tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482437717400427532024-03-06T09:57:58.025+02:00African Photography InfoA Resource for people interested in Nature and Wildlife Photography in AfricaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-45954928070450548512010-02-05T11:46:00.005+02:002010-02-05T13:57:52.289+02:00Lone Photographer, Lions Head Cape Town - February EssayLions head has been good to me. I walked up it in 2004 and managed to put together one of my best images of the moon rising and the sun setting simultaneously. This was stitched into a panoramic, which I have printed up to 4.7m long!<br />So I wasn’t exactly expecting much on my walk up Lions head this last December, I mean, I had covered the place really well in 2004. What I didn’t remember though, is just how beautiful Cape Town looks from that beautiful vantage point on top of the head. I took the camera along, leaving all tripods and other camera kit down at the bottom. If photos were to be taken, they were going to be snaps- nothing serious. Or so I thought.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7lCYED2g_PM3TxdKA8IGtahw1WO1Cg-ijmAbKW3dZqIJFd8FIUi2CdvBZJMNiW9aBbwABNtIS-h94fuRq2BqL4OpUv5Jjzph2U1qCR18x4UopnJ_qziax1eo3VahP412c7ffER81EsT1I/s1600-h/Essay+55.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 221px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7lCYED2g_PM3TxdKA8IGtahw1WO1Cg-ijmAbKW3dZqIJFd8FIUi2CdvBZJMNiW9aBbwABNtIS-h94fuRq2BqL4OpUv5Jjzph2U1qCR18x4UopnJ_qziax1eo3VahP412c7ffER81EsT1I/s400/Essay+55.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434695914103917858" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">We reached the top and settled into an awesome picnic complete with Camembert, tapenade and red wine to complement the sun setting over the Atlantic. What a way to end your day! As the sun set, the wind picked up and clouds started drawing over Table Mountain. We were about to head back down the mountain when I noticed another photographer taking pictures of Camps bay below.<br />I realised that this was a great image- except I had left my tripod down in the car…<br /><br />Fully reliant (and optimistically trusting) on new technology, I pushed the ISO up to 1600, rested the camera on a bag and snapped off a few frames at 1/3 sec. Very, very slow, but I needed the image!<br />This was the one that came out sharp and in focus. The rest were image blurs (probably due to the red wine.) It was an agonisingly long wait to see if the images were sharp on the laptop.<br /><br />Was taught a small lesson on top of the mountain.<br />Never drop the standards you set.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Exposure information:</span><br />Nikon D700 - 18-35mm lens<br />Exposure – f 4.5 Shutter Speed: 1.3 sec<br />Exp. Comp. 0. EV<br />ISO - 1600<br />Flash - none <br />Exposure mode– Manual, Metering Mode– Matrix<br />File type– NEF (RAW)<br />Focal length: 20mm<br />Camera resting on bag<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="fullpost">This article first appeared on <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.shemimages.com/">Shemimages.com</a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-11542850668640194672010-01-13T13:51:00.012+02:002010-01-13T16:07:14.040+02:00Botswana Tour Trip Report, December 2009. Part 2December 2009 was a good month for <span style="font-weight: bold;">C4 Images and Safaris.</span> Firstly we had a 2-week safari to Botswana and then it was Christmas holidays for us!<br /><br />We wont write about the holidays, but we do want to share with you a great photo tour to the Okavango region of Botswana. Ill document each day as the tour went along.<br /><br />The tour was led by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Shem Compion and Greg du Toit</span>. There were 7 clients and between us we had 3 private vehicles for our sole photographic use.<br /><br />Part 2:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8mUFeAGvB_VflDWtNWLVdaRwsgCZjrjHGiPacXG0XLwsyhyphenhyphenBfAeSk8FxJ6JLxE0AnZIvSYNVhEUP8qbhqwWk5F-UntLSTVnTVw7zz-8-lzPTgp1OtZOA2vFzr9iYnCghLOPAyO3fOjbYH/s1600-h/091207_SCO_8683.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8mUFeAGvB_VflDWtNWLVdaRwsgCZjrjHGiPacXG0XLwsyhyphenhyphenBfAeSk8FxJ6JLxE0AnZIvSYNVhEUP8qbhqwWk5F-UntLSTVnTVw7zz-8-lzPTgp1OtZOA2vFzr9iYnCghLOPAyO3fOjbYH/s400/091207_SCO_8683.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426191914107358866" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">Day 8<br />Leopard at dawn. What a way to start the day. It was a classic scene- a large tomcat resting on a low horizontal branch with the sun softly glowing through the clouds. A perfect set up, but unfortunately an unwilling model. The beauty of travelling into such wilderness areas is that animals like this male leopard determine your photographic success. In this case, this leopard might not be seen for another year by another vehicle and we were very fortunate to see him. That is the beauty of true wilderness areas. The morning wasn’t a waste though- we enjoyed photographing a black bellied bustard doing its champagne cork courtship pop and an open billed stork fishing away on fresh water mussels. Tea time was to be the real treat though, as we witnessed nearly 150 elephants emerging out of the bush to drink, play, mud wallow and swim in the lagoon in front of us! It was a sight to behold and we slowly got right in amongst these silent giants- brilliant! We left one hour later with some of the elephants still not having completed their watery activities!<br />The wattled crane is a highly endangered bird- with the Okavango being its largest breeding ground- so it was very pleasing to be able to approach a pair preening in the last light of day. It was the closest I have ever been to a pair and they gave us a real show, calmly cleaning their feathers with the wattles swinging away.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnvUvS5PeWz58yaaR-0NOBDulz7klAC7bD0dJiYtB6fHrAlsM3buNv1bdIERVT09VoUBjl8HxODw0bXJW2vFGSB1Hk4vK7nfhx-Sik6xD0KEsryoK1eCwRPxd1MDqU3mTJrsE2aochPCK/s1600-h/091207_SCO_8861.