Using Lightroom Metadata to Research Best Settings

I use Lightroom 3 primarily for organization and secondly for quick to medium difficulty adjustments.  My advanced work and preparation for print are still done in PS.  Many times LR  is all I need to select photos, prep them for use on the web, and export them.

With all of these features and with more integration tools, added image adjustment capabilities, and printing options going into the program, it is easy to forget that LR is a database. Like all databases, it is only as good as the data is complete and detailed, but if you manage the detail you can create a powerful learning and efficiency tool.

I am a wildlife photographer and a habitual photographer who photographs in the same location over and over and with the same subjects.  The conditions and sometimes fast action do not leave much time to fuss with settings and adjust.  I do get some chances to experiment, but I want to be in the ball park when I enter the water or get in the game vehicle.  This is where a little extra time in LR  provides me with a valuable learning tool.  I consult it before each trip and keep charts for each camera and lens as a quick cheat sheet based on real data.

Settings, time of image, flash use, and equipment are all recorded in the metadata automatically (make sure you adjust the time on your camera for time zones and daylight savings!) but I also enforce the discipline of  recording the location in detail  (for example: north corner or in canal), the sky and lighting conditions, and for underwater – the visibility.  Next I will try to add tides to that.  I also rate each photo before I do much adjusting to it and I keep all but the really embarrassing shots – at least until my disk gets full.

I have learned some surprising things such as all of my best manatee photographs happened between 9am and 9:30am.  There was a significant drop off in number of quality shots before and after this time and the golden time ranges later as it gets later in the season. This makes sense due to the lengthening of days and the sunrise getting later.  Knowing this, I no longer have to get up before dawn!

Using the Library Filter panel in LR I can use it like a query tool to see a count of images with the keywords I have chosen and combinations of the ISO, flash, rating, etc that I choose.  The tool is not a perfectly flexible query tool but you can be clever with your keywords and how you record data to get it to track and measure what you are interested in.  Maybe improvements to this will make it into a future release.

When I have my manatee workshop next week I will be able to look at the time, weather, and water conditions and recommend settings.  I prepared the following chart using meta data in LR.

7am to 9 am
	Cloudy and/or  low visibility	ISO 640	F2.8	1/80 – 1/100
	Bright and clear visibility	ISO 320	F3.2 – f5.0	1/60 – 1/80
9 am – 10 am
	Cloudy and/or  low visibility	ISO 640	F6.3	1/100
	Bright and clear visibility	ISO 400	F4.0 – 6.3	1/80 – 1/125
10 am – 11:30	Cloudy and/or  low visibility	ISO 500 – 320	F6.3 – 8.0	1/80
	Bright and clear visibility	ISO 160 ISO 250	F7.1 – f8.0 F6.3	1/60 1/250

For use on my safaris, I am using the  data to come up with animal specific settings given lighting conditions.  Of course you can use the histogram on the camera screen and your experience to do the same thing, but many times I cant take the time to analyze and adjust in the field (while cageless with sharks or at a lion hunt) Thus is the nature of wildlife and sports photography.

If you needed another reason to keep you photos organized and properly loaded, taking this “big picture” look at a collection of images of your favorite subject  is very rewarding.

Tiger Shark Dive Expedition was filled with great encounters

Everyone disembarked the boat a bit tired but exhilarated by the 5 wonderful days of diving and sharks.  The weather could not have been more beautiful and the tiger sharks were abundant.  The photographers in the group returned with excellent photographs and the non photographers in the group had some exciting memories.

I really enjoyed meeting all of the wonderful people on this trip and seeing again the excellent crew on the Dolphin Dream.

I am still trying to secure dates for a Feb or March 2013 expedition on this popular boat and I have booked March 1 – 7th for 2014.   See my photo tours website for details on this and my other trips  or visit www.TigerSharkDive.com

12 Day Safari Added for 2012 w/ Sabi Sands

I am pleased to announce that we have added a safari departure to our 2012 schedule:

May 30 – June 10   12 days including 2 nights in Sabi Sands and 2 nights at the big cat lodge. Only 2 spaces left for 2 people who will share accommodations.

$4,785 per person inclusive most expenses except airfare to Johannesburg.  See my safari website for more details.

Your travel dates will be: May 30 morning pick up in Johannesburg with transfer to tree house lodge.  June 10 depart for JNB after walk and breakfast

This safari will be similar to our April photography safari with the added feature of staying 2 night in the Sabi Sand reserve.  This famous reserve borders Kruger and has no fences between them and the great park.  The lush river fed land makes this reserve famous for leopard sightings.

We start the safari at our very own tree house lodge where we enjoy  traversing rights on the Thornybush reserve as well as many great photo ops right on our own reserve and those nearby.  We also visit Kruger. The last nights of the safari are spent on a big 5 reserve where we can enjoy close encounters with big cats as we take a morning walk with cheetahs or a lion cub and visit their lion breeding program.

http://www.africawildsafaris.net/photosafari.php

We still have space for 4 more guests on our April 17 – 26th  safari  and 3 spaces on our Photo Safari with Yoga and Mediation

Scanning My Slides to Digital

Back in 2005 I published a book  using all slide images, but 7 years on I find myself using my slide images less and less.  That changed recently when I had a request for some images that only exist in my collection as slides.  Once I started working with them my opinion of my digitized slide images has gone from one of weak and time consuming to being excited at the potential of some of the best of them.

My slide to digital adventure started in 2007. I was already well into digital and my last film trip was in 2005 (remember those x-ray proof bags?).  Most of the slides were not in trays and I didn’t have many trays due to the fact that I sold the trays on Ebay while the market was still high.  Add to that the fact that the bulbs in my projector were so expensive and kept braking, and I was ready to commit to get all of these slides digitized. My main goal was to get them into digital form just to see what I had, but I still scanned them at the highest specs and quality  that my scanner could do.  The physical slides would then be organized and stored so any really nice image could be pulled and treated to a drum scan or better.

In summary it went like this:

Triaged   maybe 8,000 – 9,000  slides

Cued up 6000 slides to scan

Scanned most of those

Today still have  4850   slide based files in the database

Each file is  124.6 MB  and 5568 x 3724  pixels

The first step was to triage on the lightbox and number each of the ones that passed beyond the “junking” step.  This number would then become the file number for the digital file. My naming scheme was similar to my usual naming scheme but had an indicator for slide.

This was the comparatively fun part:  Each scan took around 15 minutes to perform and I set a minimum goal of 20 slides per day, everyday.   It was a drain on my system and nearly caused my computer to catch fire in the hot summer months but I stuck to it.   I scanned with no extras such as adjustments or cropping; just a straight scan with the eye toward fixing them with the expert tools in PS or Lightroom. After they were scanned and saved I added them to the Lightroom catalogue then added keywords and the metadata including the location, dates, and other things if I could remember.

Close to a year later I was finished – this was the worst project I had ever done, but now I could really assess what I had.  Some of the slides have been removed due to my improving skills or technical issues I just could not over come.  Occasionally I rescan a slide to try to improve the original, but many taken at locations I frequent have been surpassed by digital images and thus languish with a rating of 1 star or have been removed.  The unique images in my collection, however, still hold promise.  At this time I am waiting on word as to whether a collection mostly slide images will be selected for publication in a dive tourism manual.

What I did on Holiday Break

For Christmas this year I wanted to go somewhere I had never been and stay on a budget, so we visited the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

I realized that I had been to quite a few aquariums all over the world: some very good and others very dank and depressing.  The Georgia Aquarium was very impressive,  well planned, and had some great marine life to watch and nice spaces to sit back and what them in.

I was underwhelmed by the coral reef display and surprisingly fixated at the weedy seadragon  tank.  I would rank this aquarium as a must see for aquarium fans.

Happy Holidays

I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season and a wonderful new year.

A Year of Travel and Photography

It has been a great year and with the holidays, I have some time to organize and work on photos.  I thought it would make a nice post to pick a favorite image or story from each of my trips.

The sailfish trip was physically demanding but very humbling to witness this incredible feat of nature. I was enthralled watching the sailfish work together to keep the bait ball and catch fish.

To properly photograph a manatee you have to be manatee-like.  By patiently hanging out in the springs and moving slowly the manatees accept your presence and you will be rewarded with great photo ops. The clear water is so beautiful that is a pleasure to stay in the springs.

We have to leave early to get to where the manatees overnight and it takes a while at idle speed. The sunrise is an event worth getting up for.

Our charter to the Bahamas is for tiger sharks,  but I really love to look and sleek lines of the reef sharks. They take some really good images and have a personality that comes through into the image

It is nice to go on a trip once in a while and stay dry.  I love it when we find a pride of lions and can just spend time watching them.  This young cub was a showoff indeed.

This year was the first time I traveled down to Mexico for the whale shark aggregation.  It exceeded all my expectations and was a very fun place to spend a few days. I look forward to my trips back in 2012.

These elephants were having so much fun – as much fun as we had watching them.  The mid day sun and water were a challenge, but this afternoon in Kruger really sticks in my mind as a pure pleasure.

Making a Cinemagraph from a Wildlife Video: Tutorial

See more of my cinemagraphs at Manatee Photography Tips Blog Post

More cinemagraphs made from during my Photo Safari to South Africa Cinemagraphs

A Cinemagraph is a new phrase to describe a still image that contains a subtle element of motion.  It is a new take on animated .GIF files. They are created from a good still image and an element of frame animation usually from a video.

Select a Still Image and Matching video

Start with a good image.  The motion is an enhancement not the main focus.  Process the photo to your liking. Plan the composition with the inset video clip in mind.

Choose to animate an element that can be effectively presented in just a few frames: the masking and other actions must be done layer by layer so the fewer layers and frames of animation the better.  It should be a subtle movement rather than a radical movement.

If at all possible create your video using a tripod.  This is not possible in my wildlife photography, so I have to choose clips where the camera was steady and movement other than the target movement is minimal.

Create a short video clip

I use Final Cut Express to take a longer clip and create a short segment of motion.  I export the subclip in Quicktime format. Photoshop can ready several formats.

To create the animated gif, Photoshop must be operating in 32-bit mode.  The method for doing this on a Mac is different from that on the PC.

Mac:  Open the Applications folder, click on the Adobe Photoshop CS5 application icon, press Command-I. In the Info dialog, check the box labeled Open in 32 bit mode.  Close the dialog and open Photoshop

PC: Close Photoshop. Navigate to program Files (x86) >Adobe>Adobe Photoshop CS5 and double-click the Adobe Photoshop CS5.exe file.

When I am creating a wildlife cinema graph, I create the video with my  DSLR camera and while making the video I will snap stills.  When I go to plan a cinemagraph, I look for the best still image to use with the video inset.  Another method is to use the first frame of the video as the “still”.  I prefer to work with a high resolution raw file as my still.

When that is complete, open the video clip  in PS5.  File>Import>Video frames to layers.  Choose the subclip that you prepared and press Open.  Each frame of the video will become a layer.   Choose the From Beginning to End option box and make sure the Make Frame Animation option is checked and pres OK.  Save this file as a PSD – this will be your working Cinemagraph master file.

You will need to open the Animation plan to work with the frames as animation.  Window>Animation.   In the Layers panel, make Layer1 active.  Near the top of the panel, click the Unify layer visibility icon.

To help fix a shaky video:

Select all of the layers

Edit>Auto Align Layers   choose one of the options – Auto is probably best.

This will examine each layer and try to stabilize the image.  It is not perfect, but it helps and it will save you time aligning by hand later on. This function can take a while if you have many frames. Best option: Use a tripod!! Tell the elephant not to move his head.

Add your Still Image

If you are using a still image as your base layer,  place this image into the composition and size it to match the video file dimensions.

If you are not using a separate image, your first frame will be your base image and visible throughout the animation while the other layers turn on and off to create the movement.

Isolate the Animated Element

Creating the mask

Now you are ready to mask out everything on the video frames layers except the isolated movement.  Click on frame one and make sure only Layer 1 is marked as visible. Make a selection using your favorite method: in many instances a blurred or feathered edge will benefit the blending of the animation into the still image.

Now select Frame 2.  You can either make the selection again and add  a mask or copy the mask from the previous layer.

Make sure only Layer 2 (and the base layer) is visible.

Now copy your mask to the other layers.  You will have to go back and refine the mask to adjust for the movement on each layer.  To copy the mask, make sure the mask and not the image thumbnail is selected then hold the Option (PC: Alt) key and drag the mask up to the next layer.  Repeat for each layer.

Run step by step through the animation using the Animation panel.  Make sure the correct layers are displaying for each frame and make adjustments to your mask to reveal the moving element.  Keep testing and refining until it looks smooth.

