conservation-oriented photography. He is one of the most published shooters in the esteemed pages of National Geographic, where he is considered by editors to be “a singular extraordinary talent.” He has even been knighted by his native Holland for “his contribution to raise awareness for the beauty of nature and the necessity to protect it.” … and he also uses flash at a tool in wildlife photography.

The following article is reprinted from a long past article on Outdoor Photography.

Carmine Bee Eaters with a little fill lighting - - copyright Frans Lanting

Interview by Rob Sheppard

Flash has become an important tool for the well-rounded nature photographer, as master photographer Frans Lanting explains.

National Geographic photographer and Outdoor Photographer columnist Frans Lanting is world-renowned for his stunning nature photography. He has even received a knighthood from his native Netherlands for his work in world conservation through his photography.

Of course, we know his nature work is unparalleled. I can count on a submission of images from Frans to be both inspirational and frustrating—frustrating because it’s so difficult to narrow down the choices to the pages we have available in an issue!

So what’s a nature guy like Frans doing taking a mini-studio’s worth of flash equipment into the field? And we’re not talking easy-to-reach locations like Yellowstone or other American parks. Frans’ National Geographic assignments take him to some of the most remote places in the world.

Frans has been talking to me about his flash work over the past couple of years. I had noticed that his Geographic work was increasingly using flash in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways for some excellent results. I learned that flash has become an extremely important part of his photography now, for everything from wildlife to landscapes. Realizing that his experiences could be extremely valuable and even inspirational to our readers, we decided we needed to talk.

Outdoor Photographer: Alright, Frans, what’s the deal with this flash business? Sure, wildlife photographers have used it for a long time, but you seem to be using it in all sorts of nature work.

Frans Lanting: Actually, when I started my photographic career in the late ’70s, flash wasn’t commonly used in nature photography. You did see it in some very traditional ways, such as flash only, overpowering all ambient light, or with controlled wildlife situations. In the present day, however, flash is very important for many reasons, including extending our working time in the field, helping to get enough light on subjects that aren’t in good light, improving dull light situations and making our photographs communicate more effectively. I can’t imagine going into the field without strobes today. Modern equipment makes this very easy. It wasn’t always that way.

Outdoor Photographer: One way you use flash is to emphasize elements in a photograph to better control what the viewer sees and how he or she reacts to the image. Can you elaborate on this a bit?

Lanting: For me, it’s important that I can communicate something special about the subject through my photography. With flash, I can literally spotlight a part of the scene so the viewer knows exactly what’s essential to the image. The flash lets me highlight elements of the composition, isolate key subjects or give a special importance to something. I can use different types of flash light to do this, from harsh, dramatic light to soft, gentle and diffused illumination. I can change the color of the flash for effect as well as the direction the flash comes from. I can even make a murky day give me an image that’s quite effective through the use of flash.

Cayman eyes glow with the aid of flash - - copyright Frans Lanting

Outdoor Photographer: You’ve told me that early on you had to do a lot of experimenting with small flash units in order to learn to do these things. The big strobes that wildlife photographers had been using didn’t fit into your way of shooting. What did you do to develop your use of flash in the field?

Lanting: There was consistently a challenge from photographing wildlife in that you couldn’t always get ideal light on the subject. I saw what flash could do and began experimenting with the old Vivitar 283 and 285 flash units. Metz also had some small, but powerful units that could be used in the field. Several of us were doing this at National Geographic, including my colleagues, “Nick” Nichols and Peter Menzel. We all experimented and compared notes, which led us to new applications.
At first, it was difficult to blend flash with ambient light. We had to do quite a bit of testing and use manual exposure. But a real breakthrough for me came when I saw how LIFE photographer Gregory Heisler used strobes in an outdoor setting, photographing souped-up cars in Los Angeles at dusk. It was a real eye-opener to see how one could overcome the limitations of flash outdoors. I’ve also learned a lot from the ways photographers have used flash in everything from studio to sports settings. Then I’ve worked to find a way to use those ideas outdoors.

Outdoor Photographer: Obviously, you’ve come a long way from the manual-flash experiments. Is flash today easy enough that any outdoor photographer can benefit from it?

Lanting: The technology of flash now is amazing. Rear-curtain sync in cameras opened up huge creative possibilities. TTL flash exposure was an enormous step forward. It now frees us of elaborate testing, metering and lots of Polaroids. Auto-flash bracketing increases our opportunities to get perfect exposures. With modern equipment like my Nikon Speedlights, we have a remarkable set of tools in terms of power and control in very compact, easy-to-transport packages.

Baobab trees in Madegascar are emphasized via lighting which was hidden behind other tree trunks and fired via radio control - - copyright Frans Lanting

Flash can now be used to both fix technical limitations of photography, such as too-low light levels, as well as to offer extremely creative possibilities from subtle to “hot” flash effects. This technology has strongly contributed to stylistic changes in studio, sports and fashion photography. This then trickled into photojournalism and now into outdoor photography.