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnvUvS5PeWz58yaaR-0NOBDulz7klAC7bD0dJiYtB6fHrAlsM3buNv1bdIERVT09VoUBjl8HxODw0bXJW2vFGSB1Hk4vK7nfhx-Sik6xD0KEsryoK1eCwRPxd1MDqU3mTJrsE2aochPCK/s400/091207_SCO_8861.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426193223488356834" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 9<br />This morning was rain filled, which doesn’t always make for great photography. However, it does bring out the unusual animals and a honey badger was spotted while Harry spotted and photographed a caracal out stalking!<br />Unfortunately the rain continued in the afternoon, making photography impossible.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0sJ1_gurn2DiPxAR_1u4DLVu94epsSpxtpk3TYUwB-QzODegrCnmiGSsBjYXOn06Aup0p3iQNMbWIRc9UaPDD25D__P9oV1pnKyGr_tLZbpaMuGDkk8Kfkl9QbLWoxvyfbRwF2e2V-c_z/s1600-h/091208_SCO_8940.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0sJ1_gurn2DiPxAR_1u4DLVu94epsSpxtpk3TYUwB-QzODegrCnmiGSsBjYXOn06Aup0p3iQNMbWIRc9UaPDD25D__P9oV1pnKyGr_tLZbpaMuGDkk8Kfkl9QbLWoxvyfbRwF2e2V-c_z/s400/091208_SCO_8940.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426193861307993410" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 10<br />After the rain, out comes the Velvet mites! These tiny creatures attracted the interest of all on the vehicles and resulted in some very unusual poses with many bottoms facing skywards trying to get nice and low angles on the mites!<br />However, the best was to come, as we tracked the wild dogs and found them lying up in the shade. The next few minutes turned out to be one of the best sightings of 2009, with all the wild dogs getting up and playing in a pool of rainwater. I have written about this in a post entitled “wild dogs in 409”, but I will say it again- this was simply magnificent animal behaviour of the highest order. Great subjects, good light, excellent action, repeated motion, willing subjects and excellent positioning!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBE7GM8z_aW3v-h5yYA_qwOWWURDQuLDqwbX9ImmRVBYVzVt3ht2SwYeCxL_jvvltt8Nd-KdnRtnxO5IrJIl5j36-mKK-N56DQxGmQgMm4AFfsAMqnW8Wv2vRtFL7WjXn9Ba-3fLtq1zs1/s1600-h/091209_SCO_9398.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBE7GM8z_aW3v-h5yYA_qwOWWURDQuLDqwbX9ImmRVBYVzVt3ht2SwYeCxL_jvvltt8Nd-KdnRtnxO5IrJIl5j36-mKK-N56DQxGmQgMm4AFfsAMqnW8Wv2vRtFL7WjXn9Ba-3fLtq1zs1/s400/091209_SCO_9398.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426194319932076466" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />That afternoon, we sat with the wild dogs again and followed them as they went off on the afternoon hunt in perfect golden light. You could say it was a “wild dog day”.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNXyt5lvjuAbo70jQC2Y7zZo2RcU7vAINbRDcx1dVyIgVlE3b3FDHHBaX-gV_A9uRwM88Y1kmXWwqDnacudFhvGGFuFum7yzP_plju8vZ9RY_IlvYm3Py5Pq_WYb8uvcYxpjLGqVnSq0x/s1600-h/091209_SCO_9564.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNXyt5lvjuAbo70jQC2Y7zZo2RcU7vAINbRDcx1dVyIgVlE3b3FDHHBaX-gV_A9uRwM88Y1kmXWwqDnacudFhvGGFuFum7yzP_plju8vZ9RY_IlvYm3Py5Pq_WYb8uvcYxpjLGqVnSq0x/s400/091209_SCO_9564.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426194721686412402" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 11<br />Cheetahs and wild dogs. Lagoon camp is famous for its wild dogs and by the end of the day we knew why. It started with finding the three brother cheetah, who posed on a termite mound before heading off to hunt Impala which once chased ran right past one of our vehicles! In the afternoon, we found wild dogs running like crazy dogs along the road- a kill had been made and the adults were coming back to the pups. Again we witnessed brilliant behaviour of these dogs playing, regurgitating, chasing and feeding in an open clearing.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9CH8p_HtpATxiaoB0UYsAt3lMQuUmuYTbZ9tLS58OyEb2jXrBhhL4bKnLhBjrD8NBVroq5d2m4pOuRTDUAyeaFkdoQ94EfCA9L0lhV6f4CSDfkHUYj33nDEy5aFbNunH5hK77CIPn5Zn/s1600-h/091212_SCO_0519.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 237px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9CH8p_HtpATxiaoB0UYsAt3lMQuUmuYTbZ9tLS58OyEb2jXrBhhL4bKnLhBjrD8NBVroq5d2m4pOuRTDUAyeaFkdoQ94EfCA9L0lhV6f4CSDfkHUYj33nDEy5aFbNunH5hK77CIPn5Zn/s400/091212_SCO_0519.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426195290542285266" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 12<br />Rain hampered our start to the morning, but keeping a keen eye out on the weather, we headed out as soon as it started to clear- that being 13h30. A long afternoons drive it was going to be- and what a smelly one it was. A dead elephant was located, attracting hundreds of vultures and marabou storks. The fighting and hissing around the carcass was something to behold. The area surrounding the dead elephant was littered with hundreds of scavengers filled to the crop with food. They decorated the large dead trees like Christmas decorations!<br />We left the smell and headed to a peaceful lake where we photographed hippo in lovely light before the sunset stopped us and we photographed in the opposite direction. (Were far from the hippo by now!) En route back to camp we chanced upon the rare roan antelope. It was many peoples first sighting of one and although it was shy, we all got a good look at its “clown like” facial features.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZGMOqx0iB7HePy_-Hx26Y44D6possmesmvO-pnz3GpAJBZI8qboooC149OvxfDUVxyJHEdarHpqaSQouqPYucHnLs_PriU5QSUSiYjPLlWGvMcUebva4l-_DOHbLI_qRjhREA44ooNVq/s1600-h/091211_SCO_2640.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 281px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZGMOqx0iB7HePy_-Hx26Y44D6possmesmvO-pnz3GpAJBZI8qboooC149OvxfDUVxyJHEdarHpqaSQouqPYucHnLs_PriU5QSUSiYjPLlWGvMcUebva4l-_DOHbLI_qRjhREA44ooNVq/s400/091211_SCO_2640.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426195638173332002" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 13<br /><br />Last day blues were to be banished by the excitement of the morning’s sightings. Cheetah buffalo and wild dog saying their good byes were the morning’s main attractions. We followed the cheetah, scent marking and patrolling- making for very good images. They rested up eventually and we were off to find the buffalo- a nice breeding herd with oxpeckers providing that extra bit of colour.