Follow our adventures on safari in South Africa with host Gregory Sweeney
For a wildlife photographer, the more you know your subject, the better informed your images will be. Knowledge helps you anticipate and interpret the natural actions of your subjects.
Elephants are very smart and interesting subjects, especially when you can pick out social behaviors – some you may recognize from our own human experience.
When lions make a kill, many species show up for dinner invited or not. Each has an order and rank and they patiently wait their turn because not many are brave enough to take on a lion who is still eating.
This tutorial explains how to use the Tone Curve tool in Adobe’s Lightroom 4 to adjust the contrast in an image and use the channel curves to further correct tone and color.
Conditions were right for some really exceptional game viewing and it was indeed very memorable. Here are some moments on safari that stood out for me.
The morning light on this nyala is a nice touch, but the image could use a bit more contrast and the warm light is making all the colors in the image a bit off. The White Balance tool in Lightroom will help, but using a few more advanced tools will really make this image look great.
Photographers are unwittingly helping lead poachers right to rhinos and other endangered animals by posting photos containing GPS data or by naming specific locations where the photo was taken. Poachers can search for recent photos with geo tagged information then go right to the area where the rhino was seen.
During my guided photo safari we have some very special encounters with young animals of all species
Giving gratuity is part of the tourism culture in South Africa so you will need cash for this and a few other cash expenses. Credit cards are not always advisable so I recommend cash.
While we sit and watch the majestic large mammals grazing and herding in front of our open safari vehicle we are not aware of a the subplot playing out around us. The ox pecker is hard at work rushing about the backs of the animals cleaning ticks and other parasites from their hides and their cries go unnoticed by us among the other noises of the bushveld.
This safari story is a short incident of two fighting giraffes that are a very exciting and vivid memory for me.