The Lion King immortalized the warthog as one of the favorite and most recognizable animals in Africa and no safari is complete without a sighting of these charismatic little animals.

On a recent trip to the Pilanesberg I witnessed and photographed warthog behavior that goes against everything that we ‘expect’ from them.  As Grant, a good friend and photographer, always says ‘expect the unexpected’ when you are out in the bush.

Warthogs are, by definition, omnivorous but most of the time we do not see them like this.

Yeah, that’s a group of four warthogs feeding off a giraffe carcass.

I have heard arguments that occasionally warthog will feed off carcasses but if you look closely you will notice that they are in fact feeding off the stomach contents which is made of old grass and plant material.

After spending a lot of time with them, and having a very good look, a very good look, there was no doubt that they do not only feed off the stomach contents as they spent a long time pulling little piece of meat off the ribcage.

Don’t judge these little warties too harshly.  Animals in the wild do not do things according to a specific set of rules and will eat various things based on the nutritional requirements at the time.  This can range from bones and meat to dung and grass.  We have seen lions eating grass as well and then everybody thinks it’s cute.

Just another reason going out on a photo safari is such a great experience – you never know what you are going to get!

Tomorrow it’s guest post day but instead of a guest blogger I will be stepping away from wildlife photography as I do a feedback session on last Saturday’s Worldwide Photowalk which includes images from a number of the participants.

Great morning.  Great people.  Awesome images!

See you tomorrow!

Gerry

Nikon D300, Nikon 200-400 @280mm, 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 200

The above image of two white rhino shows how depth of field can be used to tell a story and imply depth, one of the most difficult things to achieve, in a wildlife photograph.  After focusing on the rhino on the right I chose an aperture of f/5.6 which would blur the background enough to keep the focus on the front rhino yet still render the rhino at the back as a distinguishable form.  (Click on the thumbnail at the top of the post for a larger view!)

The depth of field in an image gets determined by four things:

1. Your focal length.
2. Your aperture.
3. The distance from you to the subject.
4. The distance form the subject to the background.

The effects of depth of field does not always have to be in your face and obvious like in the above image.  Even a very small depth of field can make a huge difference in your images like in the following example.

The focus is on the rhino’s face is sharp and the shallow depth of field starts blurring the rhino’s body.  This not only creates a slight feeling of depth but also helps to focus your viewer’s gaze even more on the intended part of your photograph.

Depth of Field. Play with it.  Learn it.  Use it.

Will pick up on this in a lot more details at a later point but you can also check out my Wildlife Photography 101 workshop where we will be looking at this and a lot of other tips and tricks to improve your wildlife photography.

Bye 4 now!

Gerry

The devil is in the detail and when you are photographing live subjects that detail can be as small as the little bit of catchlight that brings life to your subject’s eyes.

When you take a photograph, specifically with reference to wildlife,  the idea is to convey reality.  The real, wild world you saw.  A living animal.  Easy yeah?  Well, most of the time!

When you include an animal, bird or a person in a photograph your viewers gaze will immediately focus on them.  Living subjects have a lot more visual mass than inanimate objects.  On a smaller scale, and depending on the size of the subject in your frame, your viewer’s gaze will then find your subject’s face.  The next step down, size allowing, is the eyes.

It has been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul.  Young lovers, and hopefully older ones as well, stare longingly into each other’s eyes.  A naughty young boy has a glint in his eye when he is planning how next to make mom’s day more ‘interesting’.

Get the idea?  The eyes.  It’s all about the eyes!

Now should you choose to show your subject’s eyes in your photograph, as it is most definitely not a prerequisite for great images, there is one thing that will assure your photo comes to life.

Catchlight.  That little ‘glint’ in the eye which in a two dimensional photograph conveys life and, when used correctly, even a little bit of tension.

An image without catchlight = lifeless.

In both the above image of two Bulbuls and the Forked Tailed Drongo at the top of this post, you can very clearly notice the little bit of catchlight.  When you first saw the images was it the first thing that you noticed?  Probably not, but now that I have pointed it out you can (hopefully) see the difference it makes.

Check out the difference between the following two images of the same bird.

A nice, clean image of a Pied Kingfsher but the eye has no catchlight which leaves you feeling that something is just not right.