<br /><br />From there we raced back to camp for brunch and the flight back to Maun, civilisation and unfortunately the end of a wonderful tour.<br /><br />The start of the rainy season is my favourite time in the bush. Everything comes alive, the migrating birds are back and the animals are dropping their babies. Some mornings, you can literally feel the bush buzzing with excitement.<br />With our clients on this tour, we certainly had a few days of “buzzing excitement”!<br />Thank you to all our clients who once again provided a great tour.<br /><br />At the start of our safari, I asked one of the clients what they were particularly interested in. “Insects”, they replied… well at least I had just completed an insect book! However it highlights a typical C4 Images and Safaris safari. We aren’t here only for the big 5 and their kin. We take tours for people who enjoy experiencing nature in its entirety; and then photographing it to capture its beauty.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi78uRK-l40620vgBHpfsfFErG61TYslVjoOI4g-MOPwZUweG_gCiuEtofzxlSF2fPYAFlFWu2W69z1KC8-AQI4ocbr9vt7IwSKS76lBAbfsY5pseoPsXzKGn_dfwzblU7NeN7kky4wZzC/s1600-h/091210_SCO_9764.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi78uRK-l40620vgBHpfsfFErG61TYslVjoOI4g-MOPwZUweG_gCiuEtofzxlSF2fPYAFlFWu2W69z1KC8-AQI4ocbr9vt7IwSKS76lBAbfsY5pseoPsXzKGn_dfwzblU7NeN7kky4wZzC/s400/091210_SCO_9764.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426195905339754130" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-84315274608961991332010-01-13T12:32:00.012+02:002010-01-13T13:32:55.289+02:00Botswana Tour Trip Report, December 2009. Part 1December 2009 was a good month for<a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php"> C4 Images and Safaris</a>. Firstly we had a 2-week safari to Botswana and then it was Christmas holidays for us!<br /><br />We wont write about the holidays, but we do want to share with you a great photo tour to the Okavango region of Botswana. Ill document each day as the tour went along.<br /><br />The tour was led by <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=guides">Shem Compion and Greg du Toit.</a> There were 7 clients and between us we had 3 private vehicles for our sole photographic use.<br /><br />Part 1:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2ZO-gT3vPnMPDuBHhTr91F1_W95q3WwH5-1Z80yVAOrkBSErM_1P1SUL_5lEyjdDm4UfCmi4ON07GfpK2oobU-L_zMTxrxJu8KmPuZduiWx0Rq65Gbj3BRpcXNr-TJOQX_SJMxRoCwM8/s1600-h/091207_SCO_2245.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic2ZO-gT3vPnMPDuBHhTr91F1_W95q3WwH5-1Z80yVAOrkBSErM_1P1SUL_5lEyjdDm4UfCmi4ON07GfpK2oobU-L_zMTxrxJu8KmPuZduiWx0Rq65Gbj3BRpcXNr-TJOQX_SJMxRoCwM8/s400/091207_SCO_2245.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426176777929904722" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">Day 1<br />Arrival started in South Africa and the first game drive started in Rietvlei Nature Reserve, near Pretoria. This allows visitors to see and photograph species they wouldn’t see in Botswana. Thus the first day started with black wildebeest, blesbuck and white rhino as the new species to be seen. Of course the highveld birds were in full song and this allowed us to see a few grassland birds.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSR2F1Z3LuHlft6JACvkrdsatVGvgtAKSdUTdEB9be-vYhj1fUTyjMdbfeqP1BlcMhahzDzkzfbnvSw0ZohFJ9ncljLpelVC4HlQbX0hCQzDplFyvTcLl-Ss6ppQPoT0DL8_0BrvhhHWh/s1600-h/091202_SCO_0793.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSR2F1Z3LuHlft6JACvkrdsatVGvgtAKSdUTdEB9be-vYhj1fUTyjMdbfeqP1BlcMhahzDzkzfbnvSw0ZohFJ9ncljLpelVC4HlQbX0hCQzDplFyvTcLl-Ss6ppQPoT0DL8_0BrvhhHWh/s400/091202_SCO_0793.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426179294073635618" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 2<br />The flight to Main is hot, but the reward is worth the heat. Kwara camp greeted us with its open lagoon filled to the brim with hippos. It set the scene for the afternoon game drive; which led us straight to a large male lion. He had been mating and lost his mate. So we followed him as he roared away trying to contact his lioness. The soft evening glow of the late afternoon glanced off his mane beautifully, allowing for some great portraits. A great start to the tour!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRVSO2C9BSuSCUiR7NMEqK81QAahahHD9GSrfwl7hoTkYIVMPOy4xYpU7hTxZucA_nlRVmfxUBRDeq8n9qj2DHfltWnrtEPZNxQWXghzJUzeYN1XZYOur0zwQAbs9lAiPXkhUYeGRBQ0K/s1600-h/091204_SCO_8104.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRVSO2C9BSuSCUiR7NMEqK81QAahahHD9GSrfwl7hoTkYIVMPOy4xYpU7hTxZucA_nlRVmfxUBRDeq8n9qj2DHfltWnrtEPZNxQWXghzJUzeYN1XZYOur0zwQAbs9lAiPXkhUYeGRBQ0K/s400/091204_SCO_8104.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426179817840272498" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 3<br />Our morning drive started photographing plains game- and even a fungus growing out of elephants dung was photographed at teatime! The afternoon turned very dark with overhead clouds and didn’t offer us much until sunset, when we witnessed one of the most stunning sunsets of 2009. It certainly was also the most photographed sunset in Botswana!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKoEoAilG79i-ZUqL-C7fzf4VrYx5ehJ1hnFRz8TH_o8yQROogyC5i5EzFyRt8WqOJ1i_0pXRDjIQLSPNW12bbNRWlxxiI5NZo5SXOULuaev2kXM3qBHIsVpgc6YLRn1fRv-tueSeqfuM6/s1600-h/091202_SCO_7659.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKoEoAilG79i-ZUqL-C7fzf4VrYx5ehJ1hnFRz8TH_o8yQROogyC5i5EzFyRt8WqOJ1i_0pXRDjIQLSPNW12bbNRWlxxiI5NZo5SXOULuaev2kXM3qBHIsVpgc6YLRn1fRv-tueSeqfuM6/s400/091202_SCO_7659.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426180301496488274" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 4<br />Oh my what excitement wild dogs bring! We discovered them early morning running along as they do. For a frantic hour we followed them across floodplains, mopane bush and into apple leaf thickets. They provided an assortment of photo opportunities, making all us photographers very happy.