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Camera & Photography: Photography Tips for Your African Safari

Tips for Safari Photography

Following are some tips for customers are eager to return from their African Safari with some note-worthy photos. It is not aimed at very keen photographer who has taken a new loan to feed his photographic obsession, and I'm not going to give more than broad recommendations on what equipment to take on safari.

It is based on my experiences of the many game drives mainly in southern Africa. But I have hired the much larger photographic skills by Neil Whyte of Savanna Game Lodge in Sabi Sands, who is an experienced ranger and avid photographer for many years. He has edited my comments below and added some more tips on his own.

Note: I refer to the ranger as him, as is the case in 90% of the times, but be aware that 'he' stands for he or she, with no preference.

BEFORE YOU GO
Consider taking two cameras between the two of you: a "point and shoot" or a camera with a wide angle lens and a camera with its zoom lens already installed. A safari is an uneven, often dusty, experiences and things that happen in the blink of an eye. You do not want to switch lenses on the go and risk missing action - more on that in 'Nature of the Game Drive. " Plus a small camera is best for a game walk ...

Ideally your camera bag should be large enough to hold your camera with zoom lens attached (including the hood if possible) so it's protected when not in use, but is ready to go ...

Spare memory card or a card reader so that you can download images. You would be surprised how quickly a memory card can get drunk. You always take more photos on a bull than you expect, and I recommend taking them at maximum resolution (which you never know when you will be lucky or clever enough to take the killer shot.)

Battery chargers and adapters for the country you are traveling to. Almost every camp in South Africa has some capacity to recharge the batteries, although it is fundamental bush camp in the middle of the Okavango. But if most of your safari in remote areas, then I would recommend taking a spare battery as well, just in case that power shortage can happen ...

Bean bag to steady your camera (readily available at camera shops in South Africa if you want to buy them here)

Binoculars - Not a camera line, but worth reminding you, preferably one per person, but at least one to share between two people. (So for a family of five for example, recommends I least three pairs.)

If you are an avid photographer / bring a long lens (400mm up) I would also recommend a monopod or a clamp that can be attached to seat back or vehicle door. The jury is still out on which is better in our South Africa safari context, see "Art Game Drive below.

Know your equipment - if it is a new camera, playing around with it at home before your safari so you know how to do the basic example. compensate for poor lighting conditions, how to blur the background to focus on the animal.

If you are an avid photographer, so ask your travel agent to request a ranger who is either an avid photographer himself, or at least understand the needs of the photographer. It may not always be possible as marshalling leave schedules, etc., but certainly increases the likelihood.

NATURE OF GAME DRIVE>

If this is your first safari, it is worth discussing the nature of the game drive, and how it affects your Photography. Generally in South Africa, all safari vehicles are open pages. (In East Africa, they are usually closed vehicles with the ability to stand up and look out the roof.) Although overall this is great for game viewing - you have a greater sense of being in the bush and greater visibility, it has a photographic effects, as no are no obvious ways to use a bean bag to steady / support your camera. The sides are metal railings rather than solid doors, and there is not enough room for a tripod. Some of the Botswana and Zambian camps have brought their vehicles to provide camera resting places, complete with bean bags, but it is not always the case. Thus generally we recommend a monopod or possibly a window mount.

The drive can be dusty, or you can even have rain, camera equipment must be protected. Many game reserves allow off road driving to get close to a particular observation, and it may be uneven. But at other times the terrain may not allow you to get close on the game and that's when your zoom lens comes into its own.

Animals change their behavior in the blink of an eye, so you should be ready to act quickly and also to make compositional decisions quickly.

Finally, game drives take place in the early morning and late afternoon. Therefore it is very likely that you will be operating in sub-optimal lighting conditions for part of the game drive. Experiment ahead of time with ways to compensate for this (fast lens changing ISO levels, bringing a beanbag to stabilize the camera). And at the end of the morning game drive, the light can be so bright as to make most images also washed without the use of filters or other compensation.

PRIVATE VEHICLE?

Most private lodge safari vehicles take up to 10 people with one person sitting beside the driver, and three rows of seats each take up to 3 people. In practice most game drives away with only 7 or 8 people, but be aware that you might not always get a 'window seat'. Many of the more exclusive camps limit the number of people on any game run for 6 people to ensure a window seat for everyone so it's worth checking on that ...