Boring.

Lifeless.

Dead.

That little bit of catchlight in the eye makes the world of difference in bringing the Kingfisher to life.

The catchlight in all of the above images was a result of the sun.  You can, of course, use a bit of fill-flash to bring some life to your subject’s eyes but most of the time you will be able to use natural light.  The key is just to wait for that precise moment to click the shutter.

When you next have your wildlife subject lined up in the viewfinder, take note of that little bit of catchlight.  A little goes a long way!

Catchlight does not only come into play in wildlife images but can make the world of difference when you are shooting portraits as well.  Check out the following two images.

I am sure you will agree that the top image seems quite lifeless compared to the bottom one.  All the result of a little bit of catchlight in my subject’s eyes.

With people it is much easier to use a little bit of flash to get the eyes to come alive but don’t write off the slightest change of position.  Ask them to tilt their head a little or look in a certain direction.  Small change, large improvement!

As I said earlier, a little goes a long way!

See ya tomorrow!

Gerry

Just do it. Just take the photo. Don’t worry about what people are going to think about it.

Just do it.

I am going to borrow from ‘Linchpin’, a must read book by Seth Godin, by using one of the examples from the book.

Think of a street busker, sharing his music with people walking by. Two points to take note of.

Sharing and walking by. Or rather, you sharing as people walk by.

No matter how much you share your passion – people will walk by. Not everyone will stop. It will be completely pointless for the musician to run after these people trying to impress them with his music.

Will it not make more sense for the musician to just do what he does? Make music, indulge his passion, enjoy his own art until someone comes along who stops and listens.

Even just for a second?

Too often we run around after people trying to impress them with our photography.

Difficult.

Tiring.

Pointless.

Photography is something you (hopefully) do for yourself and when you do it like that, indulging your own passion, people will eventually stop. Perhaps not immediately and perhaps not a thousand people at once.

But they will.

Someone will stop.

Someone will enjoy what you have to give.

Don’t get caught up in the never-ending chase of looking for people to buy your images or magazines who want to publish your work. There are a lot of photographers running around trying to impress everybody with their photography. Yeah, the recognition is great and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside but surely that is not the reason to take photographs?

Follow your passion. Take photographs for yourself, let’s say that again… for yourself… and eventually people will stop and ‘listen’ to what you want to show them.

If you cannot ‘just do it’ for yourself, how can you ‘just do it’ for other people?

Follow your passion. Take photographs for yourself.

Just do it!

Gerry

I thought it prudent to share more of my thoughts on alternative approaches to wildlife photography. If you frequent various online photography forums (like I do), you will often find the critiques given lamenting the lack of better eye contact and/or a glint in the eye (catchlight). Now while this may be valid in many of the cases, this doesn’t mean you should pack away your camera in situations when you’re not getting that golden eye contact from your subject. Often while on safari we will be faced with a situation where the most gorgeous animal presents itself, only to spitefully shy away from eye contact with the tourists/photographers.

Many times there’s nothing you can do about it but just sit back, relax and enjoy the sighting for what it is. But there are times when there is a specific REASON for the animal not looking your way or even moving away from you. Have you ever tried to capture the story behind the “lack of eye contact”? Given, it might not be possible in all of the cases, but it would be prudent of us to keep our eyes open and let our artistic leanings take over in so-called “less-than-ideal” situations.

One such a situation occurred during our recent trip to the Madikwe Game Reserve. The light had all but faded and we were hasting to get to a decent lookout point to shoot sunset landscapes, when we found a beautiful young female leopard in the road and started following her, forgetting all about our sundowner plans…

She barely gave us eye contact, and at the moments she did, her face was hidden by long blades of grass. I managed to look beyond that and try and capture her elusive behaviour. She was slinking away through the grass ever watchful for something. At last we found out that she had a kill in a tree and was making sure the coast was clear before continuing. This image portrays something of the story behind the sighting.

On yet another occasion, we came across the “Mapogo” clan, a vicious group of male lions who obliterate any insurgence into their territory and have become famous for wiping out entire lion prides. In this case, however, they were enjoying a VERY relaxed morning. This individual was particularly enjoying his time off and despite the lack of “eye contact”, an image is still able to capture this relaxed killer.