<br />This afternoon we transferred to Camp Okavango, or Camp-O as it is known. It’s a water-based camp, with our focus being birds, hippos and macro work.<br />The first afternoon was off to the Hippo pool, where we watched a small pod snorting away in the golden afternoon light.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh05u12sGTcl_gl7SGFFkLPwoyNHwoDuuXUkb_KltOLPUku9OEK89VOgcAik5SlvxZtT8ZiKbWMdUZ9Tki3M4tcD6mteGdDIyVyc0kkDhJNpR7hphubVIiMkZfPNzgCy8vFH73y8b3Xi4Df/s1600-h/091203_SCO_0918.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh05u12sGTcl_gl7SGFFkLPwoyNHwoDuuXUkb_KltOLPUku9OEK89VOgcAik5SlvxZtT8ZiKbWMdUZ9Tki3M4tcD6mteGdDIyVyc0kkDhJNpR7hphubVIiMkZfPNzgCy8vFH73y8b3Xi4Df/s400/091203_SCO_0918.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426180769612373986" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 5<br />This morning’s focus was the remotely located Godikwe lagoon. Godikwe is the largest breeding colony for marabou storks as well as one of the most important heronries for egrets, herons and other storks. The colony for some reason was not nearly as large as it has been in former years; however, it still provided some excellent opportunities for large birds at close quarters. The beauty of the location is that due to its remoteness, the birds don’t know humans on the island and thus allow you to come really close to them. The photography was excellent, but just being so close to a variety of bird species and seeing them interact was a real highlight.<br />The afternoon was one of the most relaxing game drives ever taken! It was time for the Mokoro ride on the shallow waters of the delta. Gliding along in a mokoro, is one of the most under rated experiences of the Okavango. It is a silent, smooth ride that makes you concentrate on the essence of the delta. The cleanliness of the water, the thousands of tiny fish, the way the water lilies wind their way up from the bottom and the tiny reed frogs clinging perilously to the reeds all combine to give one of the most serene experiences ever.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUpPPLJda_cQ1k4DY5lWvzsFsSJ2KNl_We_otvxXjfjuS4_7jyCjJOGxBm_sQxyvTsiMhYOG1i1uTPH96JpEv8VZ7Jhk_TYHErEuwqKnW8fyNH4oTierByaOJevg_0Fb8zWsYS-4L0Doj/s1600-h/091206_SCO_1834.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUpPPLJda_cQ1k4DY5lWvzsFsSJ2KNl_We_otvxXjfjuS4_7jyCjJOGxBm_sQxyvTsiMhYOG1i1uTPH96JpEv8VZ7Jhk_TYHErEuwqKnW8fyNH4oTierByaOJevg_0Fb8zWsYS-4L0Doj/s400/091206_SCO_1834.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426181275955715538" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 6<br />The last day at Camp O was one concentrating on birds, with the odd hippo thrown in for good measure. The technique was to glide slowly down the reed lined channels approaching birds slowly and quietly. It does seem that the real insect bloom hadn’t occurred in our area yet, as the normal sheer number of birds weren’t evident. However, our persistence paid off and we managed to get good images of slaty egret, squacco heron, African darter, white-throated bee-eater and the beautifully marked malachite kingfisher. The day ended with another splendid sunset overlooking a shallow lagoon. To cap it all off, 30 wattled cranes flew in to roost in the shallows just at sunset, prompting us to all drop the drinks and set up the cameras!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7ELtSk26SjIF8tqR88EtfewzYrYWgnEzq5V4PtJcTyj8GJpNl_JQMU19vjThO7pz_ub4E6GiwLaDoRoH60cN6DGE-HFIoie2BfNQ1L_JGaG63XI9Sk151kE67tYepVQaEuKnT87NYeLN/s1600-h/091205_SCO_1631.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7ELtSk26SjIF8tqR88EtfewzYrYWgnEzq5V4PtJcTyj8GJpNl_JQMU19vjThO7pz_ub4E6GiwLaDoRoH60cN6DGE-HFIoie2BfNQ1L_JGaG63XI9Sk151kE67tYepVQaEuKnT87NYeLN/s400/091205_SCO_1631.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426181749822851426" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 7<br />From Camp O it was up north to the refurnished Lebala camp on the edge of the Linyanti swamp. We started with a bang, as a young leopard stalked in between thickets in search of prey. The most exciting scene being when it chased an African wild cat right past our vehicle! After the excitement, the leopard went on the search and with some good positioning, we managed to predict it moving onto termite mounds to scan, providing us with some beautiful photo opportunities!<br />From there it was off to the waters edge where we photographed waterbirds and hippos in abundance. Another excellent days photography.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGZU1z4bjUGeImdAZx8V6-4IS5Uzntz5KSUpaOqLwLX80pu8ldpNxSEdS2Y3AwVlW8IBDEMisWMR0LSk6HuPgjuuOhTEiy85te7SbzWItM86ssmInBKDKnA1doMakixKwTgEJevhhUUYo/s1600-h/091206_SCO_8484.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 310px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGZU1z4bjUGeImdAZx8V6-4IS5Uzntz5KSUpaOqLwLX80pu8ldpNxSEdS2Y3AwVlW8IBDEMisWMR0LSk6HuPgjuuOhTEiy85te7SbzWItM86ssmInBKDKnA1doMakixKwTgEJevhhUUYo/s400/091206_SCO_8484.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, greg du toit, photo tour, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426182583129749314" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-63517071150231013602010-01-13T11:39:00.015+02:002010-01-13T12:31:41.358+02:00C4 Delta Safari, December 2009<div style="text-align: right;">Words and Images by Greg du Toit.<br /></div><br />Just prior to the Christmas holidays I had the pleasure of co-guiding a photographic safari with my good friend and colleague Shem Compion. The group we had the pleasure of leading were all from the UK and all experienced travelers and photographers. Landing in Maun, we had some time to kill and Maun, not exactly a buzzing metropolis, meant that we walked across the road to a small pilots café for a soda. While sitting whiling the time away, the group suddenly became excited and most notably Eric and Lesley! I swung around to see what was causing the excitement and sitting upon a lamppost were to rather common Pied Crows? I immediately realized that my traveling companions were not the usual shutterbugs interested in only hunting down the ‘big and hairies’. No, this group comprised keen naturalists and birders using photography as a tool to document and record all of nature’s splendours! This excited me a great deal as the wet season in the African bush simply heaves with life! Most photographic safaris run during the winter time when the big game concentrates around the last remaining water pools and although this is a good time for the predators and mammals, my favourite time in the bush remains the summer time when life abounds in all its forms!