Smooth the Repeat

If your first and last frames are not a smooth transition and the video jumps when it goes to repeat, duplicating the frames and reversing them can smooth some animations out.  Select all the frames in the Timeline, then click the Duplicates selected frames icon near the lower left of the timeline.  Now from the Animations panel’s flyout menu choose Reverse Frames.

Final Touches

Make any final touches on composition such as color adjustments to the still layer, Edge burning, text, watermarking.

Save as a Gif

When you are ready to save choose Save for Web.  In the dialog box select GIF as the format, set the colors to the highest setting, set your image size.  In the Animation options choose forever for Looping options (or other settings that fit your vision) then save, choose a file location and you are done.
Be sure to save the working file so you can come back to it and make changes.  You might want to adjust the animation speed or resize.

Preview your creation in a browser to see it in action.

Manatee Photography Tips from my Manatee Photography Workshop Jan 2012

see more of my cinemagraphs and a tutorial on how to make them in a post  Cinemagraph Tutorial
I have only a few spots still open for my Manatee Photography Workshop in Crystal River,  FL  Jan 22 – 28th 2012.  Contact me soon to secure your spot.

We will be in the water nearly all day with the manatees which gives you plenty of time to practice your techniques and get some really great shots.  Unlike other underwater creatures that are gone in one exposure, manatees are slow and linger. Take advantage of this by planning each shot and doing some in the field analysis and learning from images you just made.

Getting a Great Shot of a Manatee Up for a Breath

The Situation:

There is a manatee asleep on the bottom near you.  Regulations say that you are not allowed to disturb them – especially diving down to get pictures of them asleep.  They can stay under for 10 minutes which is way to long to hover just underwater and wait. How do you get a good image of them coming up for a breath?

1) Choose a manatee who is facing such that there will be light on its face (not in the shade from a tree) and is preferably not facing such that you will be shooting into the sun.

2) Decide your angle; 3/4  shot, directly on, full side pose, vertical or horizontal camera position.  Scan what will be the background and plan to place undesirable elements like people behind the manatee or out of frame.

3) Get into position and float relaxed. Think about your settings, take test shots, adjust.  Take special note of the view of the sky through the water. The deeper you are the more sky will show. This may not be ideal.

4) When it is time, you will want to force some air out of your lungs which will make you sink a bit (you have already tested this and set your weights correctly). Push water up slowly but firmly with one hand to get you under – Do not move your legs or you will cloud your own picture and possibly freak out the manatee.

5) Watch the manatee. They usually have a “tell” when they are preparing to surface. Their body will rock a bit then begin to rise.  Exhale and sink, snapping pictures and keeping your body still and compact to limit movement.

6) snap shots  while the manatee is on the way up. Watch the framing of your shot to get the whole animal – nose to tail- in the shot.

7) Get a shot as he breaks the surface and takes in air. Then some on the way back down with the ripples on the surface.  The manatee may fall pretty fast.  Sometimes they dont get enough air and go right back up or linger.  Just hold your breath and be still .  Get the shot. You will have 10 minutes to rest and try again.

While you wait for the next breath examine your shots. Make a new plan.  Try a different manatee if this one is not in a good spot.

Improving a Lion Shot: Three techniques to correct an image with limited color range

Gurushots.com is a sight where you can purchase a critique from professional photographers. This is a recent critique I did for a client for a shot of a lion. The image similar to many shots in my collection and displays many of the same issues with color and contrast that I discuss in the critique. I thought it would be fun and helpful to demonstrate the different processing suggestions I made in the Gurushots critique.

The Challenge in this Image
In wildlife photography one challenge we face is that our subjects have markings and colors designed to blend into their surroundings. We want to catch them during natural behaviors and they do this in the environs where they blend it best. When we load in our photos the subject, in this case a lion, blends into the background and the whole photo has a monochromatic feel. It didn’t seem so bad while we were watching the action unfold and taking the photograph because our brain uses movement and shape to distinguish the subject for us. The camera has no such smarts so we will have to tweak the photo to bring separation between the subject and the background.

This image of a juvenile male lion was taken around mid day and the histogram shows an even bell curve but with a narrow distribution of darks and lights. There is more range to be added in both the highlights and shadows. One of the first adjustments will be to introduce contrast.

Processing – 3 Options

For this discussion I will only use the non- destructive tools in the Lightroom Develop Module. All of these goals can be achieved in Photoshop, plus some more advanced and targeted adjustments that would involve masks or using advanced curve adjustments in color spaces such as LAB mode. For now let us just experience the possibilities using controls in Lightroom.

Adjust Contrast and Range of Color

In my workflow I always adjust for optimum lighting and range of contrast first. Often what seems to be a color problem at first is improved with a Curves adjustment. Curves is the best tool to use and offers greater control over other less refined and “blunt” sliders such as “contrast”.

I first eliminate the distraction of color by temporarily desaturating the image. I then use the histogram and the number values of specific samples around the image to set an optimum “S” curve “by the numbers”. After I let just my eyes take over and tweak the adjustment to where I think it looks good.

In this image I set the nose and nostrils as true black with the mouth and tuft at the tail as nearly true black. The inside of the ear would be yet a few more units brighter than full black. For the highlights, the chin fur and light patch under the eye are the closest thing to full white in the image, but I do not want to make them full white since in nature they are not completely white. I raise them up a bit and wait until I place the color back into the mix to make a final decision.

Now I like the overall range and it is time to address midtone contrast. I want specifically more variation in the darks and medium darks in the lower mane. I use the Direct Adjustment Tool again right on the image to push up the light tuft of fur in the mane and push the darker patch down a less amount. The overall curve is now a flat almost “S”. Restore the color and see what has changed.

The color uniformity is still there, but the image has an overall richness that was not present at the start.

Overall the tone is too warm so I do a slight White Balance adjustment to a cooler temperature. Now I switch to using the HSL controls which gives you eight colors and 3 controls for each color: Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity. Studying the picture, the lion has a big more orange to him and the grass a bit more yellow. Using these two sliders I can increase those differences to pop the subject out from the background. I shifted the Yellow range toward the green Hue and the Orange toward the red Hue. I also desaturated the yellows a little and saturated the oranges a slight amount. I didn’t adjust the Luminescence this time but often this adjustment helps in building color contrasts.

Try Black and White or Sepia

This type of image easily translates into a black and white image. I simply deepen the blacks further and brighten the lighter tones. Remember when I didn’t take the chin and under the eye to full white? Now I will make them a true white point since black and white demands both a real black and a real white. A vignette looks good to draw the eye to the subject.

I like a tinted monochrome look better. It is easy to find a tint you like by placing the Saturation Slider at about 80% desaturated then using the White Balance adjustment for a simple tint or use the same HSL color sliders to fine tune your tint. In this version I saturated yellow and orange, Shifted the orange hue toward yellow, and warmed the White Balance Temperature a few stops warmer than how it was shot (in the full color version I cooled the White Balance – this needed the opposite) The result was a nice grayish brown reminiscent of colors that were present in the full color version. It also has a classic natural and aged look to it.

Take it up a Level with Split Toning
Lightroom has some nice monochrome presets to get you thinking creatively. Many of them use split tones /duotone which is a way of choosing one color for the shadows and a different for the highlights.
For this split tone treatment I went a bit extreme to demonstrate the effect. The shadows are done in a red tone and the highlights are done in a lime green. The images 100% desaturated and the white balance is set as shot. I reversed the vignette effect to bleach out to the edges. To go even further, in Photoshop you can go under Mode-Duotone and play with up to 4 tones in your black and white mode image.

An image that begins as a monochrome color cast image can be made to excel when the contrast it optimized and colors are tweaked to bring back color contrast and variety. African wildlife images are great for creative black and white and tinted treatments.

Get a Photo Critique From a Professional Photographer

www.GuruShots.com is a site where you can upload a photo and get a critique by a professional photographer expert in your photo’s genre. I am participating as a professional on this site under the category of Animal photography. Overall it has been a very positive experience.

Visitors to the sight can learn just by reading the critiques at the site. It has been a learning and developing experience for me as well. I have become better at writing down my analysis process and I have been forced to put my technical and artistic thoughts and actions into words in order to provide the advice and comment needed for a critique.

My most recent Critique can be seen here

This is the image I was asked to critique. Right up my alley

Florida Expands Shark Protection

On Nov. 16, 2011 discussions chaired by the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) were held on the topic of adding four of the ocean’s larger species of sharks (Greater Hammerhead, Scalloped Hammerhead, Smooth Hammerhead and Tiger) to the State’s listing of prohibited species to both commercial and recreational harvest.

FWC has already taken a proactive stance in protecting large coastal species, demonstrated last February when they put into law Lemon Sharks as a prohibited species making it illegal kill one in state waters.

This last meeting ended with the FWC voting another ground-breaking shark protection measure that will in effect make it illegal for anglers fishing state waters to keep tiger sharks or any of the three mentioned species of hammerhead sharks.

The measure will thereby hopefully reverses the species downward spiral, which has shown population decline of more than fifty percent in recent years, by providing a safe haven in the states coastal waters.

Environmentalists praised the move and hope it will be adopted for federal waters by the National Marine Fisheries Services. “The federal government should make today’s new rule a consistent policy in all U.S. waters,” said Rebecca Greenberg, a marine scientist for Oceana.

The FWC is also working on an educational campaign highlighting fishing and handling techniques that increase the survival rate of sharks that are caught and released while ensuring the safety of the anglers targeting them.

The new rule, which will take effect Jan. 1, prohibits the possession, sale and exchange of tiger sharks and great, scalloped and smooth hammerhead sharks harvested from state waters. Another 22 species share similar protections.

Canon EF 100-400 f/4-5.6L IS “Soonish” Great for Safari

From www.canonrumors.com

Finally on its way?
I was told today that a new EF 100-400 f/4-5.6L IS will be making its debut “soonish”. It will be after the EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x is officially announced.

It could be tested at Euro 2012 before being announced.

Features

Ring zoom (not push/pull)
Latest IS System
82mm Filter Size
Weather Sealed
Slightly heavier than the current model
Slightly faster f/4 at 100mm (Current is f/4.5)
Retail around $2800 USD
CR’s Take
A few folks want an EF 400 f/5.6L IS, I’d think this sort of product would fill the void. I’d expect it to be optically awesome.

This comes from a pretty solid source, though lenses are always hard to nail down.

This will be a treasured addition to my African Safari bag. I might start leaving my 300mm at home.

Rhinos to get Revenge on poachers

South Africa lost at least 333 rhinos in 2010 and 341 in the first 10 months of 2011. The situation is so critical that the South African National Defense Force has been deployed in various national parks in an effort to curb poaching. Now, rhinos have been equipped with the means to fight back.

Ed Hern, owner of the Rhino and Lion Reserve in Kromdraai, near Krugersdorp in Gauteng, has come up with a plan to make the much-coveted horn less palatable.  Hern caused controversy in 2010 when he was quoted as saying: “We need to try poisoning the horns with something like cyanide so when someone uses it for medicine they will die. I have started testing with a vet.” On the advice of conservation body Endangered Wildlife Trust, Hern moderated his stance. Since then he’s been experimenting with non-lethal, but unpleasant ingredients to inject into the rhino horn in a desperate attempt to stop the butchering. The cocktail has been fine-tuned and tested in animals that were injected over 12 months ago and have shown no ill effects – only humans are affected.

This September the reserve’s Rhino Rescue Project announced that it will go ahead with injecting its chemical mixture into more horns.  The mixture consists of certain ectoparasitacides, that is, drugs that are designed to kill parasites that live on the exterior of the host.  While the formulation is not  lethal, it will cause reactions such as convulsions and severe headaches.  The mixture also contains  a neon pink dye, impossible to remove or alter, that will make the horn visible on airport x-ray scanners, and allow authorities to make arrests on the spot. Hern said in a statement: “A permanent solution would be to eliminate the demand for rhino horn altogether.” He added that education is key in convincing consumers – who come mostly from the Far East – that rhino horn contains no nutritional or medicinal value.

With 90% of rhino numbers decimated in recent years, a drastic and immediate strategy is called for, and Hern believes his strategy can offer this solution. The treatment, which lasts three to four years, will also keep parasites away.  While some feel that the tactic won’t work on big reserves with large numbers of animals, such as the Kruger Park, it could be effective in private reserves which have only a handful of rhinos.