I will indulge you with one last example…

We recently spent a wonderful morning with a family of relaxed cheetahs in the Kalahari. The female had 2 adolescent sons and one of them was lying on the crest of a calcrete ridge some distance away from his mother and brother.

After basking in the morning sun, waiting for a chance to take on a hunt, the mother and brother relented and walked up the ridge to lie down on it. The other brother promptly got up to join them, and with potential prey still hanging around close by he actually stalked across the ridge to go and lay down with his mother. Here I got no “eye contact”, but I believe it resulted in a poignant image portraying this timeless African speedster stalking against a deep blue Kalahari sky.

So I leave you with this encouragement…always keep your eyes (and mind) open for the unexpected shot which might just be a lot better than the normal “candy floss” picture perfect portrait.

Cheers

Morkel Erasmus

In wildlife photography this means creating images that reflect the real scene you were faced with. You might have done everything correctly but there is still one problem – your camera’s metering system cannot think.

Regardless of what you are photographing, no matter how light or dark your subject is your camera will attempt to expose the scene based on middle gray.

As a general guideline, middle gray refers to the tone that is perceptually between white and black and in photography is defined as 18% reflectance in visible light.

What does this mean?

If you are photographing a scene in which the tones are pretty evenly spread between black and white you camera will do a pretty good job in calculating the exposure leaving you with a well exposed, realistic image.  The problem is that when you are photographing subjects that are lighter or darker than middle gray they will also be rendered as middle gray in the image leaving them either too light or too dark.

Look at the following two examples:

The image on the left is how the camera’s autoexposure system ‘saw’ the buffalo. Nice, but in real life the buffalo was not quite this light. This is the result of the buffalo being a lot darker than the average tones (middle gray) in the image and therefore the camera exposed the animal’s dark fur lighter, closer to middle gray.

The image on the right is closer to the buffalo’s actual color and what we saw in the field.

In order for me to photograph the buffalo and reflect its real color and tones I had to use the exposure compensation function on my camera.

By using the exposure compensation button I was able to dial in a -1 under exposure, thereby darkening the buffalo in my image.

To compensate for the exposure you simply hold the button shown above and then roll the scroll wheel. As you so this you will see the exposure meter on your camera (or in the viewfinder) move either up or down, showing you whether you are overexposing or underexposing and by how much.

This is the resulting image:

Buffalo

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-200 @ 200mm, 1/320, f/3.2, ISO 200, -1 stop exposure compensation

It might not seem like a huge difference but, as with everything in life, the devil is in the detail. Regardless of whether you shoot in aperture, shutter speed or manual mode, exposure compensation is something that can, when used correctly, take your wildlife photographs one step up from good to better.

In time you will get better at knowing how much to over or underexpose by but in the meantime here are some guidelines to get you started when you next head out into the field. Simply decide what your subject is, where it fits onto the following list and dial in your desired exposure compensation from there.

Exposure Compensation:  -2 to -1.3
Black hair, wet elephant, wet rhino, black feathers, dark / wet bushes.

Exposure Compensation:  -1 to -0.3
Dark fur, brown fur, rhino, elephant, dark feathers, green shrubs.

Exposure Compensation:  0
Mid-toned animals (lion, impala, kudu), old wood, dusty roads.

Exposure Compensation:  +0.3 to +1
Light fur, light feathers, overcast sky.

Exposure Compensation: +1.3 to +2
White feathers, fresh snow.

So there you go. A quick, basic rundown on how you can use exposure compensation to create better wildlife photographs. If you have any questions please fire away!

Tomorrow is guest post Thursday so, all going well, I am very happy to welcome back Morkel Erasmus. You can check out Morkel’s previous guest post here but make sure to pop in and join Morkel tomorrow.

I’ll see you on Friday!

Gerry

Eye contact, the slight tilt of the head and soft lighting can take a good image to the next level. All too often people will have the opportunity to photograph a lion in the wild, take their photograph and move on.

You have to wait. Wait for your subject to look at you. What for the slight tilt of the head. Wait for that special moment.