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOG-9_oyASgI0iyxG_Oca8aB-3SAP1d2hdwlsAUQPO-opZWvREfTW-T3VVS2Ck138vodVvSbUcaI7myZIvNKqyV5FbcHjK-Wp6Qwxg8_QZDjqUFnH0I5uDDUdc153WagV8fKzkpgwB_aa2/s1600-h/Delta_Squirrel%5B2%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOG-9_oyASgI0iyxG_Oca8aB-3SAP1d2hdwlsAUQPO-opZWvREfTW-T3VVS2Ck138vodVvSbUcaI7myZIvNKqyV5FbcHjK-Wp6Qwxg8_QZDjqUFnH0I5uDDUdc153WagV8fKzkpgwB_aa2/s400/Delta_Squirrel%5B2%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426157353089040466" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">Looking back, the 12 day safari certainly was a celebration of life and this indeed in all its forms! The first camp that had the pleasure of hosting us was Kwara in the northern reaches of the delta! Who can forget the cicadas singing so loudly that their friends in the south of France would have been able to hear them? There were so many special and unique moments on the safari that it is impossible to share them all? For me, the highlight of Kwara was certainly not the beef but rather following a pack of Wild Dog through the bush! It was such a privilege to follow a truly wild pack of hunting dogs as they simply went about their frantic high-paced daily routine. The dogs would turn to and fro unperturbed by the thickets of Kalahari Appleleaf trees! How our drivers managed to not get lost I really do not know? Our poor safari guests had to duck and dive to avoid random branches striking them in the face or perhaps even knocking them clean off the vehicle! At one point I became concerned and glanced back only to see John merrily performing some in-camera editing while branches tore all about him? He seemed not the least bit concerned about his health and in hindsight the tangible energy and excitement of the dogs rubbed off on us all. Other highlights from Kwara were spotting a rare Serval and enjoying two of the most splendid sunsets imaginable!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCfI679SnySuiRsb5HliXVOQgwNgK9kbAZHAf7AIcQbD4QtF3hDGGlP66ujSktPDH1nz-FMCsV1D-RaLGeAdFyvyrtvEZre4r5sUMx6AfCvTDeM-6I9xYU0pDL9PsxPg2lacZHEjbPAvF/s1600-h/Delta_Crocodile_Close_up%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnCfI679SnySuiRsb5HliXVOQgwNgK9kbAZHAf7AIcQbD4QtF3hDGGlP66ujSktPDH1nz-FMCsV1D-RaLGeAdFyvyrtvEZre4r5sUMx6AfCvTDeM-6I9xYU0pDL9PsxPg2lacZHEjbPAvF/s400/Delta_Crocodile_Close_up%5B3%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426157683112607714" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKobhBg927KpoeIGUUC1daU5p4H3B-aTwCnAHlT0_U41IKO7Wl-PyGNPSRGY1rxG-pAy0XU0EMPwOKj8rmfcl257hhpMju_mmMArwHodIZT-mTw04ylHC-Go0gCsfROy8wDOaUdeIBViG_/s1600-h/Delta_Crocodile_Eye%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKobhBg927KpoeIGUUC1daU5p4H3B-aTwCnAHlT0_U41IKO7Wl-PyGNPSRGY1rxG-pAy0XU0EMPwOKj8rmfcl257hhpMju_mmMArwHodIZT-mTw04ylHC-Go0gCsfROy8wDOaUdeIBViG_/s400/Delta_Crocodile_Eye%5B3%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426157884347087250" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />After three pleasant nights in Kwara we enjoyed some duty free shopping at Kwara International before taking a lengthy 10 minute flight to Camp O! This camp is water based and all our activities were on boats of sorts! The first afternoon saw us whizzing along narrow channels that bisected waterborne Papyrus forests. Without the slightest forewarning, we happened upon a large hippo pool and spent the next hour photographing! Well that is too say, all, except poor Pauline who suffers from Hippophobia! We were unaware of her chronic condition and tried our best to avoid hippo for the rest of the safari which included removing the hippo-shaped butter dishes from the breakfast table! Although the birdlife at Camp O was disappointing, our bird list was indeed creeping up as the camp gardens graciously offered us sightings of Kurrichane Thrush. A highlight at Camp O was no doubt the Mokoro Canoe trip, which gave us opportunity to get close and personal with the tiny yet gorgeous Painted Reed frogs.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2X3tHI4qKzBp4QmRblUy4N7Tj6_v2HrwdVRnnciWvCPBpbdrGRgAGWkiFwp3jqXdK0Q1oedhf4rzK1Juw5oaG259yYe_qkaZ0j0fYle12mQpb6bMzE3gXw-PlmpqgfcZEn5xvhF_UCA8n/s1600-h/Delta_Hippo_and_Gras%23D8CB78.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2X3tHI4qKzBp4QmRblUy4N7Tj6_v2HrwdVRnnciWvCPBpbdrGRgAGWkiFwp3jqXdK0Q1oedhf4rzK1Juw5oaG259yYe_qkaZ0j0fYle12mQpb6bMzE3gXw-PlmpqgfcZEn5xvhF_UCA8n/s400/Delta_Hippo_and_Gras%23D8CB78.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426158206086447154" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDhlvxCJYTyfJipAGkSwuq3jp4ev4xhUaSYOi5J-LRMWt1GDIVcsy8aHBWefvKEgysT1DXfHTWL-VKX-n143ZmQxZDl0Snau83Xw97RUyPrgsST3jKTow5-zVQrTGH9UM4aOSsih5bnr3/s1600-h/Delta_Water_Lily_Ref%23D8CB7C.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDhlvxCJYTyfJipAGkSwuq3jp4ev4xhUaSYOi5J-LRMWt1GDIVcsy8aHBWefvKEgysT1DXfHTWL-VKX-n143ZmQxZDl0Snau83Xw97RUyPrgsST3jKTow5-zVQrTGH9UM4aOSsih5bnr3/s400/Delta_Water_Lily_Ref%23D8CB7C.