Now I literally can take a “studio in a box” with me into the field. I’m able to pack a half-dozen Speedlights, battery packs and accessories (such as softboxes) into a Pelican case. I’ll take along some lightweight stands, but you can always use tripods or even get someone to hold a light. I try to keep it compact.

Outdoor Photographer: With all that flash power and even some softboxes, you’ve got a pretty sophisticated system.

Lanting: You can actually see the increasing sophistication in the development of field use of flash over the years that span my own career. Back in the ’70s, very little flash was used at all in field conditions. Next came the on-camera flash for fill and just getting enough illumination on dark subjects. Long cords and slaves allowed flash to be taken off-camera for new effects.

Then softboxes got smaller and left the studio for the field in the early ’80s. Commercial photographers have long known the value of these light modifiers, but they were cumbersome for field use. When small softboxes came out, we were able to gain whole new levels of control.

At the other extreme, Fresnel lens attachments increased the intensity of flash light and concentrated it for use at a distance. Metz was the first to offer this with its portable flash units, but then Tory Lepp came out with the Project-A-Flash that could be used on most small flash units. This helped telephoto wildlife photography tremendously.

Now we have complete systems of multiple flash that work together in a TTL network. This is an incredible sophistication for small, portable strobes.

Outdoor Photographer: This certainly gives you a lot of options.

Lanting: I believe that the more options I have in which to render my subject, the more effective I can be as a photographer. I especially like being able to mix artificial and ambient light, and having many options allows me to do this better. Modern flash systems allow me so much control in this area.

For example, I can underexpose ambient light and keep the flash “hot” or bright for a very dramatic effect. For something completely different in its impact, I can overexpose background ambient light with a standard or underexposed flash for a brighter feel to the image. All of this will affect the cognitive impression anyone gets from a photo.

Outdoor Photographer: Let’s look at some specific ways you’d apply all of your flash options to the outdoor subject. Landscapes often aren’t thought of when considering flash, yet you use flash quite well there. Give us an idea of how you work.

Lanting: Stylistically, flash gives some remarkable creative possibilities for landscape work. Frequently, the landscape doesn’t have quite the right light to make an interesting photo using all the elements of the landscape that I might find important to a composition. Sometimes, flash can be used to brighten a dark foreground at sunrise or sunset. But often, it can be used to enliven a landscape on a murky day and create some contrast that isn’t possible any other way. With flash, I can make an interesting image that, without flash, would be nothing. I’ve used everything from softboxes over nearby objects in a big landscape to a Project-A-Flash to highlight a specific part of a scene that’s away from the camera.

Outdoor Photographer: Obviously, you do a lot of wildlife work with flash. That was one place you started experimenting with flash outdoors. What are some key elements of wildlife and flash that are important for you?

Lanting: First, flash can allow us to freeze action that might not be seen otherwise. I’ve set up flash to stop flying birds or bats so that you can see every feather. On the other hand, you can also mix ambient light and flash together, especially when using rear-curtain sync, to create a strong feeling of movement. The flash stops the action, but a slow shutter speed captures some blur from the ambient light movement. Rear-curtain sync then makes that movement appear behind the subject, which is a real contrast to the old days of standard sync, where the movement actually appeared in front of the subject in
the photograph.

Black Rhino - copyright Frans Lanting

Of course, flash is also important to throw light into dark areas, or even to fill the dark shadows of a backlit animal, so you can see the animal at all. In addition, I enjoy photographing when the light is low and the flash reflects from the back of the wildlife’s eyes. At one time, photographers only thought of this eyeshine as a mistake, yet it has tremendous creative possibilities.

Sometimes, flash just gives some creative options from the way you mix flash and ambient light. For example, think of photographing an animal at sunset. The sky is dramatic in color, but the animal, a mere silhouette. With flash, both the subject and the background color can be varied, depending on how the two lights, flash and ambient, are balanced. Auto-flash exposure bracketing can be very helpful in these conditions.

Outdoor Photographer: You do a lot of portraits of wildlife as well as people, from scientists to native folk. What are you trying to do with flash in those situations?

Lioness and Cub - copyright Frans Lanting

Lanting: Portraiture, whether of people or animals, is really quite a lot like studio work. I try to light subjects in a way to emphasize their personalities. I want to create an environment of light, using both flash and ambient light, that can give you a feeling of who this creature is, plus sometimes a bit of the setting. I like the stylistic options possible from the choices of direct to soft light, as well as how the flash is mixed with the ambient light.

Outdoor Photographer: I have to tell you that I’m impressed with the work. It brings a new drama and edge to all sorts of subjects, plus I can see how you can create some strong images that communicate quite powerfully. Where do you see this going?

Lanting: I think there’s still much potential cross-pollination from the flash work in sports and fashion, for example. There’s some wonderful stylistic work being done that will find its way into nature photography as outdoor photographers push the limits of their own work with flash.
It used to be hard, for example, to use multiple lights in the field, yet that’s very common in a studio environment. Now, the possibilities are great, especially with the latest flash systems. Flash does take a little more work, and it does require taking along more equipment, but the creative and communicative potential is huge for the photographer willing to make the effort.