Although gains have been made because of dedicated conservation efforts, especially in South Africa, the rhino population is not large, with three of the species listed as critically endangered. The worldwide population, at the end of 2010, was estimated at 25 045 in Africa and just 3 100 in Asia. South Africa’s count is around 18 800 white rhino and 2 200 black rhino.The magnificent animals face a very real possibility of extinction as levels of poaching increase The rhino, from the Rhinocerotidae family, occurs as five species. The WWF confirmed that rhinos had become extinct in Vietnam, where a small population of Javan rhinos had been hanging on. Failure to conserve the Javan rhinos in Vietnam, where the last individual was found dead with its horn missing and a bullet in its leg, means the population in Indonesia, with  fewer than 50 individuals, is the last remaining Javan rhinos in the world.

The much-prized horns are simply compressed keratin, a protein also found in hair and fingernails, and have no medical value. But this has not stopped people through the centuries from seeking it for ornamental or medicinal purposes.

It is because of these erroneous beliefs that hundreds of rhinos are poached every year, and the number is climbing. Rhino horn has been known to fetch up to R430 200 ($60 000), per kilogram,

Stop Rhino Poaching is a South African based organization fighting to stop poaching.
Their website has articles, stats, and disturbing photos of this problem.

Managing Your Digital Image Assets

Guests on our safaris can get  overwhelmed by the volume of images they shoot on our trip.  It is important to have a system in place for storing and backing up image files.  Equally important is a method of triaging and cataloging images that gets your photos quickly into  a state whereby you can review them each day.  I believe reviewing good and bad images after each session speeds the learning process and gives the photographer the best chance of improving (and sometimes redeeming themselves)  while still on safari.  The view screens and information provided on the camera are good and can allow you to make quick technical adjustments during the shoot, but it is not a replacement for the cool-headed technical and artistic analysis that can only happen on a larger screen and when you are calm and settled back at the lodge.

I recommend taking a look at a book by Peter Kough The Dam Book – Digital Asset Management for Photographers
He discusses the whys and hows of digital asset management. He is also a frequent presenter at Photoshop World Conferences.

Some preplanning and education before the trip will make the daunting task of sifting and learning from your new treasure trove of images quicker and more productive. Three major things need to be in place before travel as a foundation to keep you organized.

File Folder Storage Structure (on the hard drive)

My file folder structure is not designed to organize the files by topic, shoot, or trip: I rely on my cataloging software to do this for me and point me to the storage location when I need the file.  Instead my folders of raw images are numbered in sequence and code for the range of shooting dates contained within. They are sized to be  10GB or less for ease of moving them around and backing up

Image File naming

I rename all of my RAW images (btw I only shoot RAW).  There are many reasons to do this including:

No chance of duplicate file names between different cameras and photographers (such as my wife’s images)

The file name encodes basic information that is apparent just by looking at the file name (who shot the image, sequence, and date)

You can formulate a naming scheme to fit your needs and use presets to apply the name on each import automatically.

Cataloguing and Organizational Software Tools

If you are serious enough about photography to go on a photo safari you will need more than your operating system’s file browser to manage you photo collection.  Adobe is not the only company making photo cataloging software, but their Lightroom, Bridge, and Photoshop programs are excellent and deep with features and they work well with other photo finishing packages such as the suite of products by Nik Software .  A product like Lightroom acts like a database giving you access to all of the information stored by the camera as well as information you add such as key words, named collections you create, ratings, flagged images. They even  give you a full set of nondestructive tools to correct the image, import , print, and export, and even make a slideshow or web gallery.

Once these elements are in place you can create presets to use as you load off your memory cards and some that automatically do some image correction (like white balance).  Using presets and a structured data plan   will make saving and preprocessing after a shoot a no –brainer and a simple task.

If you have a step by step process to follow your photos will be neatly organized and safely backed up very quickly. Your process can also expedite the culling and review of the images.

My process for dealing with the mass of images while on safari

Create a backup on a backup drive right away

Memory card goes in card reader and files are copied to a portable backup drive attached to the computer. (this is a full backup copy)

Copy images from memory card to the computer

The memory card gets copied to the computer hard drive (this is the working copy)

Load images into Lightroom (or other catalogue software) and apply data

While the files are copied they are renamed, converted to DNG,  and imported into Lightroom with basic metadata (keywords and location data)

Start the review process

Cull out the photos that are technically deficient – Taking the time to analyse why they are bad.  Consider keeping some of these in a special collection to study and learn from.

Apply more keywords (such as animal names), sort images into logical collection groups, rating, and finally some minimal correction.

The goal of this first pass is to triage only based on technical merits.  The most beautifully composed blurry photo is useless except as a learning tool and a motivation to get it right next time.  I also quickly move through the keywording without getting distracted by the images.  Keywording  and location data is boring for me, but vital in a large catalogue so I push through it and just get it done as fast as possible.  If I start enjoying the images and playing with adjustments I will never get the data phase done.  Just do it and get it over with.  I will add more metadata in the future to best images.

Now it gets more enjoyable on the second pass.  I have many images and need to find the best ones quickly for a client or the website and spend the most time on only those images.   I go through all images again this time with an eye for technical and artistic merit.  Now that I have keywords I can do some sorting by animals or other content. After this pass all images not marked for deletion get a rating of  1 stars.  A few of the stand out images will get 2 stars.

If time is short I can get right to the job of studying what went wronged or right and whether I got the angle or action that I wanted.  I can make my checklist and wish list for the next shoot.  If I have time I can continue with the rating and sorting.

The second pass analyses the 1 star images and elevates some to 2 stars (above the established average).  I do not generally  mark any more for deletion.  I then go through the 2 stars and elevate some to 3 stars.

I permanently delete the marked files from the hard drive.  I will make a backup based on the working files.  Eventually I will delete that first backup, but not until I am home and have worked with the files for a while  it make sure nothing is missing or mistakenly deleted.

Yoga Retreat and Safari in South Africa with Laura DeFreitas May 2012

Yoga Retreat and Safari in South Africa May 2012 Limited to 8 guests

Join photographer Gregory Sweeney and Laura DeFreitas yoga instructor on a very special retreat where you will practice yoga while in the wild bushveld of South Africa. The group will an intimate 9 guests and we will be staying at a guesthouse comprised of tree houses on a wildlife reserve among free roaming zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, and plains game. Each day is a discovery of lions, elephants, rhino, cheetah, and antelope while your guide takes you into the wilds on game drives, into Kruger National Park, on a canyon boat ride, or a wildlife rehabilitation center. The encounters are up close and at a relaxed pace, with your expert guide sharing their knowledge and stories. Many surprises are in store during your stay.

The daily yoga practice will bring balance and open your mind to the wild spirit of this special place. No yoga experience is required. All yoga classes will be geared to all levels of experience and fitness. The wild and strangeness of the environment contributes to your experience allowing you to deepen your practice and be open to the new sensations and places around you. This safari experience is a world away from your daily routine and you will return enhanced and invigorated.

While in South Africa you will experience the comfortable warm (t-shirt and shorts) days and cool nights of the early autumn. The dry weather keeps bugs at a minimum and the animals are well fed on summer grass and very active. The tree houses have en suite bathrooms with a spa tub and fun outside showers with a spectacular sunset view over the mountains. Each day we experience African wildlife from an open safari vehicle in the nearby private reserves and national parks. Guests will learn about conservation efforts from the local guides and by visiting a wildlife rehabilitation center. Your hosts and the game trackers offer interpretation of the animals, plants, and ecosystems. The reserves and lodges we visit are safe and secure and are locally owned and supportive of their local populations and communities. Guests will want to bring cameras, binoculars, and a journal for capturing your stories and reflections of this magical land.

Laura’s yoga classes are best described as moving meditations. Her signature style marries precision and fluidity in a manner that encourages students to practice deeply, to listen, and to welcome the fullness of each moment just as it is.

Laura came to Yoga after 15 years of disciplined gymnastic training. Yoga is the path that revealed the relationship she had always sought through movement: the inseparable connection of mind, body and spirit. Since completing the Pacific Yoga Teacher Training in 2003 she has been heavily influenced by the Ashtanga and Universal Styles of Yoga. She specializes in Yoga Nidra or Integrative Restoration, a systematic method of complete relaxation that works at the root of stress and allows the release of subconscious tensions and tendencies that prevent us from living to our fullest potential. Through her business, LauraNidra Yoga, Laura offers Yoga and Yoga Nidra meditation class to individuals and groups of all levels of fitness and experience. Laura also leads Yoga Retreats aimed to deepen one’s experience by taking the practice beyond the walls of the studio and into daily life. After many years in Seattle, Washington, Laura recently returned to California to practice in South Lake Tahoe. www.LauraNidraYoga.com

This unique retreat is the adventure of a lifetime

May 2 – May 12 2012 – 9 days and 8 nights in South Africa
Included:
Yoga instruction daily and activities to get you up close to Africa’s amazing wildlife and beautiful landscapes.
Food and lodging
Transfers from Johannesburg and return

Cost: $3,800 per adult sharing

More details available on our website: www.YogaSafariAfrica.com

The End of Another Great Safari

It has been a day since the guests departed tired but very happy.  Not all of the guests were photographers this time, but everyone enjoyed our time with the animals.  Some of the non photographers might have been convinced into taking up the habit after trying some of the huge array of equipment present on the trip.

I have been slow to go through my images this trip. After a few hours with them this afternoon, I took a step back and appreciated how we are able to get nice, close shots of animals. I really love to study the images close up and try to read the story behind the scars, broken teeth, or scrapes on the antlers.  The range of wildlife we encounter is also a marvel.

I have included images that demonstrate how close we can get. The longest lens I use is a 300mm.

Wildlife as a Cinemagraph

Cheetah Cinemagraph

I have been looking for ways to use the video capability of my  Canon 5DMKII without launching  into full video editing.  I just do not have the time to do all of that editing. I have started making “cinemagraphs” : still photos with a small subtle element of movement.  They are time consuming, but I am hoping to get more skilled and efficient as a overcome the learning curve.

The movement is a few frames of video masked into the still image.

Making these with wild animal images is challenging because the subject does not stay still like an inanimate object or a human model .

This latest effort too alot of time because I was using quite a long video clip. Each frame has to be masked so by the time I had perfected the masks, I had iterrated through my 49 frames (layers) several times.

In my next attempt  I will use  a tripod: Photoshop can make up for camera shake, but it is a long render.  I am still trying to figure out how to do this for an underwater image where the fish is not still and a tripod is impossible.

My first endeavor is this blinking lion cub. I look forward to having a whole gallery of these fun images.

Focus on Conservation and a close look at Raptures

After our long day at Kruger, we are more relaxed today.  We are visiting a wildlife rehabilitation centre.  Here we get a chance to observe some of Africa’s raptures up close and learn about why they must live at the centre.  Each visit is different because the centre hosts different injured and motherless animals who will be reintroduced onto a reserve.  I like to use this time to study bird movements and habits.  It is possible to get some really close portraits of birds.

The afternoon will be spent learning some post processing techniques in Photoshop and Lightroom.   Guests have requested some help with correcting images with the Curves tool and  some advanced techniques for color correction.

Magic at Kruger

There is nothing better than the elephant encounters in Kruger.  Usually it takes us until afternoon to find the herds heading for water or a mud bath, but today we found them early and they dominated our morning.  We had large family groups with some really little babies.  It is hard to photograph the really little ones as the mothers and other females keep them so close and under foot.  Not far from the herds were some really large males.  Kruger has a contest to photograph and identify the “Great Tuskers” ; the largest bulls with the biggest ivory tusks.  Some of the oldest ones have passed on recently, so they are on the look out to find the newest members of this elite group, rank them, and track them.  

Giraffes and zebras and also very easy to photograph in Kruger and they often are found gathered together.  This season the zebras were very aggressive  within their herds and fought bitterly over rights to the first drink and the water source.

Soon the Africa summer rains will start and Kruger will being to green up and the animals will move away from the watering holes when water becomes more plentiful.  It is very pleasing to visit at this time of year for the added visibility (low grass) and the cooler temperatures.

A Great Game Walk

We have been tracking the Big 5 , bathing with elephants, and screaming on the zip line so we were ready for a change.  We set out early this morning for a photo walk around the lodge and reserve.

We came upon a very nice male kudu.  He was very intent on eating some leaves so we were able to get quite close.  By taking turns advancing on him everybody got a great shot.

It was a very good winter and the game is all very healthy and fat.  Several babies have been born.  We found the resident herd of giraffe at our watering hole just a short walk from the lodge.  We spent a long time sitting in the grass watching them approach, drink, and munch on leaves.  When we were almost satisfied a younge mother came with her newborn.

Giraffes often use juvenile “baby sitters” to watch the youngest members of the herd.  This youngest giraffe was in the company of several juveniles.

Giraffes are one species that other animals rely on for security and an early warning of danger.   Giraffes have good eye site and together with their height they make a great lookout system.  If the giraffes are relaxed with our presence, than other animals are going to be relaxed as well.   We were able to get some great shots of impalas from the same vantage point.  Some of the poses, interactions, and expressions are quite comical.