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426158406117034194" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />From Camp O, our next stop was Lebala, North of the Delta and in the Linyanti region. This was a most beautiful tract of pure wilderness with two distinguishable highlights:<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjjKoZg7Jx94I42KfVa6SYVOdqtRPSeXiCdMhv4_3Tg50IGlKbS9x8Qqm-dz9nfrzvuGX5PiulhRgkVqPQXJ_gXlVSw1nLACNh24jKiwRzmUZu8RLEYW4cXAgxx9u6Le9Dp4quX0UrR1Ii/s1600-h/Leopard%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjjKoZg7Jx94I42KfVa6SYVOdqtRPSeXiCdMhv4_3Tg50IGlKbS9x8Qqm-dz9nfrzvuGX5PiulhRgkVqPQXJ_gXlVSw1nLACNh24jKiwRzmUZu8RLEYW4cXAgxx9u6Le9Dp4quX0UrR1Ii/s400/Leopard%5B3%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426158710595590562" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iRi89IqURW0aDpwO-U0VkZT3moMW5fcNzMHABokjV-qMx1-K4NttkH8ScpKwFM3BAhg2Nqk_lvWofwKL_AI32pQDmx1p0_HkGmebB3ypINuymB8kWI8DOMg08ifNIZjZL4JNnNxDVDED/s1600-h/John1%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iRi89IqURW0aDpwO-U0VkZT3moMW5fcNzMHABokjV-qMx1-K4NttkH8ScpKwFM3BAhg2Nqk_lvWofwKL_AI32pQDmx1p0_HkGmebB3ypINuymB8kWI8DOMg08ifNIZjZL4JNnNxDVDED/s400/John1%5B3%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426158871974540450" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />The first being the spotting and subsequent photographing of a beautiful leopard amid lush grass and termite mounds! To see Africa’s most striking predator amidst the superb green foliage of the summer bush will remain a highlight for some time to come! Another very special sighting saw us enjoying our morning tea on the banks of a small lake. An elephant herd appeared out the bush on the opposite side of the lake and proceeded down to the water’s edge. Gazing back to the brush line, we were surprised to see another herd making its way down to the water and then another and another and another. The elephants just kept coming until an entire clan lined the lake fringe leaving some of us spellbound and the rest of us frustrated at not being able to capture the immensity of the sighting on camera? Even Brian, who is no stranger to photographing immense Antarctic panoramics, seemed overwhelmed?!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7E0gWaAX8cNykhNrgOJgDlAUIEuwx68pKEKai4oT-SHIGQC8K9khvyIdE8zfxR5Cu5JyyjCOBRW5kfiqwf-Xgs1uc7BSFJyT_Vcz5RsFknZGLg5tkqjDT93nJJM95A7iI12nc1lEvNjIa/s1600-h/Delta_Monitor_Squirrel%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7E0gWaAX8cNykhNrgOJgDlAUIEuwx68pKEKai4oT-SHIGQC8K9khvyIdE8zfxR5Cu5JyyjCOBRW5kfiqwf-Xgs1uc7BSFJyT_Vcz5RsFknZGLg5tkqjDT93nJJM95A7iI12nc1lEvNjIa/s400/Delta_Monitor_Squirrel%5B3%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426159186700976786" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Our last stop of the trip was at Lagoon Camp and although the weather stopped playing ball, we still managed to end on a high note with wild dog sightings almost everyday as well as a superb cheetah sighting. As I mentioned at the beginning however, our group was not just about the big five and we enjoyed getting down low and personal with velvet mites and fungi! A very special sighting at Lagoon was finding a Whalberg’s Eagle on a fresh Yellowbilled Hornbill kill!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfUAXBNiJgutvwdkPb6m65hxZiwvfl85_TdpjPTGaopr3c_pQ9eE6A0hWzXFnzKbM5RjG25R2C2WUa622AxlylI1WYXYEip7Iy6sINtN_s7Hw6UbMmwsP2OkKAvGSyoiIuEF6KeZ5izrD5/s1600-h/Mushroom_Portrait_Ab%23D8CB84.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfUAXBNiJgutvwdkPb6m65hxZiwvfl85_TdpjPTGaopr3c_pQ9eE6A0hWzXFnzKbM5RjG25R2C2WUa622AxlylI1WYXYEip7Iy6sINtN_s7Hw6UbMmwsP2OkKAvGSyoiIuEF6KeZ5izrD5/s400/Mushroom_Portrait_Ab%23D8CB84.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426159442604308850" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />The food throughout the safari was exquisite but perhaps none more so than at Lagoon Camp where they provided additional protein in the form of flying ants (termites actually)! Who can forget my bush-whacking colleague (Shem), walking up to the lantern aloft the dinning table, grabbing a flying ant and gulping it down with a look of glee upon his face?<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUXZClfa2LoptK3GvTrSN7SRddyR58DvP4qXzKN7BXQI0BBE4zJQlYfWnZXwDP90M0M8mZ_BtPIWOWxN2UEAcCb64v4c_77pYybLUrgtpkxDC3sgzH8sgjFEHcw-3EU124Rq64Q-CahM2j/s1600-h/Velvet_Mite%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUXZClfa2LoptK3GvTrSN7SRddyR58DvP4qXzKN7BXQI0BBE4zJQlYfWnZXwDP90M0M8mZ_BtPIWOWxN2UEAcCb64v4c_77pYybLUrgtpkxDC3sgzH8sgjFEHcw-3EU124Rq64Q-CahM2j/s400/Velvet_Mite%5B3%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426159699456605330" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />When all is said and done, the safari was a sublime experience that offered up not only many memorable sightings of wild dog, cheetah and elephant but also many unique, smaller and more peculiar sightings (see photos attached). My only regret to the entire safari was promising Eric and Lesley 200 bird species, only to land in Jo’burg on 198 species! Glancing up at the airport terminal I was hoping to see a Rock Pigeon and a Little Swift but alas my time was up!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuRAB6YvRx1NGpcNG3WDgcniVle2LDh2i36ApWzrYMcMptvVgG-gYs5XZWvgFhES7Z3AibZwM18LUrepYkOybBbJOkemh75igeug-dmiWrzZUIZ1lmDZA9HW16Lu2TjcdbzeqffkAyrDq/s1600-h/Shem1%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuRAB6YvRx1NGpcNG3WDgcniVle2LDh2i36ApWzrYMcMptvVgG-gYs5XZWvgFhES7Z3AibZwM18LUrepYkOybBbJOkemh75igeug-dmiWrzZUIZ1lmDZA9HW16Lu2TjcdbzeqffkAyrDq/s400/Shem1%5B3%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426159961358737890" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Thank you ever so much to my traveling companions Eric, Lesley, Brian, Fiona, John, Harry, Pauline, Maggie and Peter. It was a pleasure hosting you and I hope to do so again in the future!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvukPtmbKOkWoDPrUpWgJnofyzDdOUzxlr_1thV-zu_WqISsj9FPQnZ_lpeV_XGrBLKpbCam4U27CgpQ6jkbDWKxTt0JCpm0-6-sHcuHJnmgZ4UiYKZAdYpDYovDddWxCAid95LEC3aW74/s1600-h/Sunset%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvukPtmbKOkWoDPrUpWgJnofyzDdOUzxlr_1thV-zu_WqISsj9FPQnZ_lpeV_XGrBLKpbCam4U27CgpQ6jkbDWKxTt0JCpm0-6-sHcuHJnmgZ4UiYKZAdYpDYovDddWxCAid95LEC3aW74/s400/Sunset%5B3%5D.jpg" alt="delta safari, greg du toit, photographic safari, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426160248720733010" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-57564833415965168272009-11-27T10:10:00.006+02:002009-11-27T10:55:19.293+02:00Masai Mara tour report back- November tourWhen advising a tour to a client, we at<span style="font-weight: bold;"> C4 Images and Safaris</span> always decide on the best destination by weighing up various factors that will make a tour successful. It’s not necessarily about having a happy client or showing them a good time.