Nikon D300, Nikon 80-200 @200mm, 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 200

I photographed this young male a few days ago in bright, overcast conditions – ideal for photographing lions. With Africa’s largest cat being very easy to expose correctly, the overcast conditions makes the difference to the highlights in the image. It makes the whiter, lighter areas pop nicely without killing the pixels and leaving burnt out parts in the photograph.

When you are out on safari and have the opportunity of photographing a lion up close – hurry up and wait. Get your camera and settings ready quickly and then wait for the right moment. The right look. That very slight downward tilt of the head. Meter off the area between the large cat’s eyes and nose and you cannot go wrong.

Remember, you can click on the thumbnail for a larger view of the image.

See you tomorrow!

Gerry

Earlier this month I was guiding a family on a safari at Selinda Reserve in Botswana. We had just moved on from witnessing a pride of lions kill a sub-adult giraffe, and had just set up for our sundowners when a young kudu ran out from under the setting sun. Hot on its heels, the kudu was running from a lone wild dog. In a classic show of wild dog hunting technique, the kudu ran to sheer exhaustion and the dog swam out and killed the animal right in front of us before dragging it to shore a few meters away.

Image Taken by Mark Homann

Image Taken by Mark Homann

The dog fed on the kudu, going directly for the rich internal organs and stopping every few minutes to look anxiously for the rest of his pack. It surprised us that the wild dog never called for his pack, but we presumed that he was hesitant to do so knowing that the lions were just around the bend (we had seen them chasing the dogs that morning).

With all the excitement, we did not realize that the sun had gone down and night was setting in. A quick sweep of the spotlight revealed a number of crocodile eyes moving in. Attracted by the excitement, the croc moved in closer as the dog tried to drag the heavy kudu higher up the bank. But he was already exhausted. A 10 foot crocodile came out of the water and grabbed a hold of the kudu’s back legs and held on. The dog tried to pull, but with the combined weight it would not budge. Instead, the dog concentrated on the kudu, removing the animal’s lungs before moving off to the side.

Image Taken by Mark Homann

Thinking that the excitement was over we were surprised to see a hyena arrive. Then the wild dog and croc began engaging in a tug of war. It was impressive to see the strength of this wild dog as he pulled both the kudu and crocodile. The croc would not let go, so the hyena just fed around him, occasionally nipping at his head.  The croc got his price of the kudu’s back leg and we left the hyena feeding on the carcass with an audience of black backed jackals and a spotted eagle owl, knowing that in the morning there would be little other than a few scuff markets to tell of the night’s events.

Image Taken by Mark Homann

Photography is all about passion, I still have the same excitement that I had all those years ago. When I first picked up my camera, looking through the view finder to record that memory of an event. Pressing the shutter and hearing it click, not knowing whether that magical moment has been captured for ever!

Of course it has changed with digital photography, you can now see that special moment instantly. At least now when I go to Africa or any other trip, I’m not spending huge amounts of money on film instead it seems to be going on storage devices and laptops, but the rules of photography and the simple tips of getting great images hasn’t changed at all.

Teaching Photography can be as hard or simple as you want it.  I’m sure some night classes and articles make things so difficult that it often goes over the head of the new inspiring photographer who just wants to take better photographs.

Tip 1:  Getting the right equipment.  I have known so many people buy the wrong equipment and waste a lot of money just by not asking advice. When you are buying your first camera make sure it fits nicely into your hand and is not to heavy to hold for long periods of time. If the camera is too heavy you wont take it out! So what’s the point of having a camera ?

Tip 2:  Have the right lens to do the right job ! If you are a baker, you don’t use a hammer to bake a cake!  The same applies to photography you wouldn’t have a short lens to photograph something that’s in the distance. Lens are expensive so you need to decide what type of photographs you intend to use your camera for, i.e. a macro lens for close-up flowers and insects, a short lens 28-70mm for portraits and landscapes, a 70-300mm lens for distance etc., and always buy the best you can afford.

Tip 3: What length of lens do you need?  If you are going to use extenders on lenses to get a longer length, i.e. make a 70-300mm lens into a 140-600mm by placing a 2x extender or convertor between the camera and the lens, remember that it also changes your f stop on your camera lens. Many cameras will not auto focus when using extenders.  When adding an extender, the aperture on the camera automatically changes, a f stop of f2.8 becomes f5.6, and a f stop of f4 becomes f8, therefore altering the amount of light that reaches the camera.