After a really great meal of Guinness pie and some great conversation, we hit the sack early because we have another full day in Kruger tomorrow.  The weather should be great.

Look for the Picture within a Picture

I have been playing around with cropping lately and practicing techniques to turn mediocre pictures into great pictures.

This elephant photo in its original form is not a great composition.  I was concentrating on the baby elephant hoping he would do something fun and cute and I didnt really pay attention to the very touching interaction between the large female and the juvenile elephant.

Some lighting and color correction and a crop with a vignette all completed in Lightroom gives me a very nice portrait with lots of warm fuzzy motherly vib.

Don’t disregard a photo before examining it closely for details and emotions you did not know were in there.

My Tribute to Steve Jobs

With all the world celebrating and reflecting on how Steve Jobs has changed our world and our individual lives, I though I should also record how he influenced my life.

In 1978 as a geeky 7th grader still high on Star Wars I joined an experimental class at my school to learn programming on a personal computer – an early Apple.  I was already firmly in Bill Gates’ camp since my dad had a TRS 80 and I knew how to write programs for it.  Steve was credited by many as presenting consumers with products that seemed to foreshadow the future and with this early version I experienced what the future would be like with color and animation.

My first program of a colored horse walking across the screen proved to me that art and computers can and will coexist in the future.  In grad school I built a neuro network  artificial intelligence  program in the super chilled university computer lab all decked out with mac’s

I write this from an Apple 8-core machine, pass the time doing boring chores listening to books on my iPod, and plan how to publish a photography book for the iPad.

Thank you Steve Jobs for keeping me hungry for what will be possible.

- Karen

A Wonderful Day and Day of Wonder in Kruger

It was a splendid warm day today and perfect for being in Kruger. We had many wonderful animal encounters starting with a cheetah who had just made a kill near the road (oh to have been a few minutes sooner!). We watched as this radio – collared individual struggled to drag the kill into the grass.  We then realized that it had another fresh kill already hidden in the grass.  Unfortunately it did not start to feast, but sat down for a rest.  I wonder if there were cubs stashed nearby.

I was excited to once again see ground hornbills out on patrol.  I love odd birds and these big guys make for great photos.  Their black coloring makes them confusing to the light meter in your camera so it is easy to overexpose if your metering is not set right. They also keep their eyes to the ground so you have to be ready for them to look up.

This old giraffe has fought hard over his life.  I thought this was just a mediocre image of an unusually dark giraffe until I looked closely at his face. The story it tells in scars is powerful. All over its body are other big scars; one even looks like a predator bit a chunk out of it leg.  They seem so peaceful and laid back, but life is hard no matter what species you are.

We did not cover much ground today because we elected to park and enjoy the elephants bathing in a mud puddle.  So many came throughout the day and they had such fun that we could not pull ourselves away.  Some were completely submerged and others would fall on top of them.  Their fun was infectious.  This was one of those times where I put down the camera for a long period of time and just lived in the moment with this family of elephants.

Find the Elephant in this Picture

An elephant becomes almost invisible behind a ridiculously small tree (which he is making smaller by tearing apart).

It is astounding how something so big can be 15 feet away from you and nearly invisible.  This also speaks to why it is so dangerous to go walking in a big 5 area. Their ability to blend in combined by their talents for being quiet while standing and stealthy when walking can add up to disaster if you blunder into a herd on foot.  Then you will see how fast they can go!

Little Creatures

Good thing I was driving slow or I would have missed this incredible caterpillar.  I have not identified it yet.  I can just image birds fighting over this tasty but hairy morsel. No wonder he was moving so fast.

Very Happy to be back in the Bush

I am very excited to be back here on the reserve in South Africa. I feel like I know some of the animals personally.  The trio of zebras still patrol around the lodge and the journey of giraffes come by on rotation every few days.  I have noticed a few new editions to the herd.

With my camera gear assembled and warmed up I am ready to get some great shots.  I was not able to get  my EF300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens for this trip, but by next trip I will hopefully have one.

This will be great 10 days; the weather is nice with cool nights and nice sunny warm days and the grass is short after the winter.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Proposes protection for Tiger Sharks and Hammerheads

FWC proposes protection for hammerheads, tiger sharks

News Release

Thursday, September 08, 2011

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on Thursday advanced its long-standing policy to protect stressed shark populations in Florida waters. The action came during the second day of its three-day meeting in Naples.

Sharks have been strictly regulated in Florida since 1992, with a one-shark-per-person, two-sharks-per-vessel daily bag limit for all recreational and commercial harvesters; a ban on shark finning; and a prohibition on roughly two dozen overfished, vulnerable or rare shark species.

“Florida has been recognized as a pioneer and a leader in shark management efforts for nearly 20 years,” said FWC Chairman Kathy Barco. “We recognize that maintaining healthy shark populations is critical to the sustainability of our marine ecosystem. The additional protections we are proposing would help preserve Florida’s valuable marine resources.”

The Commission proposes protecting four additional shark species that rely on Florida’s productive coastal waters for their survival. The FWC’s proposed rules would prohibit harvest of scalloped hammerheads, great hammerheads, smooth hammerheads and tiger sharks from state waters. Scalloped hammerheads are considered overfished and are experiencing overfishing, which means that fishing pressure is too high to be sustainable. Research indicates the other three species have also suffered severe population declines in recent decades.

In addition to the proposed rules, the Commission directed staff to work with stakeholders and anglers to develop an educational campaign highlighting proper fishing and handling techniques when catching and releasing sharks. Commissioners also asked staff to explore a trophy tag program for these important sharks. The tag, similar to the one used for tarpon, would allow anglers to harvest a shark for record purposes.

A final public hearing on the proposed shark rules will be during the November FWC meeting in Key Largo.

We still have 2 spots available on our Bahamas Tiger and Hammerhead Shark Diving Trip.  http://www.TigerSharkDive.com

What is a Cinemagraph?

A cinemagraph is a cool new technique to add subtle movement to a still photograph.

This image was created by taking video frames from my Canon 5DMKII  into Photoshop where they became layers.   I used making to limit the movement to just the eyes in a  just a few frames of animation.  The finished product is saved as an animated .gif file.  Working with a model that doesnt understand English and without a tripod made this challenging but I plan to do further work on these as I like the possibilities for using the video feature of my camera for something a bit non traditional (and less time consuming than video editing!)

To see some other cinemagraphs form the fashion and advertising world:  http://turnstylenews.com/2011/04/20/so-long-animated-gifs-hello-cinemagraph/

My Image Appears as the Cover Shot on Save the Manatee Club Calendar

I am honored to have my image selected to appear on the cover of the 2012 Save the Manatee Club Calendar.

Save the Manatee Club  works to protect ample healthy habitat to sustain and grow  the manatee population and works to reduce harassments, injuries, and deaths from human activity.

You can buy the calendar from Save the Manatee Club at the link below

http://www.savethemanatee.org/shop/

Greg will be holding a manatee photography workshop this January 22 – 28  Join us if you would like to get some really good manatee photos and learn from a practiced professional.    details on Greg’s Photo Tour Website  http://www.gregorysweeney.com

Canon Announces New Lenses

Canon has announced that its EF300mm f/2.8L IS II USM adn EF400mm f/2.8L II USM telphoto lenses are now shipping ot selected dealers.

The lenses both feature completely redesigned optical systems,  the latest Canon Image Stabilization (IS) technology, new IS and AFG Modes and Improved build quality .

Canon EF 300 /2.8L IS II  $7,299  at B&H

Canon EF 400 /2.8L IS II  $11,499 at B&H

Using B&W Conversion to Enhance the Subject and Composition of an Image

Occasionally the color in an image can distract away from the real topic.   In this image of two elephants, I want to present the contrast in size between the two, the interesting shapes of their bodies, and the details on their skin.  The fact that they are grey  and the background is bright and colored is an obstacle .  My goal is to desaturate the colors of the background and enhance the exposure and color of the elephants in order to make their shape and details grab the eye of the viewer.

My first step is to get the light and contrast right on the elephants.    I like to make my corrections  with the color saturation set to desaturate.   This focuses my attention to black, white, and grey, and I am not distracted by color issues.  Ignoring the background which will get its own treatment, I optimize the elephants using the Tone Curve.  The image is a little overexposed, so I darken the shadows quite a bit.  I take it rather dark because I want a high contrast look.  The “darks” – the darker midtones,  need a  boost in order to show all the details of the hide.  The lights and highlights are adjusted down slightly to compensate for the harsh sunlight coming off the background.  One adjustment for the background is to move the Recovery slider about half way.  This will help with the blown hightlight in the sky and temper the edges of the elephants head.  I like the added contrast from a small touch of the Blacks slider which sets the black point.  I am in effect taking away some shadow details here by setting all of the those tones of black to true black – but I like this look for this image.  I restore the color by setting the Saturation slider back to neutral. I know I have the adjustments right, but colors make it look  awful but I am about to fix that.

I know I want a “cream tone” effect for this photo similar to a preset that comes in Lightroom.  The color ranges I do not need are Green, Aqua, Blue, Purple, and Magenta  because they play no part in this sepia effect so I go to the HSL panel and set the saturation of these colors to -100 (fully desaturated).  That took care of the unwanted green the background, but it is not yet what I want.  My final cream-like tone will contain some red, yellow, and orange. Through experimentation I discovered I did not need Orange so I set that slider to desaturated and set the Yellow and Red to -50.  Now I have an image that has a correct black to white tonal range and is almost fully desaturated of color except for Red and Yellow which as half desaturated.

Now I will use the White Balance tool to turn some areas of white or light grey to my only remaining colors: red and yellow creating the cream colored cast.  Sliding Color Temperature to the warm side fills yellow tones into the grass and trees.  The elephants have quite a bit of red in the color of their hide (they are not neutral grey) so sliding the Tint away from the magenta side improves the look of the elephants and makes them stand out from the background by way of a separation of color tones.  Now I can make some fine adjustments to the Tone Curve. I could also do some sharpening to  bring out the texture of the foreground grass and as prep for printing, but I am going to add an effect using Photoshop instead.

I right-click and choose Edit in PS to open the image in Photoshop.   I make two copies of the image on layers, one I convert to a Smart Object and the other I place on top of this layer and turn off the visibility for now.  The filter I want is Poster Edges.  I also like the look of Fresco for this type of image.  I adjust the options to give me a high posterization level and low intensity and small thickness.  The effect is a sketched in effect on the texture of the elephant’s skin further emphasizing the detail and giving an aged look to the photo.  The only drawback is that it effects the background and since this whole exercise was to deemphasize the backgroud I will need to use a mask to limit the filter effect to just the subjects and foreground. This is done by using the original on the layer that I placed above the filter layer. I make this layer visible, add a mask and hide  the areas with the elephants and foreground allowing just the unposterized background to show.  Back on the filter layer, I fine tune the filter effect by masking out  at less that 100% some areas that I thought had gained too much detail.

By converting this image to a black and white I have transformed a picture of two really cute elephants in a good composition which had exposure and color issues to an image which highlights to shapes and textures of the animals without distracting elements.  A filter in Photoshop takes this vision a few steps further.

The Final Day of Whale Sharks Requires Speed

Today we experienced different conditions and behaviour. For the last 2 days we have found large groups of hundreds of feeding individuals, today there were small groups. The biggest difference was that they were swimming much faster and often under the surface.

We had it easy for 2 days with the whale sharks almost coming to us and cruising slowly right on the surface. Today was an aerobic workout to keep pace with these huge fish. Good training for conditions today would have been to go out into the middle of a 35 mph wide street and try to photograph buses head on.
Many times I had to dive quickly to avoid a collision. I am pleased to know that I can keep pace with a whale shark, but it was very tiring.


Unfortunately it was our last day on the boat so after another delicious meal out and some shopping we will be packing for home.

Another beautiful day with the Whale Sharks

For our second day we had to move a few miles further out as the crib patch and the whale sharks had moved over night. Once we were on the site we could see that there were even more in one spot than the day before, maybe 150 – 200.

The sharks seemed to be swimming and feeding a little deeper under the surface than they had been on the previous day. Yesterday they skimmed right at the surface with the sound of water rushing into their mouths. Today some were just below the surface. This made it easier for them to sneak up on you from behind.

We had so much fun following an individual getting many great photos then shortly after you stop it would turn and loop back to you.
I had a few goals to my photography today: to get a silhouette against the surface taken from below and some close shots into the mouth and other anatomical features.