Reprinted courtesy of Outdoor Photographer.

View Frans’ fine prints at his web site at this link.

Many of you are aware … and many of you are not, but ChobeSafari and team had a serious electrical fire at out house last week.  This is why articles are a little slow at the moment.  No one was hurt.  The big issue is serious smoke damage to the house.   For this reason, articles will be a little stretched out for the next few weeks.  In the meantime, I ran across this article by the folks at Red River Paper (they have really good paper for the money) and decided to re-post as many wonder about dye versus pigment ink when selecting an inkjet system.  By the way, my printer and primary computer were destroyed in the fire, so I will be buying knew ’stuff’ and will report back on my printer selection.

Buddy (the editor)

Many articles have been written about ink and paper, especially now that inkjet printing is becoming a dominant technology from the pro level down to the basic consumer. It seems that the articles we read are good, but usually leave out some important details. What follows is our knowledge on the differences between dye and pigment ink beyond the tehnical details – into what you need to know when deciding on a printer platform.

Decades

The first question to ask is do you need the prints to last decades? Put another way, do you want the prints to last as long as a lab print? If the answer is yes, then you need pigment inks. They are designed to resist fading and will work on a wide variety of inkjet papers. Important note: The big secret in the paper business is that print life from pigment inks is more dependent on the ink than the paper! Despite what you may have heard, pigment inks have fade resistance as a base line characteristic. They don’t magically become fade resistance by being sprayed on the right paper. We would be remiss if we dismissed paper completely. You certainly need to use a high quality sheet of coated inkjet paper for maximum print quality and detail. This paper should be certified to work with pigments and hopefully has an acid free base stock. Examples of pigment printers are the Epson R2880 and Canon Pro9500 MkII.

Seeking for Functionality and Good Looks?

Don’t need fade resistant prints? How about simply great color and detail? Dye inks are for you. They are designed for maximum brightness and color saturation. They will fade much faster than pigment inks. You might use dye inks to print portfolios, graphic design work, greeting cards, and business materials. Generally, you will pay less for a printer that uses dye inks. Some examples are the Canon Pro9000 MkII and the Epson 1400.

A Twist

So that would be the end of the story but for some recent marketing efforts by HP and Canon. HP’s Vivera ink dye system has been evaluated by Wilhelm Imaging Research and these tests indicate print life of over 100 years! Keep in mind that these are dye inks. So what is going on here? Its the paper. Forget what we said about paper in the pigment ink paragraph above. Paper is intimately tied to print life when using dye inks.

The performance of the HP system is anchored to swellable polymer papers such as HP Premium Photo Gloss Plus. This media actually traps and swells around dye inks, insulating them from harmful atmospheric gasses – hence the protection against fade. If you use an HP with Vivera ink and choose not to use their very specific papers you should expect fade in a rather short period of time.

The Canon ChromaPLUS system is the same basic story. You will have to actively seek out and use swellable polymer paper in order to resist fading if you require more than 20 years fade resistance.

To conclude, Red River Paper still recommends pigment inks if you need prints that last decades. Our independent fade testing, and the testing done by manufacturers, shows pigment inks to resist fade on many different types of media.

Leopard in a tree - © Greg Downing, all rights reserved

article by Greg Downing

I travel a lot and I need a safe and reliable way to manage my images while on the road. I have employed a very simple back-up system that has worked for me since I started shooting digital with the invention of the Canon EOS 1″D” series camera. In my view the best system is one that is not only simple but also one that is redundant and safe. Here is what I do, step by step, to ensure my images are safe, easy to access and redundant!

Splash page for Greg's site - © Greg Downing, all rights reserved

1. I make sure I have enough digital media to get me through a full day’s worth of images. This will depend largely on what I am photographing and what camera I am shooting with. I am not a heavy shooter and generally have plenty of space on a few 16 GB drives, even with my higher resolution EOS 5D Mark II or 1D Mark IV cameras.

2. I always carry a laptop computer and at least two flash card readers designed for the fastest download of my images from the media that my camera supports (compact flash cards in my case). If I have multiple ways of hooking these up to my computer I carry one of each (USB, Firewire and Express Card Slot for instance).

3. I carry at least two external portable hard drives. I use USB powered Western Digital My Passport Drives in 250-500GB capacities. These are small 2 1/2″ drives that can hold a lot of data cheaply and they come in various sizes. I usually purchase mine from Amazon.com and a recent search brings up lots of options including a 500 GB version for $89.00.

4. Since I run workshops I am rarely away from someone else with a laptop in case mine fails. I therefore format my drives to universally work with Mac and Windows machines so I can access them from any computer. I label each drive with the location and date of the trip – marking one as Primary and one as Secondary.

5. Each night I download all the images that I shot that day to both external USB powered hard drives – in duplicate. I use Lightroom as a downloader but you can do it manually or use a program like Downloader Pro if you’re a Windows user or Photo Mechanic if you’re a Mac user.