Tip 4:  Is deciding what style of photograph you wish to take, i.e a vertical image (portrait style) or horizontal (landscape style). The same image can be total different by changing it from a portrait to a landscape. So take both and see which image you prefer, therefore creating your own style.

Tip 5:  What do you want to be in focus, all of the picture like a jigsaw puzzle, or just a part of the picture so everything else is blurred making that part of the image the most important.

By setting your aperture you control your depth of field, using that famous little ‘f stop’. By setting your camera to an f stop of f22 everything will be in focus, but as the lens needs to stay open longer to allow the light in the shutter speed will be low. Dependent on the amount of available natural light you may have to support your camera with a tripod to avoid camera shake and blurred images.  Alternatively if the aperture is set at f5.6 there will be more available light and a faster shutter speed will be achieved but only part of your image that you are focusing on will be sharp and everything else in the image out of focus.  So if your camera isn’t steady you will get camera shake !  This is where you need a tripod.

If you have enjoyed these simple tips then you will love :

My book 365 Photography Days.  It tells the story of awarding winning, freelance photographer Phil Gould, as he travels the globe in search of adventure. At the outset he sets himself the challenge of capturing a definitive image for each day, and these stunning photographs are accompanied by a journal-style commentary of the author’s journey.

This book is also a practical guide to photography techniques with hints and tips from an expert. Each day of the journey includes a photo tip, giving advice about everything from lighting techniques and camera settings, to groupings that work and images that sell.

From the majestic wildlife of the African plains and the awe-inspiring beauty of Antelope Canyon, Arizona, to the shanty towns of Rio de Janeiro and the plight of South African orphans, Phil details his journey with a refreshing honesty, humour and great compassion.  (Available from bookshops & online retailers, ISBN 9781846244599)

Phil Gould

Phils’ Links:

- Website:  Phil Gould Photography

After a few minutes if became clear this fellow was not going to get up soon, and by now I’d taken a few shots of this lazy male lying there…and I started exploring other options. I thought about going closer, zooming in on those huge paws:

Right before coming on this trip I had invested in an ultra-wide angle lens with a polarising filter – so I changed lenses quickly and started playing around with the polarising filter until I got the sky nicely polarised by adjusting the filter to compensate for the direction the sunlight was coming from, and snapped away at some ultra-wide angle shots to show this typical behaviour by the king of beasts.

Oftentimes it’s not even necessary to screw on a wider lens. If your telephoto zoom lens has quite a large zoom range, the difference between the shortest and longest focal length can really make a huge difference.


Another situation where one would be inclined to view the scene from a wider perspective is when there’s a blatantly obvious reason to do so. Earlier this year while on safari in the Sabi-Sands Game Reserve in South Africa, we came across an immensely photogenic scene. We’d driven out in the rain on our afternoon game drive, hoping for it to clear up along the way…which it did! As the rain started to clear, we noticed a small herd of buffalo in a clearing – our first sighting of the afternoon. Upon our approach, something delightful happened: a large rainbow appeared in the sky!! Photographic heaven, but I’m sure you’ve experienced for yourself that in situations like this when the light is magical and you know you’ve got a few minutes or even seconds to make the most of it, you start panicking! It’s actually quite funny – all of a sudden you don’t know what the heck all the buttons on your camera are for, and it feels like a lead weight in your hands.


So – the first obvious shot was of the buffalo herd – with the rainbow touching down behind them.

Then I started looking at the bigger picture – where did the rainbow’s ends touch down? Could I fit them into a wide-angle shot from the place where we were parked? Turns out I could. You will have to click on this photo to view it at a larger resolution…blog-size just doesn’t cut it here.

I hope this little piece of prose has inspired you to look beyond the “cliche” shots and the “happy-snapper” moments, and to start thinking of what you can portray about the subject you are photographing by framing it a bit wider (or closer) (whether it be an animal, a child playing in the sprinkler or a couple getting married).


Let me know what you think by dropping a comment below this post…I’ve now made it possible to comment even though you’re not a registered user (didn’t even know the site did that!).


Below are some more of my wide-angle wildlife shots.


Keep well, and keep clicking!


Morkel Erasmus