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmkAWzIdngWVDPs3gatTYHxZpf1TrEiIzFCO_Cp2E-OubCM_gUJh-SyjPq3v4QSoV5_F10ZYUfQegnTmaex1A3OjWunDy7acU0AASUBwvkk9-DKR4kvHxPn7Sn5EV6Et5zaDOoQSDKy_3/s1600/091101_SCO_8407.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzmkAWzIdngWVDPs3gatTYHxZpf1TrEiIzFCO_Cp2E-OubCM_gUJh-SyjPq3v4QSoV5_F10ZYUfQegnTmaex1A3OjWunDy7acU0AASUBwvkk9-DKR4kvHxPn7Sn5EV6Et5zaDOoQSDKy_3/s400/091101_SCO_8407.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408699264046193858" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3eiTeXe89z1m6Jm2GxhCooXRMfqoX_6sBWSH2XJJBjqZgoAObDH0SShNmY_hyphenhyphenywTRhVEJXpJP35rxbyjg9zEuQXPe9XLnr423qmlviK12iVrsEgfBw7LTQwJMHO02gytXYSEAb484T18/s1600/091101_SCO_4140.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 220px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3eiTeXe89z1m6Jm2GxhCooXRMfqoX_6sBWSH2XJJBjqZgoAObDH0SShNmY_hyphenhyphenywTRhVEJXpJP35rxbyjg9zEuQXPe9XLnr423qmlviK12iVrsEgfBw7LTQwJMHO02gytXYSEAb484T18/s400/091101_SCO_4140.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408699593714765186" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">To us it is about showing them the best game viewing for their specific requirements so that they can get the best images. It’s as simple as that, and for us, that is all that matters.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGRxbmXswiChnSucRcZq35hGsuQWep4oz6HMkFLYUp9vYpPCfOxdQJR9LDM3iVeFvjbBSuteM8Bf8jPe-1g3bMQHocgTW163knsclGIIkQzTsWz_TR2LoXQ9hAyn1QMxYFNw6cFZrLj5e/s1600/091031_SCO_4065.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGRxbmXswiChnSucRcZq35hGsuQWep4oz6HMkFLYUp9vYpPCfOxdQJR9LDM3iVeFvjbBSuteM8Bf8jPe-1g3bMQHocgTW163knsclGIIkQzTsWz_TR2LoXQ9hAyn1QMxYFNw6cFZrLj5e/s400/091031_SCO_4065.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408701612946496642" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVrXum-Z0zj_wGt2yIMvK7VOEJNFIu_3O-Th03ebk4twWQUWqw6TEL0Wk2wzQQk_Zd_T3QeAViIN68x90zodG5fu2n2ceZVdYZLE4SMNUnQX8ukisRJu29j1TsMlyPK6QikEXRkpia3fc/s1600/091102_SCO_5049.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 228px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVrXum-Z0zj_wGt2yIMvK7VOEJNFIu_3O-Th03ebk4twWQUWqw6TEL0Wk2wzQQk_Zd_T3QeAViIN68x90zodG5fu2n2ceZVdYZLE4SMNUnQX8ukisRJu29j1TsMlyPK6QikEXRkpia3fc/s400/091102_SCO_5049.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408702176530742834" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />So when we were asked about where is the best place in Africa to photograph predators on a daily basis, we pointed to that piece of land in the heart of East Africa- the Masai Mara. Going in the first week of November, I wasn’t expecting the migration, and the client knew as much. We were there for the predators, and there were other advantages…<br />• Tourist traffic has significantly decreased- meaning less vehicles<br />• Predators are all in excellent condition from the feast of the migration<br />• Many predators have cubs/pups now due to their good condition from the feast of the migration<br />• Grass is still very short, making visibility and photography very easy<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdjoMdAdXlo9F_7RSW3xoOYh7RL50XEZguSGFYIWPY5Y5dxDwh4Snc5H4_9MHlDXGAeOLQTT3ZaSPzoLErxweXxo3VjVUMjOCsPQ5YO5n7PplyOXLMYOKhC7csJoAg-NFHfEfWvSPOxiMM/s1600/091101_SCO_4344.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdjoMdAdXlo9F_7RSW3xoOYh7RL50XEZguSGFYIWPY5Y5dxDwh4Snc5H4_9MHlDXGAeOLQTT3ZaSPzoLErxweXxo3VjVUMjOCsPQ5YO5n7PplyOXLMYOKhC7csJoAg-NFHfEfWvSPOxiMM/s400/091101_SCO_4344.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408702527959918946" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo5Yr5sQ1tRm2D3BpzhdHgfrHqqIlgPgu91bqtgvTkRqlk-I3fcEYdx7qqUSyQ_pjhwoYz2olX2rIF46vWnG5bYazX8lXqaGTW_o3K9rgacNAXukb3vGmrgf2QRjTPLARa1xjv7mOJ9o5a/s1600/091103_SCO_8974.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 302px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo5Yr5sQ1tRm2D3BpzhdHgfrHqqIlgPgu91bqtgvTkRqlk-I3fcEYdx7qqUSyQ_pjhwoYz2olX2rIF46vWnG5bYazX8lXqaGTW_o3K9rgacNAXukb3vGmrgf2QRjTPLARa1xjv7mOJ9o5a/s400/091103_SCO_8974.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408702949416830578" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />And the best advantage of all for us on this tour? The migration was still in the area! We had millions of wildebeest on the open plains around camp.<br />Nature is a wonderful thing sometimes. The beauty of it all is that we are just visitors in the dynamics. This year the migration stayed very late and we lucked out. Next year will invariably be very different, as each year is here.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu-7TneIuPJvXynmiG4cRPJyHVY6KrS_Q1PEgph3-kZfWBQlfu1heEP8aePeGEa1ulGtwNC2ZGQuos8SUfeK08oar_D_wEmujTijVNGrb8Zy1QFxpx0hhof0docRJ7TcZKI7KDLwYrAbi9/s1600/091102_SCO_4742.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu-7TneIuPJvXynmiG4cRPJyHVY6KrS_Q1PEgph3-kZfWBQlfu1heEP8aePeGEa1ulGtwNC2ZGQuos8SUfeK08oar_D_wEmujTijVNGrb8Zy1QFxpx0hhof0docRJ7TcZKI7KDLwYrAbi9/s400/091102_SCO_4742.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408703179573271346" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />But on this tour we had that extra bonus. What a brilliant tour it turned out to be, with great image taken by all!<br />It’s as simple as that, and for us, that is all that matters.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSM8jsBTpQBRrvwwfd3syTT1i754P65M21d_PKXdNA3RZA6GoovCrUrepchClD6eLubgezrrq09i5rnO19YoTxNEesGyKwXUpunTJ1ZX9NEIXQyB5q894IG79_uuoGGxgra0PpwzByUB6v/s1600/091101_SCO_8415.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSM8jsBTpQBRrvwwfd3syTT1i754P65M21d_PKXdNA3RZA6GoovCrUrepchClD6eLubgezrrq09i5rnO19YoTxNEesGyKwXUpunTJ1ZX9NEIXQyB5q894IG79_uuoGGxgra0PpwzByUB6v/s400/091101_SCO_8415.