6. I then edit and throw away the easy to spot missed shots from the Primary drive. All the images remain on the secondary drive.

7. I carry at least one of these drives wherever I go in case of theft or loss. I do not put them in my checked bags when flying home. Even if I park at a restaurant the drive goes inside with me and does not stay in the car.

8. When I return to the office after the trip I download all the data from the primary drive to my permanent storage drive as well as a duplicate to my main backup drive. At this point I have 4 copies of my images from the trip.

9. I do not erase the USB drives but, if there is still space, I use them again until they are full of images. Sometimes I can get 3 or 4 trips on each drive. Both drives then becomes a RAW “archives” and at least one gets stored off-site – just in case the office burns down or gets robbed etc. I often carry one of them with me as a “traveling archive” of that series of images in case I want to access them while on the road. That also counts for an off-site backup

10. As I edit images in the office and archive and organize them more permanently I create additional back ups to store off-site, but most of the time the images I process for print or web display are separated into separate folders so they are easy to find.

NOTE: If I am using my laptop drive as a Primary and know I have enough space on it for all the images from the entire trip then I can get away with only one external as a Secondary Drive. This is not as safe however as my laptop drive is generally more likely to become corrupted or damaged since it contains the system software and is in use under more demanding conditions and increased heat. I also need to erase them from the laptop eventually and eliminate one of my 4 copies at that point.

Zebra foal © Greg Downing, all rights reserved

Black backed Jackel © Greg Downing, all rights reserved

tryGreg Downing has been traveling the world teaching professional and amateur photographers for more than a decade hosting his instructional workshops and seminars. Instructing photographers of all experience levels Greg has earned a reputation for his gracious and generous teaching style.

Greg’s images are known for their unique style, exacting composition and strict attention to detail. As an internationally recognized photographer, his numerous publishing credits include books, advertising campaigns and editorial publications such as Birding Magazine, Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Birder’s World, National Geographic and many others. Especially passionate about birds, his images can also be found in printed form in several Wildbird Centers on the east coast, as well as appearing in private art exhibitions.

In 2003 Greg founded www.NatureScapes.net with E.J. Peiker and Heather Forcier. Today Greg is the Publisher, President and sole owner of the company and oversees all operations from his home base in Parkton, Maryland.

Greg is a member of the American Birding Association, and the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA). As Greg travels the world taking pictures he enjoys meeting others, teaching and sharing his passion while making new lifelong friends in the process. Greg recently announced a planned March 2011 workshop in Tanzania.

To see more of Greg’s work or to join in on one of his workshops, visit his website at www.gdphotography.com.

One of my Facebook friends, The Safari Photographer, has written an article on his site (also known as The Safari Photographer)  that gives a really important tip for anyone traveling to Chobe or on safari in general.  In prior tutorials, I have commented how one will often see elephants, hippos or buffalo in large herds.  I have advocated the concept of focusing in on a single animal and trying to bring focus to them.  An example is shown in this image:

Young Elephant Among the Herd - © P. B. Eleazer

While this technique works well to bring focus, sometimes one wishes to convey the sense of the large group of animals.  This is really tough as the resulting image often does not guide the eye and the lack of flow results in a boring ’snapshot’ effect for the image.

The Safari Photographer has created a very nice illustrative set of photo tips to help one overcome that delima.  The following material is copyright of www.TheSafariPhotographer.com and Russel Johnson and is a reprint of material from that site:

Photographing an entire herd of animals requires a different approach compared with portrait or action photography. Through trial and error, I feel that I have learned the hard way how to improve my images. This article aims to give you a head start, so you can get the right image on your first visit.

For anyone visiting the Great Migration in East Africa, this is a must read.

Depth to your image

When discussing portraits and action photography, I advocate trying to eye level with your subject. While I feel this generally makes an image more intimate, when it comes to herds, it does not give the required depth to capture a whole herd.

To illustrate the problem, I am using a couple of examples of a buffalo herd I spent time with in Hwange National Park (Zimbabwe);

What to avoid:

Russell Johnson's "what not to do" - © Russell Johnson

An incredible photographic opportunity, a large of buffalo congregate around a pan, with some members starting to drink. To capture this image, I went through my usual thought process, considering depth of field, composition and the settings on my camera. As with many occasions, my enthusiasm for what I saw through the viewfinder produced a different result to one the memory card.

Looking at the image with a critical eye, the herd appears more like a group of blobs than individual animals. Having multiple bodies and legs intertwined removes any point of reference within the image. Whilst it may depict a scene from your safari, it does not really jump off the screen at you.

Creating Depth and Layers:

Controlled Depth of Field creates layers of separation -© Russell Johnson

The same morning, I had photographed the herd at sunrise. As you can see in the image above, I was able to create depth in the image, layering the herd through the frame.

I have highlight a couple of points to consider as a useful guide, which I hope will enable you to get similar results:

1. Find high ground and if necessary, stand in the vehicle (with guides permission) or use a roof hatch if you have one. Elevation is the key to the image above.
2. Focus on a subject at the front of the herd, this will avoid having an out of focus subject distracting your viewer in the foreground.
3. What aperture to use? Normally I do not increase my depth of field that much, rather keeping blurred outlines. Attempting to have too many subjects in acceptable focus can create unintentional distractions.