First Day of our Whale Shark Adventure

We had a smooth travel day to Cancun and transfer to Isla Mujeres. We arrived in the late afternoon which afforded us the chance to wander leisurely down the streets and have long and relaxing dinner.

Today was our first day in the water. Our boat left the dock this morning and traveled calm waters under a sunny sky. We had no problem locating a large aggregation of whale sharks. The rest of the day would be spent in the water with them.
All around us the whale sharks swim at the surface with open mouths. They swim toward the boat and veer off at the last second. Accompanying them is a swooshing sound of the water rushing into wide open mouth and swirling around the exposed dorsal fin.

In the water is is possible to keep pace with an individual. When they make a turn you are well positioned to get a head on shot. As they continue by I have to be careful to avoid the large sideways arc of the tail . I look around and another is approaching not far behind me. When there is a pause in encounters it is not long before one or more are on their way.

I am smiling to myself enjoying this very special adventure. I have plenty of time to study and note all of the features of an individual’s anatomy: the spots, the shape of the fin built for maximum speed, the large gills to allow water to pass through. They seem so unfazed by our presence.

I am looking forward to getting more shots tomorrow in the continuing clear visibility, blue water, sunny skies , and flat seas.
What a Treat. Now it is Taco time!

Photo Critiques Website

www.Gurushots.com is a new website venture that offers photo critiques by professionals. Users upload a photo and then selects a professional in an appropriate niche.
I was hired for a critique of a lion photo. Despite being taken is a zoo, it was very reminiscent of some of the photos my guests achieve while on safari. The comments I made may be of interest to other wildlife photographers and the techniques I suggest are ones I have discussed while on safari, here in my blog (check the category “Techniques”) or rate high on my list of topics to present on the blog.
I hope this site and/or this critique will be useful

http://www.gurushots.com/view_feedback.php?job_id=1913

Participating in this site has had benefits for me as well as the clients. I find writing the critiques forces me to find proper words to express what I see in photographic images and makes me critical of my own work. I am reminded to always think of the basics of technique and composition and to be sure about what I do to photos and why. So far is has been a positive experience.

Preparing to Photograph Whale Sharks

Soon I will be leaving for Isla Mujeres to swim with and photograph whale sharks. The whale sharks skim the surface of the water feeding on bonito eggs. They come in large aggregations to the waters off of these Mexican islands in the southern Gulf of Mexico.
Many people have started traveling to see these aggregations and it seems that good ecotourism standards have been set up from the very beginning when this aggregation was first discovered.

I will see first hand and if I feel that this tourism benefits the protection of the whale sharks and sharks in general, I will arrange a special trip for a small number of guests and photographers for next summer.

Meanwhile I am practicing my free diving and getting my legs in shape for lots of swimming with fins on. I will post photos from my adventure.

Use your 500mm Lens with your iPhone

An adapter for your EF lens and an iPhone 3 & 4 makes this fantasy come true. Now your iPhone can really be a star and grab that shot of a bird in your neighbor’s yard.

It seems funny, but I have used my binoculars with a pocket digital camera so this has merit.
Photo Jojo has a lot of other really fun photo stuff to check out.

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/iphone-slr-mount/

Florida may ban Tiger and Hammerhead capture

The state may ban the catch of tiger sharks and hammerheads in Florida waters, in the latest of a series of rules aimed at protecting the ocean’s top predators.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission plans a series of public workshops around the state to gather comments on a proposal to add these species to the prohibited list.
Sharks have undergone a severe worldwide decline over the past 20 years to serve the demand in China and other East Asian countries for shark fin soup. South Florida has emerged as a center of the shark-protection movement, particularly around the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

The commission is also considering a limit on chumming when fishing for sharks from shore. And it is considering a proposal to require circle hooks rather than j-hooks for catch-and-release fishing to cause less harm to the shark.

The photos illustrate the damage to tiger sharks and other species that I see on a regular basis on my shark diving charter in the Bahamas.
I still have spaces on my Tiger Shark Dive Expedition to the Bahamas January 2012 for those who are interested in cageless shark diving. Tiger Shark Dive.com

Spoonbill at Sunset

While on a sunset walk I spotted a rare site for the hot days of summer – a roseate spoonbill. I more commonly see them during the winter months when they have migrated here from Louisiana for winter and nesting. This may be the bird I have observed over the years who prefers the company of a flock of ibis.
This evening it was very sleepy and didnt mind that I approached within 20 feet of it. In fact I had very few pictures of it doing anything but tucking its head and sleeping while the sun set behind him. Unfortunately because of the muck (which claimed a pair of my shoes a year before), I could not move to get the sun at my back. In the end, I like the pastel effect.

Using Graduated Filter Tool to Enhance the Sky

A great photo opportunity does not always come with proper lighting and a cooperative subject or when you are 100% ready.

The Graduated Filter Tool in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom 3 is a terrific tool for improving a shot with a lack-luster sky. The tool can do more than just brighten or darken a sky you can control saturation, color, sharpness, and contrast at the same time. The bonus is that you can return and adjust your filter and that the filter blends seamlessly unlike other correction tools which can show edges.

This picture of a fish eagle taking flight toward the sunset and mountains could be better.

After some slight standard adjustments to the Curves and an adjustment brush stroke on the white tail was all that was needed before working on the Graduated Filter.

The sky needs darkening and could benefit from some contrast in the colors and clouds. I opened the Graduated Filter Tool and set the Exposure and Brightness down a few steps.  These initial settings are guesses and can be adjusted later.  To enhance the sunset I also increase the Contrast , Saturation, and Clarity.   Decreasing the Clarity is a good way to soften clouds, but that is not what I want here.

I take the tool onto the image starting at the top which is where I want the most effect from the filter and drag it down  to the trees in the foreground.  Now I can go back to the sliders and refine the effect to exactly what I want.  I then add a second Graduated Filter for just Exposure that starts at the bottom and goes up just far enough to darken the foreground trees.

The final touch is to add Post Crop Vignette to darken the corners some more and bring the attention to the center.

It is also fun with a sunset image to play with the color of the filter.  Below the sliders you will find a square which represents the color of the filter. Click on it and select a color.

Photoshop Fun – Group Shot

Presenting our May 2011 group!

I had inspiration for this picture and would like to make this a tradition on each safari.  I can image the lodge with a whole wall of these pictures bringing back great memories.  The animals were chosen for significance to this particular safari: The baby lion we saw on our second to last day, the nice male lion who roared for us at sunset, the zebras who blocked access to the tree houses, the tortoise who was a model for us, and the rhino mother and baby from one of the best game drives we had.

I brief run through of how I did this:

This was a straight collage exercise using nothing more fancy than selection tools, eraser, clone stamp, and copy paste.   Next time I may use individual shots of the guests. Maybe have them model pith helmets and vintage clothes…

First I selected animal shots that fit the group photo and corrected the light on them to make them fit in. Then I took a rough selection of the animal and pasted it into the group shot and used masks to clean up around them and to set them correctly infront or behind objects.

When I had a clean color version I used Lightroom to work creatively to get the aged vintage look I wanted.  In the Developement module I used the preset “cream tone”  but customized it by slightly changing the saturation of some colors such as green and yellow.

Back in Photoshop I added the framing and text.

Camera Equipment used by Guests on our Recent Safari

Before a safari I spend time talking to the guests about what pieces of their camera and lens collection they should bring with them to Africa.  Once all of the guests are here it is  fun to take an inventory of all of the different equipment.  For the 2nd time Canon products dominated the group, but we did have a few very nice Nikon products in the mix.

I think I saw about every Canon camera that has been manufactured in the past 2 to 4 years: EOS 1Dmk4, 5Dmk2, 5D, 7D, and 550D.  On the Nikon front we had 1 shooter with a D700 who took a more then his fair share of heckling.   To be on the fair side, after shooting both Canon and Nikon equipment in the digital format above and below water for the last 9 years, I have to say there is no inherent upper hand by either camera company.  It basically comes down to personal preference; which camera system one feels the most comfortable with.  Even though the majority of my equipment arsenal is Canon, Nikon still feels more ergonomically comfortable in my hands.  The most popular camera this safari trip was the Canon 5Dmk2.  I am very happy to report that we had no major camera malfunctions, just a lot of accessories that grew wings and disappeared  into the night, such as a lot of lens caps, one lens hood, one strobe pouch, and two CF cards.

On the lens front, we had Canon: 500mm f4 Is, 300mm f2.8 IS, 300 f4, 400mm 5.6, 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 IS, 70-200 f2.8 IS (version 1 and 2), 24-70mm f2.8, 15mm fisheye, 16-35mm f2.8, 17-40mm f4, 24-105mm f4 IS, 15-85mm f3.5-5.6 IS, 35mm F1.4.  On the Nikon front: 200-400mm F4 VR2, 70-200 f2.8 VR2, 24-70mm 2.8, and 14-24 f2.8.  The Nikon shooter covered all ends of the spectrum, like other Canon shooters I can’t wait till Canon starts selling it’s own version of 200-400 f4 with build in TC.  Again there were no major lens malfunctions, just one lens that got bumped and had to be re calibrated.  The lens that I used most this trip was the 70-200mm f2.8 IS, yes- the wildlife was that close to us.

I like to travel light, and avoid  having my photographic equipment go six different directions in the safari vehicle.  My ideal set up would be 2 camera bodies and 3 lenses: maybe Canon 24-70mm 2.8, 70-200mm f2.8 IS, and 200-400mm f4 IS with built in TC.  A 600mm f4 IS prime lens would be nice, but would compromise the traveling light goal.  My favorite safari lens over the years has been the Canon 300mm f2.8 IS. It is extremely sharp and light weight to hand hold for long periods of time, even if a 1.4 TC is added (making it a 420mm f4 IS) it is still extremely sharp.  Again it boils down to personal preference whatever photographic gear one feels the most comfortable with and gets the job done.

Using The Content Aware Scale Tool in Photoshop CS5 as a Crop Tool

Cropping is a great creative tool that can take an average and turn it into a dramatic piece of art.  Cropping for creativity involves cutting out certain parts of the image that are distracting because they do not add to the story or to better define for the viewer what you feel is the important part of the image.

I have found that when printing and displaying images, I want to have more neutral areas around the image than I do when I am displaying digitally.   When printing on canvas, the need for neutral or negative space around the image is doubly important because you will need this  material to create the wrap around the edges.

Every so often I take an image and the subject does not have what I feel to be enough space around it to create the image I want either for digital display or for print.  This puts me is a situation doing a sort of “reverse crop” whereby I need to add negative space around the image.  In some cases I am trying to rearrange an image from portrait orientation to landscape or reverse.

I do all of my preparation for printing in Photoshop because of the ability to save layers (which allows me to come back and selectively change adjustments in the future) and the  specialized and specific tools.  In earlier versions I had to use tools such as the clone tool, free transform,  and the patch tool to  add back in the neutral space I desired.  This was a very detailed, tedious,  unforgiving process.

In the new version of Photoshop CS5, they have created a very smart tool that takes most of the pain out of the process of  reorientation and adding sufficient negative space.

By far the best remedy is to be conscious of your entire viewfinder and edges while shooting, but if this has failed begin by opening the image in Photoshop CS5 and duplicate the background layer.  Use the Image – Canvas Size to set your desired final size.  It might be useful to do a trial using a jpg or smaller resolution file first because it will save processor time and energy.  If you wish to add space on more than one side of the image, you may want to work on one side first than the others.

The tool you will be using is Content Aware Scale (under the Edit Menu near Free Transform). It works by using built in logic to determine what is the subject matter and preserves it while recreating the background and nonsubject materials to it the new canvas size.  Of course it will work best when the subject(s) contrast to the surroundings, but you can help the tool protect important parts by telling it what parts to protect.

Protecting subject matter involves making a selection by what ever method you  prefer and saving the selection as a channel (Select – Save Selection).  You then specify this channel in the Protect  box.  The results might be perfect as is or you can then use some Clone Tool to finish it.

I tried this tool and method on 3 different images.  Two produced satisfying results but the third produced grass that was stretched and distorted.

Using the Content Aware Scale tool saves me hours of detailed work to “reverse crop” my images before printing.

Images From Our Guests

Chad, a recent guest picked these images as some of his most memorable

Our guest Conrad is very ambitious and posted 100 photos to his forum already

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1012817/

Paul was a guest last year an hosts galleries of images on his website, including his Africa photos and some interesting photos from a workshop in Sleepy Hollow.

http://www.imagesbypyarnall.com/category/gallery-introduction/

Giraffes Say Goodbye

Sadly it is my final day here in South Africa.  The giraffes have been absent from this side of the reserve for weeks so I was so happy when they came to the lodge to bid me goodbye.  We were early so we stopped at the dam and watched the giraffes drink , eat and wonder about.   I could have stayed all day, but we could only spare 10 minutes.