On a game drive, you probably have a mixture of sharp photographers and general safari clients. Needs of these two groups are different. A photographer may be anxious to spend an hour with an observation this will be too long for the average safari participant could have begun to think about going to the bush Loo! The result is usually a happy medium, but if you know you have special interests, so it is worth considering a private vehicle. This is certainly more expensive but allows you to spend so long on observation, as you wish.

WHERE TO SIT?

Generally, we recommend either the chair beside the Ranger or the first row behind the ranger. If the ranger is an avid photographer himself, the front seat may not be available (as his camera equipment is there!) But if it is available, the side door gives you a more stable base on which to put your beanbag / camera. You are also at eye level as the game. But you lose the advantage of height. We recommend the first place because you are taller and generally have good vision but you're close enough to the ranger to ask questions and also for him to be aware that you still take pictures, so you do not have to ask him to 'hang on' while you take your last shot.

Do not be afraid to ask your ranger to move your vehicle too To get a better shot. A good ranger will generally locate the vehicle for the best visibility and lighting for the entire vehicle. But you can use for that changed a bit too precisely your shots. They will be happy to oblige if it is safely possible to do.

PHOTO TIPS WHEN YOU'RE ON GAME DRIVE

Animals move rapidly - sometimes you will only have a moment to take the picture before the leopard disappears in the distance so we recommend taking a few quick shots (the best you can) and then Think about what you really want to catch - if the animal is still there. Designed to induce a wide variety of shots - maybe a portrait shot, a shot with the animal in the context and perhaps a close-up of some interesting aspect - a horn or tusk or oxpecker a mane.

Colors of the animals and lighting - You can be very excited by elephant being so close to the vehicle but generally a gray elephant on a green bush background in bright light does not make for a great photo. Take a shot for 'memory' and then think about how to make the picture more exciting. Can you change the background? Is it worth the wait, the animal can actually do something?

Background - if you're on a pond, you can wait at a point where the background and lighting is most attractive? Ask your yard, whether it is possible to move. If the background is probably be green bush and then consider blurring the background to focus only on the animal (by choosing a large aperture).

Patience - Sometimes animals are moving (very fast) and sometimes they just lie there. It is always worth waiting a while to see if the lion or wild dog or leopard will move themselves. Your ranger will be a good judge of whether this is likely or not. One of my most exciting safari was in Moremi (Okavango Delta in Botswana) when we came across three lions sleeping under a tree. Other vehicles came and went with people taking quick shots. Our ranger spotted a herd of zebra in the distance coming closer and suggested we are waiting ... just in case ... The reward for our patience was to see the entire process of a lion kills from the first moment of awareness of the zebra presence to make silent stalking through the long grass for the final horrific minutes of killing. Other vehicles came back after the killing, but we were the only vehicle to see the whole experience and to capture it on camera.

Try to catch the animal to do something. Wait for ready for the hippo to yawn or giraffe to bend tentatively down to drink at waterholes. You may not be lucky, but it is always worth waiting a while.

Rule of thirds - try to avoid temptation to put your pet right in the center of the shot. Split the image into nine parts (imagine four grid lines criss-cross) and try to focus on one of the four intersections of these gridlines.

If the animal is in motion, trying to leave space in your composition to the animal to "move in", so that the image retains life and action of the original.

If there is plenty of action, use continuous shooting, so you do not miss anything, and then delete those you do not want.

If you take close-ups, select single focus and focus right on the eye to take the sharpest pictures possible. Multi-focus will take an average reading and then the tree in the background will be as much in focus as hyena and often it is not what you want.

As light becomes brighter, more selective around your images. The strong African light will rob all but the most interesting large part of their appeal.

If you do not have a good zoom lens, do not be tempted to take many pictures of animals in the medium distance. You will end up with lots of blobs in front of green or brown bush!

Finally - From personal experience - Take lots of photos for you to experiment to get the best light, composition, action, etc., but remember to be as active delete the pictures as soon as possible. Either as you head back to the game lodge at the end of the drive or the earliest the next day. There is nothing worse than returning home and having to go through 25 pictures of zebra followed by 20 images of elephants and so on. Reduce 25 zebra pictures down to 5, while on safari and then home, you can choose 1 or 2 really good - if you're lucky!

About the Author

We at Cedarberg African Travel are fortunate to draw on the breadth of expertise of two teams of talented consultants, in South Africa and the UK. Between these people, 17 in all, we've got plenty of first hand experience of our chosen lodges and trips, driving the roads, sleeping in the beds, watching the sunrise over a waterhole on the game drives…. It's tough!

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