———————————————

About the guest author: Russell Johnson

Russell first visited Africa in 2003, when he undertook a volunteer program in South Africa, travelling through Botswana and Zambia. He had developed a keen passion for photography and is a contributor to Getty Images. Russell tries to visit Africa at least twice a year and has spent time working in both Zambia and Botswana.

Russell’s blog, The Safari Photographer was born in 2009 with the aim to share knowledge and experience to allow you to get more from your African safari. We feel that although the internet is a wonderful resource, when looking for information on safaris, you often find information limited outside of travel forums and the websites of travel agents. The Safari photographer aims to share our experiences and knowledge, with a particular focus on photography.

For today’s tutorial, I am going to present to images that were nice composition opportunities when I spotted them in the field, but for various reasons, I was not able to capture the moment.  With both shots, I pretty much felt the opportunity was lost, but with the aid of concepts within this article, I created digital art worth printing.

Here is the trick

What you want to do is to go out with your camera and shoot boring flat surfaces.  Specifically, photograph macadam roadway, dirt, concrete, stone faces, marble, woodgrain, even grass.  These photos will become your texture library.

I know sounds a little lame.  Here are a couple of textures from my library:

Some of my texture library

As you can see, they are everyday surfaces.  Nothing special.  The trick is to insert a copy of one of these textures into a separate layer when processing your images.  Once you have the texture as a layer, you can adjust the opacity to create the desired effect.  Normally I find an opacity from 10 to 35% is about right.  A simple tutorial but it works.  To make my point, I am going to use two really bad images by me.

Example 1: Two giraffes crossing

As shot: Two Giraffes Crossing in front of the sun

As you can see, I was shooting into the sun, so I have heavy mid-afternoon backlight.  In processing the image, the first thing I attempted was to use shadows/highlights to attempt to recover some detail from the dark regions.  While I had some success, I was not happy with the blown sky nor with the color cast on the animals so I decided to convert the image to black and white and vignette the edges:

Two Giraffes Crossing in B&W with vignette

As you can see, this helped, but the image is still not distinctive.  Two choices, throw the image away or try creating digital art by adding a texture layer.  Here is the texture I chose for this image:

Granite rock face texture

Why did I pick this particular layer?  It was really intuitive.  I felt that the blown background needed something with a fine grain.  I am sure other textures could have also been used.  The opacity of the texture was lowered to about 25% and here is the final effect:

Two Giraffes Passing - photo © P. B. Eleazer

Example 2: Jousting Elephants

Elephants jousting at dusk

This shot was taken from a fast moving boat at dusk as we headed back to the lodge.  I saw the scene and I snapped.  In Photoshop (actually CS3), I tried to clone out distracting elephants and recover detail.  I had limited luck, but I do like the composition.  In this case, I converted the image to a sepia duotone:

Composition with sepia duotone

Once more, I have the choice of throw away or try textures.  I’ve applied this texture at an opacity of 12%:

Stucco wall texture applied

The result is interesting.  Not great, but interesting.  I probably will never print this particular image, but I feel it is ‘good enough’ to used to make my point of this article.

Jousting Elephants - © P. B. Eleazer

Conclusion:

• Textures can create interesting effects on your photography
• You do not have to buy plug-ins to get started with textures.  Textures are all around you
• While good for adding effects such as age to great shots, textures can also be used to recover shots with mistakes.

I think it is important to remind folks of things to avoid when on safari.  Some of the items I will list have to do with personal safety, some with respect for wildlife and some are to help us preserve the natural environment of the park:

Personal Safety

• Do not get out of the vehicle:  While in the vehicle, I am told animals see you as an inanimate object in their environment and an object to which they are familiar.  Generally, they will let you approach quite close while in the vehicle.  You will see folks getting out of the vehicle to have a morning coffee.  Hopefully this is in one of the designated areas and/or with a guide that has permission from the rangers to stop at that location.  Even in this case, you are not 100% safe out of the vehicle!  I have been with groups in the bush that have spotted lions (with cubs in tow) within 100 meters of the picnic area at Serondela in Chobe.

I have friends that theorize that man is not a natural food source to the game, so you should be generally safe out of the vehicle.  Nice theory, however, within past articles of ChobeSafari, we have noted lions biting a man in his tent and wild dogs surrounding a person separated from their group.  I recall we have also noted baboons hassling folks at various public locations. This is not a zoo and these animals are not programmed.  Any one of them can be a danger to you at any time.  Be alert.

There are exceptions one can take but still take care!  For example, one may really, really need a bio-break.  I know I have.  In this case, I suggest driving to a large sandy beach area with lots of open surroundings, and then relieving yourself while standing in the doorway of the vehicle (so you will still appear to be part of the vehicle).