The nights are getting colder and the grass has died down signaling without a doubt the beginning of winter. It has been a wonderful few months here and I will definitely miss the animals, people, and adventure.

Shifting Background Color to Highlight your Subject

Often I am photographing animals that are coloured in natural tones or neutrals.  While the tones and textures are always interesting, sometimes the background colours distract away from the beauty of my subject.  Manatees, dolphins, and whales in my underwater photography have this problem, but I also have this situation with African birds and mammals.

I have been working with ways to improve the processing of these types of photos so that I get an image that draws the viewer to the special features of the subject .

Here I have two photos of African birds: the lilac breasted roller and the grey hornbill.  Both photos feature a brilliant clear blue sky, but unlike the very flashy roller, the grey hornbill does not grab the eye because the colourful sky is such a contrast to the neutrals of the bird.

My basic technique is to mute down just the blue in this photo.  There are multiple ways to do this in Photoshop, Lightroom, and other tools, but each will boil down to the same basic change.

After a small adjustment to the Exposure Curve,  I accessed the tool (in this case Color in Lightroom’s Development Module) which gives me access to the three aspects of  color – Hue, Saturation, and Luminance  for each of the 8 ranges of color (red, orange, yellow, etc)

The grey hornbill has no blue pigment on him, so I did not need to do any selection to limit my changes only to the sky.  If this was the case, I would probably choose to use the advanced selection tools and options in Photoshop rather than Lightroom.

I worked with just the Blue sliders (not Aqua).  I could have desaturated the blue in the sky, but this would move it toward white. The better choice is to brighten the sky using the Luminance.  I also Saturated the blue to keep some color in there and shifted the Hue a few points to the right toward a more purple blue just because I preferred this .

Now the Grey Hornbill is the centre of interest and one can note the texture of the feathers and the subtle coloration.

A simple balancing of elements in the image can turn a average photo into a brilliant and intimate portrait.

More Remote Camera Results!

We have had some good results with our remote camera.  We have moved it around a bit.  SInce it has not been raining we decided to try it at the approach to the watering hole.  We have had some daily visits by Kudu, warthogs,  a huge herd of impala, and zebra.  I have a great shot of a waterbuck staring right into the camera, but I can not upload it until I reformat the size .  I think this will go in a collection of the funniest encounters with the camera.

I have also created some really nice short videos using my Canon 5 D Mach II which I will post after editing

Enjoy this smaller video in the meantime.

PRMS0021

Some Special Photos Contributed by Our Guests

One evening we had some thunderstorms come through.   It was enough to cause a panic about our cookout, but it did not drop the spirits of our guests.  They quickly ran off after desert to photograph the storms as they moved off

I am happy to present the photographs of Conrad Tan photographed from one of the tree houses just after  the storm.

It was a wonderful departure from wildlife photography.

Sighting some Rare Antelope

Today we went on a self game drive at a near by private reserve .  There are lots of animals here and we became part of a large crowd of giraffe, zebra, and eland heading to the waterhole.  We sat for a while in the hide and watched the herd of giraffe emerge from the bush.  Afterward we got some images of the rare tessebe antelope and the elands.

It was a beautiful way to spend the morning and it was very close to our lodge.

Our Last Day is Filled with Cats

Unfortunately today is our last day, but we are still out getting some great shots right up until the time when we must quickly pack the van and depart for the airport.  It has been a very exciting trip and we are privileged to have met so many great people whom we hope will remain friends for many years.  I would love to have them all back again in the future.

Before we said goodbye we visited the leopard area of the reserve and  finally got our encounter!  We also had time to spend with the resident caracals and a juvenile lion who is in training to lead guests on morning walks.

A Pictorial Summary of our 2 days at a big 5 Lodge

Another Flavor of South Africa

Today we transfer to a different lodge about 1 hour north of us.  This lodge is on a very large Big 5 reserve.   They have a family of 4 cheetahs who have been hand raised at the lodge. The cheetahs venture out onto the reserve to feed themselves, but choose to relax at the lodge and mingle with the guests.

We will spend the hours after lunch to relax, wander the compound, and sit in the blind above the watering hole.

This afternoon will bring more excitement. Our driver has promised us something special that they like to share with photographer guests.  Our game drive will stay out until after dark and will be followed by a beautiful dinner.  I know a few special surprieses in store for the guests such as the porcupine feeding after dinner.

This  morning we had the chance the experience the bush from the elephant’s perspective.  We are at Camp Jabulani where we will ride rescued elephants into the bush.  The elephants are trained but after our drive, will spend the day out on the reserve with the wild elephants.   Each of us had an elephant and a driver.

When we enter the bush the other animals ignore the rider and are unafraid because elephants usually signal that the area is safe.  It is a chance for us to photograph animals in relaxed positions, but the ride is so smooth and relaxing that it is fun to just enjoy the ride.  Our drivers are very knowledgable and answer our questions as we ride.

After a large breakfast back at the lodge, we head out to visit a village preschool.  The children are very curious to see us and the older children have stayed late just to see us.  The kids sang us a song and we presented gifts of dolls and socks to the class’s best students.

Further down the road at the base of the Drakensburg   Mountains  is an area known for its stalls selling handmade crafts.  We test our bargaining skills and the art of saying “No”. These ladies are very tough business women and know all of the tricks to get you to buy.  Everyone came away with some very nice handmade souvenirs  at a good price.

Our last stop of the day is the Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Centre.   Here we learn about the condition of the African wildlife and the parks and get to examine some  animals and birds up close.  All of the animals here are either injured and not able to be released, or are being treated and will be released in the future.  We learn about why raptors are important in the ecosystem and get to touch and feel a black rhino and cheetah.

Seeing More of Kruger

Our day in Kruger once again started early so we would have the most time with the good light.

In the early morning vultures can be found resting on tree branches until the air warms up enough to them to fly.  Their large feathers and  size require them to have the warm air thermals before they can take flight and soar.

Kruger has spots where you can stop and spend time in a blind.  We used 2 such blinds today to watch for birds and animals coming to drink.

The afternoon brought some  elephant sightings; something we were missing from our last visit.

Returning to Kruger

Today we have returned to Kruger.  Our goal today is to travel roads with good conditions for seeing lion kills.  We would love to see a kill with hyenas, lions , and vultures.

Then we will make our way to several of the blinds (hides) in the park where we can sit by the water in the blind and watch and wait for birds, hippos,  and game coming to drink.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago at one of these hides.

I have heard through the grapevine that one of our guest’s family is following the blog so I post this photo just for you. (this was taken on our first day)

A Day out of a Dream

Today we scheduled a morning drive in the Thornybush Big 5 Reserve , an afternoon to learn Photoshop, Lightroom, and post processing from my wife Karen (and each other), and an evening game drive in a private game reserve containing white and black rhino.  This reserve is not open to anyone except at the invitation of the owners or his manager.

The day was one out of a photographer’s dream and I will not even try to describe it in words.

Note the low perspective on some the rhino photos – we were out of the vehicle and approaching on foot !!!  We trust our ranger/driver!

Rhino have poor eyesite so they are often found in the company of giraffe. They know the giraffe has good eyesite and a good perspective and will signal danger by moving off.

PS I am using my 300mm lens

Time is Zipping By

Yesterday at Kruger was a long and exhausting day and it was very sunny and warm.  Our plan for the morning is to do something active.  We head to Hazyview which is a town south of us which has more hills, valleys, large trees, and macadamia nut farms.  Along the way we pass through small towns and villages where we see the locals in their bright clothing going about their Saturday shopping.  The guests enjoyed the challenge of shooting the scenes out the open windows of the van.  If we had stopped at every interesting picture, we would never get there.  We laughed at the roadside mechanic who had dug his own grease monkey pit and the guy giving haircuts under and umbrella with clippers hooked up to a car battery.

Our destination is the Zipline Canopy Tour.  We will wear a harness and slide down 9 cables to 10 stations.  We start at the top of the hill and descend all the way down the valley.  For most this was their first time to ride a zipline. The longest and steepest cable was the first one so hearts were beating. The smiles and laughs continued all the way to the bottom.

We enjoyed a beautiful lunch at the Cotton Club restaurant and silk factory.  The guests spent more time cruising the garden and photographing birds than they did eating the delicious food.

Next we pressed on to a surprise destination.  I had made an appointment with Jessica the Famous Hippo.  Jessica is a hippo who was rescued for certain death when her mother died in a flood 10 years ago. She was hand raised by a former game ranger.  She lives in the river outside their home.  Now mature, she swims with the wild hippos but returns to the dock for hand feeding by guests.  She is the only hippo who will allow upclose interaction with humans and is therefore a rare opportunity to touch and learn about hippos.

I told our guests that we would go on a bush walk around my property after sunset and before dinner tonight.  This was really a  trick.  We did go for a walk  and I wanted them to experience the night sounds and smells of the bush while looking for nocturnal wildlife,  but the true purpose was to lead them  to our bush braai (BBQ) area where we had prepared a fire and dinner.

After a starter of ostrich kabobs, guests were surprised to hear drums, whistles, and singing as 30 youths dressed in traditional dress entertained us with Zulu and Shengal song and dance.  The group is formed of at risk teens and is aimed to provide cultural memory and pride. They soon had us out dancing with them.

Unfortunately due to the age of the Internet, we will be embarrassed by our dancing for years to come as soon as our guests with video upload their files.

Kruger Day

Kruger is so vast that a day in the park only covers a small area. Within that small area though is a huge variety of species.  A visit to Kruger gives us a chance to see the big 5 but it also is a the best place to look for small and rare species.

We left our lodge at 5am and made the journey to the Orpen Gate planning it so that we arrived before the park opens.  The sun is just coming up and some of the nocturnal predators are still out.  We come upon a black backed jackal who is hunting guinea fowl by stalking and pouncing.

Throughout the day we see large herds of wildebeest, zebra, waterbuck, and some huge and healthy kudu.

Our route today does not bring us close to elephants, but we do spot a some in the distance.  Kruger is a good place to observe how different species will stay in an area together for safety.  Zebra like to be near giraffe because the giraffe can see danger from above the trees and zebra have very good hearing.

Female kudu browse the trees the trees and the male is always a short distance away.

Many of the people in this group are fanatical bird photographers and their goal was get a winning shot of the very beautiful lilac breasted roller.  Fortunately these birds are plentiful in Kruger and are easily spotted on the highest dead branch of trees near the roads.  We lost count of how many times we stopped for rollers, but they got their shots.

Many large birds patrol the open grass areas. One such bird is the kori bustard.  His large body is easy to spot for a keen eye even when it is just the head above the grass.  we are lucky to find this one in an area where the grass has died down for the winter.

Near water can be found the larger trees and these areas are where the baboons make their home base.  They will venture out as a group and forage near herds of other animals and near watering holes.  The babies ride on the mothers.

We found no lions today, but it is nice to have a group who are also happy to see the many interesting birds such as this less commonly seen grey hornbill.

Kruger has many large herds of impala.  One could spend all day being entertained by their  social dynamics especially now during the mating season.  To provide some symmetry, we dined on impala pie for our evening meal.

A Great First Day

There was no time for jet lag as we got off to an early start and straight into the action in the Big 5 Reserve.  Our driver and tracker quickly found one of the resident lion families enjoying the last of their kill.  These were the same lions we heard during dinner the night before.  The wildebeest was nearly stripped clean. The lioness stayed close to the cubs, but seemed to have had her fill.  I wonder if the cubs had any hand in bringing down the kill.  The mail was aggressive toward the meat and dragged off the remains.

Meanwhile the vultures waited their turn.  Lurking nearby were a pair of hooded vultures, a species not commonly seen.  Their small heads makes them a specialist at picking meat from between the ribs.

After leaving the lion, we headed to an open area and found the mother cheetah and her only remaining cub.  Sadly she has lost 2 others already.  This cub is still little and she was guarding it closely.  She struck a classic resting pose on a high mound. The cub was curious about our vehicle and gave us some very nice poses.

After a big breakfast we switched from medium and long range lenses to macro lens to get images of some smaller “models” around the lodge.  A resident leopard tortoise was kind enough to pose as well as a chameleon.  The chameleon is a fascinating animal and his slow pace makes it possible to take images of him many details.  His eyes move separately and he curls his tail into a spiral. His slow movement is to aide his ambush hunting.  He turned several different shades for us from brown to yellow and spotted.

For a break from photography we tried out the archery range.  At first we had to hunt the arrows in the grass, but soon everyone was able to hit the target and some excelled at the sport.

Our evening game drive was again the Big 5 Reserve.  Tonight we tracked for rhinos and elephants.