Another exception is car problems. If you have a punctured tire or are stuck in the sand or water, consider the potential of another vehicle coming along to aid.  Two reasons: 1) occupants of the second vehicle can act as second sets of eyes to spot problem game and 2) the second vehicle may be critical to pulling you out of the stuck mess.  Do not consider walking out of the bush to get help as a viable option.

Times like this may require you to leave the vehicle, but this is best done if another vehicle is nearby to help and act as a scout

By the way, I have personally had to change a punctured tire while a large population of Cape Buffalo were headed my way.  I was lucky enough to have a friend in a second vehicle arrive to speed my repair and to keep an eye on the narrowing gap as the herd approached.

• Watch your distance around elephants: I think elephants present one of the greater risks to vehicles in the park.  They are larger than you, they have a much better turning radius.  Generally, the elies are quite laid back at Chobe; however, they have been known to go ‘agro’ (get affrevated) if they feel pushed, feel their young could be harmed, are single animals, are bull elephants or particularly if they are a bull in musth.  As you can see, there are a lot of conditions that could provoke an elephant charge, so the best things is to keep your distance.  Previously, we published an article specific to dealing with elephants.  The link is here and we suggest you read this as a refresher prior to your safari.

• Take proper medication precautions: For most safari locations, one should have proper hepatitis and tetanus immunizations.  For some, anti-malaria medications are recommended.  Many of my friends do not like to take anti-malaria med due to side effects.  I prefer to be safe and take them.  I have written about these meds previously at this link.

• Stay on the roadway: This is primarily an issue within national parks. You will see guide drive into the bush to give tourist the best view of lions under bushes.  They are trying to improve their tips … and they are breaking the rules.  Do not follow their lead.  The environment is dry and fragile.  If everyone took these liberties, the bush would be a real mess.  There are other reasons to stay on the main roadway.  As noted earlier, the best way to get help if broken down is to wait for another passing vehicle.  The likelihood of another vehicle gets more remote as one gets further off the regular trails.

• Take care in using flashlights (also known as ‘torches’): The wild game is not limited to the park system.  Wildlife will often come very close to the lodges where you will be staying.  This wildlife can be anything from a badger to an elephant.  It is wise to use your flashlight to check the path ahead. This light will generally warn game to clear out for you.  It is rude and disrespectful to intentionally shine or wave bright lights at the eyes of game specifically to get their attention.

On my last trip to Botswana, we stayed one night at Elephant Sands, which is a small lodge and campground just  north of Nata.  Elephant Sands has a nice waterhole and viewing area.  I set up at this location and began photographing the night elephants as they came down to the water.  Drunken visitors with bright flashlights started shining the lights at the elephants, which startled them, perhaps put us in danger, and eventually led to the elephants running off into the bush.  Bottom line, move slowly, use the light wisely and it enhances your wildlife viewing.

• Leave no trace behind: This is obvious, and we have all heard this before. This means not to alter, modify disturb or destroy any habitat, food source or surroundings. Leave your location in the same state than you found it.  Enough said on this topic.

• Respect the people: Part of the images you may want to bring home are images of the locals at work.  Great idea, but be aware that not everyone wants their photograph taken.  For example, I have found that rangers on patrol in the park do not want to be photographed.  Military personnel or equipment should not be photographed.  Often the fishermen out on the Chobe River do not appear to like having their photos taken.  These limitations are not show stoppers.  We have written about the challenge here.  Review this article and then do what you feel is best.

Wildlife Respect: Don’t stress the wildlife: No image, no matter how good, unique or special it may be, is worth stressing, endangering or otherwise harming wildlife. As wildlife photographers, we all need to be advocates for wildlife, after all, if we, who love to photograph them, are not, who will?

Imagine being out of your vehicle when this lone fellow comes along. Not a good idea.

Take responsibility for our actions and make every effort to lessen our impact on wildlife and the environment. There any number of organizations promote their own code of ethics for safe and respectful enjoyment of nature, and I will list a few of those at the end of this article.

Here is my basic set of guidelines that I follow. I’ve made these simple and to the point in an effort to make it easy to remember and stick to.

• Do no harm: The foundation of the wildlife photographers ethic. You must always ask yourself if the next action you are about to take will bring any harm to wildlife. Sometimes it’s is very clear cut, sometimes it’s a little more difficult to discern what consequences your actions make have. In any case you should always be considering the welfare of your subject first and foremost.

• Never harass wildlife: This means never to never taunt, bait or force an action out of your subject. There are many ways to harass the wildlife.  Earlier in the article we noted that flashlights may harass the wildlfie.  Another ‘trick’ I have seen explored is honking of vehicle horns to get an animal to look up for a photo.  Generally this does not work, so don’t do it.

Be patient! The most beautiful wildlife photographs result from natural behavior. Never interfere with animals engaged in breeding, feeding, nesting, or caring for young. Learn the habits of your subjects; Respect and protect your subject, look for signs of stress. If you notice your subject is altering it’s behavior as a result of your actions, stop. Learn to recognize wildlife alarm signals for the safety of both wildlife and yourself.

PRINCIPLES OF ETHICAL FIELD PRACTICES

NANPA believes that following these practices promotes the well-being of the location, subject and photographer. Every place, plant, and animal, whether above or below water, is unique, and cumulative impacts occur over time. Therefore, one must always exercise good individual judgment. It is NANPA’s belief that these principles will encourage all who participate in the enjoyment of nature to do so in a way that best promotes good stewardship of the resource.

Environmental: knowledge of subject and place

• • Learn patterns of animal behavior–know when not to interfere with animals’ life cycles.
  • Respect the routine needs of animals–remember that others will attempt to photograph them, too.
  • Use appropriate lenses to photograph wild animals–if an animal shows stress, move back and use a longer lens.
  • Acquaint yourself with the fragility of the ecosystem–stay on trails that are intended to lessen impact.

Social: knowledge of rules and laws

• • When appropriate, inform managers or other authorities of your presence and purpose–help minimize cumulative impacts and maintain safety.
  • Learn the rules and laws of the location–if minimum distances exist for approaching wildlife, follow them.
  • In the absence of management authority, use good judgement–treat the wildlife, plants and places as if you were their guest.
  • Prepare yourself and your equipment for unexpected events–avoid exposing yourself and others to preventable mishaps.

Individual: expertise and responsibilities

• • Treat others courteously–ask before joining others already shooting in an area.
  • Tactfully inform others if you observe them engaging in inappropriate or harmful behavior–many people unknowingly endanger themselves and animals.
  • Report inappropriate behavior to proper authorities–don’t argue with those who don’t care; report them.
  • Be a good role model, both as a photographer and a citizen–educate others by your actions; enhance their understanding.

Adopted February 3, 1996 by the NANPA board of directors.

'Lion Siblings' - © Andy Biggs

Elephant Tusks - © Andy Biggs

This week, I had the chance to visit B&H Photo in New York City and hear my friend Andy Biggs talk on ‘a day in the life of a professional wildlife photographer’.

As usual, Andy did a great job of connecting with the audience.  During the presentation, he shared ‘keeper’ shots as well as the series of shots before and after that were rejects.  The presentation allowed us to climb inside his mind as he attempted to get position to get the shot. All of this was insightful and worth an article, but for today, I would like to talk about Andy’s intro into his presentation.  It really resonated with points I try to make to fellow photographers … and in Andy’s case, is really nicely backed up by his body of work.

At the start of Andy’s talk, he noted that as a beginning photographer, he wanted to define specifically who he was as a photography and what message he wanted to convey through his work.  Andy decided he needed to distill his message down to three words.  Yep, THREE WORDS. For Andy Biggs, the words were:

• Timeless.
• Hope.
• Remote.

When I review one’s photography, my first questions has always been “What’s your message?  What are you trying to convey?”  Often I get a blank stare as feedback.  I can usually correlate the blank stare to images with a weak composition or lack of subject.  Perhaps these photographers are beginners.  Perhaps these photographers are still finding their way.  Regardless, they will become better photographers if they strive to have a message in their images.

Even good photos often have the photographer answering my question with long ramble explanations..  For these photographers, the longer the answer, the more I can expect a portfolio that is a mix of subjects and (many times) over use of the latest plug in tools.  While I am a fan of experimentation, I still think the portfolio will benefit  from a unified vision for the artist.  Without direction, one’s photo journey is a ramble. Direction can be a good thing.

Elephants and Clouds, Serengeti NP, Tanzania - © Andy Biggs

I love Andy’s self challenge of distilling the vision to three words.  In my past life, I was often involved in product branding.  The challenges were always in trying to distill the offering to a tightly worded value proposition and in developing a brand/trademark a name that conveyed the customer benefit or primary product attribute.  Andy was developing a business … it made perfect sense to use classic branding methodology to develop what he calls his vision and business would call his value proposition.

Timeless. Hope. Remote.  Andy has done a great job of staying true to this vision.  As you look at the images within this article, do you see it?  Do you feel it?  Andy’s shots often include predators, but do you see lions on the kill? NO.  Andy isn’t selling ‘the circle of life’.  Andy is selling that special feeling of an Africa that was there long ago and still there today.  Andy is selling a feeling of a simplified setting in a peaceful land.  Andy is selling a tease that the future can support this beautiful wildlife setting.

Two Firaffe Heads, Lake manyara NP, Tanzania © Andy Biggs

In this article, we are sharing several of Andy’s images, but we have not handpicked the ones that support the article.  If you visit Andy’s galleries at AndyBiggs.com, you will see a consistency of the theme throughout the images.

This formula of 3 words and a gallery faithful to the words has worked for Andy.  So what is the message you wish to convey?  Can you distill it down to three words?  It will take some thinking time, but I feel the time reflecting will pay off in your future images.

Lioness Hiding in the Grass, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania - This article has featured a lot of Andy's B&W images, so we thought we would close with this color image just to show that the message can be consistent across both B&W and color - © Andy Biggs

We also encourage you to visit Andy’s blog, The Global Photographer, as it is full of photo and safari travel tips (but beware, Andy is a gadget freak, so if you read too much, you’ll end up buying a lot of new toys).