While tracking the rhino we ran into the reserve’s large herd on buffalo.  Among the cows our driver spotted an albino newborn calf. This is a very rare find and the first this this experienced driver and tracker.  It will be interesting to follow the life of this little one to see if he can overcome this handicap.

After dark, we spot lighted a  owl in the trees.

Our day ended with a dinner around the fire and a drink of Amarula

Tomorrow we drive in Kruger National Park

Fun at Night with the Remote Wildlife Camera

Every night at almost the same time, the Truthcam records a video of an African Civet walking the same path through the grass.  Finally I have an image good enough to post.  I am not able to edit the full video from in the bush so that will have to wait. Maybe we will catch a leopard on video next time.

The African Civet  is 30 – 40 cm tall at the shoulder and and 65 – 90 cm long.  It looks similar to a racoon and has the same face mask.  They are nocturnal and follow well established paths. They hunt insects, rodents, fruits and berries, newborn small antelope,  frogs, reptiles, and birds.  They are found throughout Kruger National Park and in areas of undergrowth near permanent water.

Using Lightroom’s more advanced tools to clean and image

Lightroom has some great editing tools in their Develop module, but I found myself always going for the first couple of tools (White Balance, Exposure).  These are the simplest and most basic adjustments, but if you venture down the list you will find tools that achieve similar goals, but with more refinement.

On this photo of a running cheetah I challenged myself to enhance the photo without using white balance and exposure.

Since the photo is a bit flat and color was washed out  I tried pushing the Recovery slider up. Recovery is a great tool for restoring color to washed out skies. In this photo I was happy to see that it restored much of the colors especially in the red spectrum.  Next I wanted to darken the blacks . I could have used either the Black Clipping slider or the Shadows on the tone curve.  I used the tone curve and at the same time increased the Highlights a touch to bring out the white in the cheetah’s face and belly.

To help pop the cheetah out away from the similar colored background, I went way down into the color balance tools.   The biggest change I made was to the Luminance of the Orange range. This change darkened the soil around the cheetah and on the opposite bank creating a contrast between the cat’s color and the background immediately around the cat.  I also pushed the orange slightly to the left into the redder part of its range and pushed the yellow hues (which appear in the fur a bit) a tiny bit toward the yellow/green shades to further distinguish the cheetah from the soil.

The final touch was a little bump up in the Tone Curve of the lighter midtowns (Lights) to add light to the cheetah and a small increase in the clarity which is always my favourite for bringing out details.

By avoiding obvious correction tools I achieved a very satisfactory result and challenged myself to use the colors in the image to make more specific adjustments.  In Photoshop I would have used a different technique involving the LAB color space, but Lightroom provides non-destructive tools that are up to the challenge of difficult images.

Photo of the Day: Lilac Breasted Roller

A Lilac Breasted Roller  spotted sitting on a dead branch near the side of the road.

Canon EOS  5D Mark II

1/1000 sec at f11

ISO 320  (cloudy day)

Lens: EF300mm f 2.8 IS lens with 2.0x teleconverter

In Lightroom I brightened the midtowns and  used the clarity (midtone contrast) adjuster and increased the Vibrancy (a saturation adjustment with logic to protect certain colors). Cropped to portrait dimensions.

Getting your ears cleaned by Nature’s Q-Tip

Red billed oxpeckers are welcome hitchhikers by most animals because they pull off and eat the ticks that are so annoying.  This zebra is relieved  to  have the ticks out of his ear.

Remote Camera Results: Kudu

Our remote tree camera reveals a male and female kudu frequenting this spot several days in a row.  The same spot also captured zebra and wildebeest in the mornings and a civet on two different nights.

This young male elephant  gave us a mock threat display then soon went back to contented eating.  I used my 70 – 200mm lens because he was so close – about as close as you would  want your vehicle to an elephant.

Remote Camera Results: Zebra Stampede

Our remote camera sits in a tree on a very well traveled part of our property.

zebra Stampede

Three Very Nice Species of Hornbills

On my recent self-drive ride through Kruger National Park, I photographed three types of hornbills: Southern Yellow-billed, Red-billed, and the Grey Hornbill.  Not spotted this day was the ground hornbill.  These birds are frequently seen, except the grey which I see less often.  They like to grab bugs off the roads.  At the lodge they fight their own reflections in the mirror to my horror as I know one day they will break the glass with those tremendous bills.

Hornbills have a cooperation with mongoose in that the hornbills eat bugs dug up by the mongoose and in exchange the hornbills warn the mongoose of aerial threats such as raptors  which normally are of no concern to the hornbills.

A Very Strange Bird Visits Our Water Hole

This post is for bird lovers and my wife who had this bird on her “must see list” for this trip.  This is a Hammerkopf .  They have a very strange shaped tuft at the back if the head that makes their head look hammer shaped.  I will have to stake out the water hole and try to get a shot showing the head shape.

Cubs at Play

Today on our Big 5 Game Drive we found the same family group of lions as we saw in October.  The cubs are bigger now and were endlessly playing and practicing their hunting skills.  The male is starting to show signs of a mane.  Soon he will have to go off on his own or join the bachelor group.  Also spotted this morning were white rhino, and elephant.  We saw tracks from a cheetah, but did not find the cat.   The single ostrich is still hanging around our lodge during the day.

A Cheetah visits in the Morning

I was walking to check my water tank and I saw a cheetah sitting on the path beyond our fence  in the Big 5 region.  I ran back quietly to get my camera and he was still there.  I think he was scouting the flock of guinea fowl that frequent the area.   Notice he is wearing  a radio collar.  Cheetahs have been in decline so this is part of a wide study to track the populations

A Tortoise on the Go

I ran into this guy on the way to one of our tree houses.  He cant climb up into them, but he seems to enjoy living here.  Smaller creatures such as this tortoise are easily overlooked while on a game drive which is why I enjoy looking for small creatures around the lodge.

An update on our first few days in South Africa

The cooler winds of fall are in the air after a wet summer.  The animals are fat and happy after eating the summer grass.  I hear the lions every night and the zebras have been camped out near our lodge with them are a few very young ones.  I am hoping the giraffes will move up the hill toward us soon.

The Easter weekend is a long holiday for the South Africans and our lodge will be hosting a full house of self-catering guests.  One couple is booked on a big 5 game drive and we will join them as our treat for a week of not so exciting tasks such has vehicle registration and cleaning out the store room.

Can’t wait to exercise the camera.

I have learned that the recent plague of rhino poaching has hit our area, but on a positive side, the whole town seems to have joined together to prevent further tragedy. Every hardware store and grocery has donation boxes and informational posters.   There is a low tolerance for anyone caught on a reserve who is suspected of being a poacher.

Canon Lenses Outperform the Stock Market

Below is a link to a fascinating article about how Canon lenses hold their value and even outperform some stock market indexes. It puts into charts what I have experienced for years: lenses hold their value and if they are in excellent condition (save the boxes and manual!!) you can get the same or more than you paid for them.  The bad news is about camera bodies – they loose value quickly.  You may have heard the mantra: put your money into good glass – now this data adds further wisdom that you should forego the latest and greatest body for another top notch lens.

This really helps finance the next lens and to convince  your spouse to let you “invest” in a new toy  asset.

http://www.canonpricewatch.com/canon-lenses-better-stocks/

The Impact Super Clamp

Things I will be reminding myself of before and during my next wildlife shoot

As I prepare to travel over to my lodge in South Africa my next safari group, I am reviewing my photos and mentally putting together of list of photographic goals.  While the goals always include the ultimate leopard shot and a rare anteater, it also includes some back to basics.  I resolve to have a mental checklist running through  my head I am shooting of things to do and not do.

(This post is punctuated with images from my Birds of Kruger Collection)

Be Ready to get that action shot

Knowing the animal helps here. If their pattern is to look for a second then flee (such as a kudu) this knowledge can help you be ready. Also being fast to read the lighting conditions, make the settings, and bring the camera up will help you get that 1 or 2 shots before the shy creature bolts away.  After leaving an encounter, anticipate an action shot and reset your camera before arriving at the next animal sighting – this way you are ready if the cheetah runs or you can dial down if it is going to be napping and you have all day to get the shot.

Aim to Capture a Mood, Emotion, or concept

Photos that convey an emotion or mood  have impact. Here again  knowing the animal  (does it groom a partner, keep its babies close, or kick another who gets too close ) will give you foreknowledge to watch for signals and anticipate behavior that once put on film will create a powerful concept or mood.  Watching and observing and patience are the best way to get these compelling images.

Be conscious of everything in the frame

It is so easy to just concentrate on the very interesting animal you are lucky to have found and not take into account what is in the foreground or background.  Many times you have no choice , but in other situations there may be some options for you when composing the shot

Compose against a background of contrasting color
Lower your position to get a background of sky instead of trees
Make sure the horizon line does not cut through the subject

Isolate with a longer lens or post processing cropping

Adjust settings to achieve a depth of field which yields a smooth out of focus background

Change your perspective and position to eliminate distracting elements  at least until the subject chooses a different position.
Check the edges

Before taking a picture, do a visual lap around the edges of the viewfinder to check for things that can be eliminated by a simple composition.

Know what you want or need before heading out

I also keyword my images for action, emotion, colors, mood, behaviors , side vs front views, etc .  Lightroom allows me to take stock of my images by keywords and I can easily see  what is underrepresented in the collection.  Sometimes I am surprised to find I am lacking key shots for a very common animal.

Shooting wildlife is exciting, but we must not let that distract us from thinking our way through the shots.  Knowing your goals and thinking creatively throughout the whole photography process will take your photos to another level

A Bald Eagle Nest in my Neighborhood

I found this bald eagle nest near my house this week.  Of course it is really high up, but as nests go it is not too obstructed where the mother sits.  The actual nest is pretty well obscured from all of the angles I can reach.  I was able to see two nestlings sitting at opposite ends.  They where feathered and worked their wings like they are just starting to strengthen them for flight.  I am hopeful that since they have both made it to this age, that both chicks will make it to be young adults.

They provided a nice  change from the more common osprey nests which are everywhere around here.

I used my Canon 5D MK II with a Canon 300mm F2.8 with a  2x teleconverter and Gitzo tripod

Burrowing Owls in the Neighborhood

It is burrowing owl nesting season and I have been visiting empty lots looking for their nest sites.  A local wildlife group is very vigilant about marking the nest sites so they are not mowed over, so it is pretty easy to find them.  They dig a burrow in the sand where they lay their eggs then both the male and female mind and guard the nest until the chicks are reared.  I have not seen or heard any chicks yet so they must still be sitting on the eggs.

The owls are losing habitat, but have benefited from the housing bust here in SW Florida.  Some of their favorite neighborhoods have stopped falling to development and have become quiet and almost empty.

These owls are easy to approach and relaxed with human presence to a point.  They very clearly signal their unease if you get too close by sounding a warning or nervously shifting about.  The female often will come out of the burrow to face the threat.  Standing guard requires constantly watching the skys  and the open field for predators such as other birds and racoons.

It is very easy and enjoyable to observe and photograph these small owls. Their position on the ground or on a low perch is usually unobstructed and they stand quite still and sometimes do some really bizarre head movements.  I look forward to seeing some chicks poking out of the nest in a few weeks.

Bahama Sharks book by Dave Skinner

We are happy to announce that one of the members of our shark trip 2011, Dave Skinner has published a book.  His book Bahama Sharks , features many beautiful images and chronicles his adventures.  His book can be previewed and purchased at:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/1539370/f7c0ae389885e2ce77abb2e9d7af987b

Sailfish on the Hunt

I have completed an article about my recent trip to Mexico to swim in the sardine run and photograph the hunting packs of the sailfish.  I will be taking some guests with me in January 2012 – read the article and contact me if you would like to be one of the lucky ones who will experience this fantastic spectacle

Link to Sailfish Trip Article on my Website

Automatic Camera Spies on the Wildlife at my African Lodge

You might have heard on the news about the Smithsonian’s collection of wildlife photos taken using remote cameras placed in the wilderness all around the world.

http://siwild.si.edu/

At my lodge we have also been experimenting with an automatic tree camera so I can see what types of wildlife are right outside the lodge day and night.  Here is one early result.  I will be posting more shots and videos from the tree-cam as I refine the technique.

Raccoon in the Freshwater Springs

Sometimes when I am photographing underwater near a shoreline, I see some interesting things on the shore. This raccoon was looking breakfast along the edge of the freshwater spring. He was pretty curious about the big glass dome and attached creature (me) approaching from the water.

Tales From the Shark Side

I have added  a summary of my Tiger Shark Expedition to my website.  See some of my pictures and read about our adventures.  Also on the site are details about our January 2012 Trip.
If you are interested in this trip, please contact me now – there are only 5 spots left and they are filling fast.