Which camera?

I often prefer shorter, 2 second exposures if windy conditions exist - photo by P. B. Eleazer

All you really need in the way of equipment is a camera on which you can manually set focus, shutter speed and aperture. Normally these days that would mean a digital SLR  or a high end P&S type digital camera. The reason that you need to be able to manually set the camera is that autoexposure probably won’t work, plus you need an exposure of several seconds in order to record fireworks bursts. You also need to be able to set the focus since there may be nothing in the frame when you open the shutter (more on that later), so AF will fail.

Which Lens?

Which lens you need depends on how close you are to the show, but I used a 24-105 zoom on a Canon 7D for a show that was about 1/2 mile away. Most of the time I used focal lengths around 80mm. If your lens has Image Stabilization, turn this off as it is not needed for tripod use and will add blur to your images. Set focus to manual and focus at the distance at which the fireworks will be from you. For most work, this will be a setting of infinity. If you zoom, make sure that your lens keeps focus when it zooms, otherwise you may have to refocus after zooming. The Canon EF 24-105 doesn’t noticeably shift focus when zoomed, or if it does the use of small apertures such as f8 and f11 masks any focus shift. Also, since you will be shooting stopped down, you don’t really need a fast lens and even a consumer zoom usually gives good results at f8 and f11.

Camera Settings

So what camera settings work? Well a good place to start is with a 4 second exposure at f8 with the camera set to ISO 100.

The shutter has to stay open this long to record the trails of the various components of each burst. You can also try exposures of 2 seconds and 8 seconds if you want less or more bursts captured. Remember, check the histogram after the first few shots to make sure you are getting the right exposures.  I find that for windy conditions, the 2 second exposure actually works best.

The brightness of the trails depends on the aperture and ISO setting, not on the length of the exposure. For very bright firework bursts, stopping down to f11 might give better results.

With such long shutter speeds the use of a tripod is essential and the use of some type of remote shutter release (either wired or wireless) is highly recommended.  I also recommend you carry a flashlight as you will be working in a dark setting.  I prefer an LED headlamp style light so my hands are free to work the tripod and camera.

When to Shoot

The problem of course is that you don’t know ahead of time how bright each burst will be, when it’s coming or exactly where in the sky it will be, so there’s an element of luck in capturing the image. If you wait until you see the burst, it will be over by the time you take the shot, so you have to anticipate. Sometimes you can see the rocket trail going up and that can give you a clue when to open the shutter. Ideally you want to open the shutter just before the major display occurs.

Some thought is needed on the ‘when to shoot’ part.  I find that if you try and shoot during the ‘grand finale’, the composition gets too cluttered with burst and is also easily over exposed.  Additionally, as the display progresses, the sky fills more and more with the smoke from the explosions.  This can add effect, but is out of your control.  For balance, I find shots with about 3 explosions being revealed often works best … but you do not know when or how many shots are happening at a given time.  The only solution is to shoot a lot of shots.  Yes, you will end up with a lot of reject photos, but some will be keepers – this is not an exact science.

It is helpful to check the 'image preview' screen on the back of the camera to see if you need a longer or shorter exposure. - photo by P. B. Eleazer

It’s a hit and miss process, but with digital you can afford to fire off 10 shots/minute for the duration of the display (usually displays don’t last more than 15-20 minutes), though that would get a bit expensive if you were shooting film. It’s worth varying exposure times and apertures a little, but bracketing around 4s at f8 and ISO 100 should usually give the best results.  It’s very difficult to get good framing (except by luck) since you don’t know exactly where the major bursts will occur or how high they will be. This probably means you’ll need to crop your images somewhat to get the best composition. Sometimes you may get lucky though and get a shot that has everything in the right place.

The Grand Finale

At the end of the fireworks show, many events feature a ‘grand finally’ with many burst happening almost simultaneously.  While this has great potential, the light entering your sensor is also drastically increased with this final event.  I suggest you increase your f-stop at least one and maybe two stops to decrease the potential for over exposure during this dramatic show end.

Summary

• Use a tripod. You can’t handhold the camera for a time exposure, even if you’re using an IS lens.
• Turn off the image stabilization.
• Use ISO 100. Fireworks are bright and the lower the ISO setting, the lower the image noise.
• Unless you are a really long way from the fireworks, a wide to short-telephoto lens should be fine.  For the shots above, I used my 24-105mm lens on a Canon 7D
• Stop down to around f8, maybe f11. This will give you the sharpest images and allow a long exposure.
• Prefocus the lens and switch to manual focus.  This is critical or you will not get the shot.
• Try shutter speeds from 2s to 8s. The longer the exposure, the longer the trails will be.
• Open the shutter while the firework is on it’s way up, not when the shell explodes.
• A remote release will be useful. Use one if you have one.
• Shoot lots of images. Some will work, some won’t. It’s a matter of luck.