2011 Shark Dive Log
shark diving video

Canon develops EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM extender 1.4x

Today Canon has announced it is developing F 200-400mm f/4L IS USM lens which features a built-in switchable 1.4x teleconverter.  With the converter engaged it becomes a 280-560 mm f/5.6 lens.  This is great news for wildlife photographers.  I have been waiting for canon to make this lens for a long time.  Nikon has a similar lens without the built in extender.

I am looking forward to testing this lens out.  This will be ideal for safari game drives in private reserves and in Kruger where animals can be in the distance or right next to you.  With two camera bodies, one with the 70 -200mm and the other with the 200-400mm I can be ready for whatever presents itself.

The is scheduled for launch later in 2011. The price and exact tech specs have yet been released.

Adjusting Color can add Artistic Effect

On this photo of a cheetah I wanted to give it a classic black and white / sepia feel. To achieve this I had to use more than just the Desaturation slider – I accessed the individual color adjustments and desaturated all but some yellows, oranges, red, and magenta.  The overall effect is to draw attention to the cheetah’s shape, the negative space, and the pattern on the pelt.

Some Images from my Sailfish Trip

I recently returned from a trip to Mexico to photograph sailfish. The sailfish hunt together in cooperation keeping the prey trapped, in a bait ball, and near the surface. Each sailfish takes a turn to charge into the bait ball and swat at a fish and eat it while it is stunned.

This was a lot of breath-holding and fast swimming to keep up with these elegant predators.

Photographing the Lunar Eclipse

I took this with my Canon 5D MKII and a Canon 300mm F2.8 IS , 2x tele converter , GITZO Tripod GT2531 , Real Right Stuff ball head .

I started taking photos at 2 am until around 3:30 am when the eclipse was over so I didnt get any sleep that night.

What is in my Gear Bag When Going on Safari?

I am an underwater photographer, so any trip where I do not  have to bring bulky drysuits, fins, scuba regulators, underwater housings, and  strobe arms seems like packing light.

I travel with a 7 year old LowePro camera backpack (Computrekker  plus AW) which fits all of my camera and computer equipment and does not shout  “expensive stuff within”. The pack gets heavy but I employ several  techniques to make sure I do not get stopped by the baggage police such as  filling my vest or coat with the heavy stuff.  I always bring lots small  zipper bags and a daypack so I can bring a lot or a little with me on the day’s  activities.

I bring my Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS lens with some teleconverters when needed extra  reach. The 100-400mm f/4.5 -5.6 is one I would consider bringing. On  my wish list would be the 500mm F/4 IS.  I upgraded a few years ago  from a 300mm lens that had no stabilization and life has been sweeter ever  since.

We stop the vehicle engine when we see a good animal, but  sometimes it is just not possible to cut the engine and vibration. I use a  monopod to help with this in the vehicle and to support the camera system when  walking in the field. It is much easier to run from an angry elephant with a  monopod in your hands than a tripod. This year I will be trying out a beanbag  system that sits on the vehicle door/window.

My other lens is a Canon 70 -200 F/2.8 IS. This is one of my  favorite lens, it’s tack sharp, great in low light, a real work horse. . I also carry a Canon 17– 40mm F/4 lens and a Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro  (which is light weight and great for portraits). My two camera bodies are  the Canon 5D MK2 and Canon 5D. I have some Nikons at home, but over the  years have found that I prefer smaller and more lightweight cameras especially  when swimming after dolphins and hiking into the bush, so they stay home this  safari trip. My Nikon would comprise of: Nikon D3x, D3 and a D300 cameras. The lenses would be: 200-400mm f/4 VR,  70-200mm f/2.8 VR, 24-70mm f/2.8, 17-35mm f/2.8, 1.4x and 1.7x teleconverters  and two SB800 speedlights.

I carry a Canon 580 EX2 speedlight and a Better  Beamer as artificial light extender for after dark and improving  lighting on a distant subject.

I bring at least 2 LaCie rugged USB  drives for backup, my Epson viewer (which often replaces my laptop on trips) and Nexto storage device,  several USB cords, only as many of those  heavy bulky charges as I minimally need (labeled and tested before I leave!),  sometimes my iPod for added storage, mini flash drives for sharing data with  people, and extra batteries and media cards. I bring lots of adapters as  well since they can go bad too.

My only Nikon equipment this trip will be my Monarch  Binoculars (10×42). I carry polarizers and some filters and like to have these  on the lenses because they protect the expensive lens glass from injury and  keep out the dust.  Cleaning equipment, plastic bags for rain and  dust protection round out my lean and mean safari photography kit.

Creating Star Trails

The night sky of South Africa is brilliant and free from light pollution. It is mesmerizing to see how many stars there are up there. I have always wanted to get an image of star trails above of my tree houses. This year I was going to do it.

With digital cameras it is not possible to leave the shutter open for hours like in the old days. A long exposure on a digital camera will cause the CMOS sensor will heat up. Instead your image will be a collage of many different exposures each capturing a star at a different position. You must use the timer and an interval that gives you an acceptable spacing between exposures that will still look like a complete streak after you do the Photoshop work.

Practice at Home Before the Trip

I started by practicing at home: this helped me refine and fine tune the number and timing of exposures to get the type of trials in my vision. Some of my settings did not give me long enough star trails; filling the image top to bottom when combined. Some of my settings gave 200 + images, but the intervals were either too small or too large. If the intervals between exposures was too large, the trail was a dotted line and if it was too small the trail was solid and bright, but short and could have been achieved with alot less images.

Read more »

Review: The Better Beamer Flash Extender

Sometimes the simplest and least expensive products work the best.  Case in point is The  Better Beamer (www.naturescapes.net/store/home.php?cat=21) . It’s a flash extender that attaches to the strobe and concentrates and magnifies the light into a tight beam.  This gives your strobe the ability to reach out to your subjects when using a long lens.  If the subject is at a distance which requires a telephoto lens, the light from a small strobe could be pretty diffuse by the time it gets there having little or no fill flash effect, but the Better Beamer’s light concentrating ability helps with the distance problem.  The Beamer breaks down very flat for traveling and was pretty quick to assemble.   I am thoroughly happy with this small purchase as it enhanced my photos, packs small and light, and can light a hippo at dusk from a distance of 15m. I was surprised at how the animals seemed to be unfazed by the flash; if it caused an elephant to charge, I wouldn’t be here to give a review. Because I am so happy with this simple devise, I recommend that if you bring a strobe on your wildlife shoots, also pop the Better Beamer in your gear bag.

I am continually surprised by what this simple devise delivers and how it can deliver great shots even after sundown.

This was an experiment I did just out of curiosity – I can’t believe it worked this well!

Safari Clothing: Dress for Success and Comfort

Over the years I have assembled a wardrobe of trusted and proven clothing favorites that go with me on every safari and many of my other trips. These shirts, pants, and shorts are comfortable to walk and ride in and stand up to the thorns and hand washing. Some of the pieces were not cheap, but they last forever.  I have a list of suggested clothing on my safari website www.AfricaWildSafaris.net/packing list, but here I would like to present themes for you to keep in mind when assembling your safari and travel wardrobe.

Go Neutral, not colorful
Camo is not necessary, but neutrals are essential.

Pack clothing in neutral colors: khaki, light brown/green, tan.

It might look  cliché, but neutrals serve an important function; bright  colors and white will distract and alarm the game.  We do not want the wildlife to see or react to us: nobody wants to face a curious leopard. White may not come clean after exposure to the red dirt. Dark colors usually blend into the bush, but they might start to feel too hot in the mid afternoon.

Read more »

Take Control of Color with Custom White Balance Settings

White balance is the function in your camera or image software that removes an unrealistic color cast so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo.  Proper camera white balance has to take into account the “color temperature” of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light.  Our eyes are very good at judging what is white under different light sources; however digital cameras often have great difficulty with the auto white balance (AWB) setting.

Shooting in RAW format allows you to adjust white balance after the photo has been taken. Raw files also allow one to set the WB based on a broader range of color temperature (blue – yellow) and tint (green – magenta) shifts.  In your software, find and use a neutral reference to correct the white balance, then hand tune to your taste.

For situations where you anticipate auto white balance will encounter problems or you are noticing an undesired coloration, a neutral reference device is an easy tool to use and carry into the field with you.

There are two ways to use these devices
A) Take a photo of the device in the same light as your subject then use this photo in your software as the neutral reference for correcting the photo.  Copy the white balance correction to all of the photos from the shoot by using the synchronize function in your software or use the same temperature and tint settings in each photo from the shoot.

Open your RAW files in Adobe Camera Raw, select your reference photo first, then click on the other photos and select Synchronize from the upper left to apply the WB settings to the other photos.

B) Use the custom white balance feature on your camera.  Doing this involves taking a picture of the grey card in the same light as the  subject and the camera will use the resultant correction for all photos shot  while the WB function is set to “custom”.   You can change back and forth between WB functions and the “custom”  settings will hold until you take a new photo.

With each method you should retake the neutral reference  photo as the light changes throughout the day.

The Auto setting here misinterpreted the elephant’s color and added too much blue to the scene. A custom WB setting using a gray card rendered more accurate colors.

Custom white balance works best when you want color accuracy  as if the photo was shot under neutral light.   Custom white balance (and auto) is not a good choice when colored light  is an integral part of the photo such as in a sunset.  In this case you will need to experiment with  the presets on the camera or set your own color temperature.

The colors here using the Auto setting may be more accurate, but the mood is missing. The morning mood is conveyed in the warm colors which would have been lost if I had not controled my own WB settings.

Don’t let your camera make all of the decisions for you.  Auto white balance will not always make the best decision. Taking control of the color in your photos during the shoot should save you  time in post processing. An added benefit may be your greater attention to the  lighting conditions and how they are affecting the creative mood and technical  quality of your photos.

Review of LCD Protective film Invisible Shield

Is a Photo Safari for Me?

Wildlife travel is a very popular niche and many destinations offer both general tours and those with a skill based focus such as wildlife viewing while kayaking or guided photography tours. Africa is one such destination that can be experienced as a wildlife photographic adventure. A professional photographer will guide your adventure, provide the most and best photo opportunities, and provide knowledge and advice. The small group will be comprised of professional, semi-professional, and serious amateur photographers. Is a photographic safari right for you? Your decision to choose this route to Africa will depend on your goals and interests.

A general safari is designed for all types of guests. The tour operators plan a wide range of activities as part of the whole of experiencing Africa. The game drives and wildlife will only be one of many activities scheduled and not necessarily the main focus. The other guests are probably not serious about photography and may be only passively interested in wildlife; they might be more interested in getting to the hot tub than getting to the perfect spot for a fireball sunset which may leave you frustrated. Some general safari operators only allow small point and shoot cameras on their vehicles and the vehicles might be entirely enclosed and you will have to shoot through glass.

On a photography specific adventure photo opportunities are the goal, not relaxation, entertainment, or shopping. Some safaris only want to show you as many species as they can in the time allotted with no pause to watch the animal and wait for an excellent shot. A photographic safari will spend more time with each animal and teach you about the animal so as to anticipate a good shot and return you home safely with the best photographs and memories possible.

Advantages of a Photographic Safari

• The focus will be on finding and spending time with the most dramatic animals; Africa’s Big Five. The leader can also design the game drives to suit special interests such as birds or flowers
• The small groups and exclusive locations will afford the opportunity for bush walks and other special opportunities not allowed in other parks and reserves
• You will have discussion, comparison, and collaboration with the other photographer guests in an open learning environment
• Being at the right place at the right time in order to catch the optimal lighting will be the driving force behind your daily schedule
• Photographers use open vehicles, and travel at the optimal times of the year such as when grass is short or animals are courting
• On a photography specific adventure, amateur photographers and professionals will improve their wildlife skills, exchange ideas, and learn new techniques
• The leader will employ a highly trained tracker to add to the experience
• You will come back with better pictures than on a general tour
• Wildlife photography is the goal versus cultural photography

Disadvantages

• Photo safaris are not for everyone because of the concentration on photography and the more active pace of your days
• You will stay in small, family owned, exclusive and comfortable lodges with lots of character and close to the best animals, but they will not be the large 5 –star resorts of the big tour operators with spas and extensive luxury facilities
• You will not get much sleep. To get the best lighting and animal encounters requires you to operate on the animal’s schedule so morning departures are early.
• You will have many photos to process so some “homework” time is required

Photographic safaris are a bigger adventure than your standard African Safari and provide serious fun and learning for both professionals and amateur photographers. Your photos will tell the exciting stories of your life-changing adventure.