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408703454146903090" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PAjQd_ahlIwa9EKPBMhEgAqhl_l7SvoPeOZIscQVl2mo54qa7wgtk-GNKwdk_ht9eKEJ0cc4GIBonKmdHp1v3L2UHJZ3JLXYFykBYixB7SpggCI6Sn41_8gNgPt7bK3Y_bgIAWaFZgI_/s1600/091102_SCO_8903.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8PAjQd_ahlIwa9EKPBMhEgAqhl_l7SvoPeOZIscQVl2mo54qa7wgtk-GNKwdk_ht9eKEJ0cc4GIBonKmdHp1v3L2UHJZ3JLXYFykBYixB7SpggCI6Sn41_8gNgPt7bK3Y_bgIAWaFZgI_/s400/091102_SCO_8903.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, migration, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408703665990083746" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-84725210995187462692009-11-18T13:10:00.019+02:002009-11-27T10:09:41.811+02:00The Chiefs Island Experience - Isak PretoriusChief’s Island in the heart of the Okavango Delta is known as the predator capital of Africa. C4 Images and Safaris has just concluded its first of many safaris to the island and the place had more than lived up to its reputation and everyone’s expectation. We met our guests at O.R. Tambo International from where it’s a two hour flight to Maun and then a 20 minute flight into camp. Flying low over the Delta is always thrilling with spectacular views of this unique waterway system alive with large herds of elephants, buffalo, giraffe, and zebra which are easy to spot from the plane. This got the safari off to an exciting start.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tdsK-hfioaIcavyAmzsIDGaE4IEOFjwDY4x0v-Yqr0SNLCtBfdRa2AF8eAMY5O7PKtynsh8vLLQypC62tZLqb-NfnaiXUq73McLLLkSDruB_ENo2Fm6sjXNGebJm7cr2_73Cf28pYbsu/s1600/20091111_7129.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tdsK-hfioaIcavyAmzsIDGaE4IEOFjwDY4x0v-Yqr0SNLCtBfdRa2AF8eAMY5O7PKtynsh8vLLQypC62tZLqb-NfnaiXUq73McLLLkSDruB_ENo2Fm6sjXNGebJm7cr2_73Cf28pYbsu/s400/20091111_7129.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405406984338053090" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">We were looking forward to sunny weather and good photography. Chief’s Camp is located on Chief’s Island on the edge of a large floodplain hidden away between beautiful Jackalberry and Sausage tree woodland. The lounge, dining room, bar and pool are situated on a large wooden deck overlooking the floodplain and became our general meeting area for the next few days doing everything from our afternoon photo workshops, eating, relaxing and talking photography while watching nature unfold in front of us. Growing up amongst the animals in the surrounding areas, our guides Ali and Ishmael were masters of predicting animal behaviour and locating our photographic subjects. They had obviously dealt with many photographers before and knew exactly how to position the vehicle for us to get the perfect shot. Chief’s Camp is also different from anything we’ve experienced before in that they’ve modified their vehicles for driving through water. A lifted suspension and snorkel did the trick but occasionally we had to lift our camera bags and feet off the floor during the deeper crossings. Twice during the safari we had water over the floor of the vehicle that drained away quickly once we got through. Apart from the thrilling sightings this added some additional exhilaration.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHuUDDNHogmkgxZVvvNY73GTuwfMRvSHgBp8uq5ZSaJ4OFNqoCI0cZuHrVtMRIf0RjKiEYeo9MrirBr-WdFC8-DyitvGLbiBMwkJHGqRzM2g42cnFW99wOkzUTMhluw3ylAUqfrE3gWBj/s1600/20091111_7087.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIHuUDDNHogmkgxZVvvNY73GTuwfMRvSHgBp8uq5ZSaJ4OFNqoCI0cZuHrVtMRIf0RjKiEYeo9MrirBr-WdFC8-DyitvGLbiBMwkJHGqRzM2g42cnFW99wOkzUTMhluw3ylAUqfrE3gWBj/s400/20091111_7087.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405407293059968530" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyBGx6vXuQlTP3Gaao427FUK2gDrj2KJWigsB5bJpp4Qzx4xeH0AtEj82nQRX6P4UoSDMVfM2FxGJGTcjJL9GRKj-AqH4zPDbh5xDbVEU-CEYJVs9k3S6QQfZVKajtSA8r6ohyJYb23N_R/s1600/20091111_7136.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyBGx6vXuQlTP3Gaao427FUK2gDrj2KJWigsB5bJpp4Qzx4xeH0AtEj82nQRX6P4UoSDMVfM2FxGJGTcjJL9GRKj-AqH4zPDbh5xDbVEU-CEYJVs9k3S6QQfZVKajtSA8r6ohyJYb23N_R/s400/20091111_7136.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405407502740221618" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />The game drives took us onto both the floodplains as well as the higher dry areas of Chief’s Island itself. It provided typical Okavango Delta scenery of wide open plains with grazing herds of animals and islands of woodland vegetation and palm trees. Game viewing and photography were excellent with numerous sightings of lion, leopard, huge herds of buffalo, elephant, lechwe and the other general game like zebra, wildebeest and giraffe to name but a few. The Delta is of course also a bird paradise that provided us with terrific photographic opportunities of many “specials” like wattled crane and slaty egrets. The water level on the floodplains was dropping quickly, leaving behind numerous pools with trapped fish. We came across a number of pools with hundreds of yellow-billed storks, marabou storks, hamerkop, and egrets all trying to make the most of the fish’s misfortune. One afternoon we did the makoro experience where you get close encounters with birds and some of the Delta’s smaller subject while gliding quietly over the water.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoa8suSOrqJfsJQ6jzQwZ1CKljJOQSoPVjDL0-q-1RN4WPacQZt1_fygXeiHS1CJzj_gCh6Pp79Z0xYhmCbuYtp-5gnSvKxX4RIDgyx5Y6qZzh0EkOcpGXUY0cYFvTD-3kPKcqRdAPOaVb/s1600/20091112_7417.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoa8suSOrqJfsJQ6jzQwZ1CKljJOQSoPVjDL0-q-1RN4WPacQZt1_fygXeiHS1CJzj_gCh6Pp79Z0xYhmCbuYtp-5gnSvKxX4RIDgyx5Y6qZzh0EkOcpGXUY0cYFvTD-3kPKcqRdAPOaVb/s400/20091112_7417.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405407746977950114" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgupnEIK_gDATHFkrRWXZOrc_zrUMZrTKhRJwwE9TLDKA8p9Iw7hLOousuh1LP4cVn4rUPrdSoSMr45q0ah9vsczDCXQiv0E24dswWbLcaoXkOrkZBVaMoTFsrp_lGvppqTvSEYFA40HHQy/s1600/20091112_7639.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgupnEIK_gDATHFkrRWXZOrc_zrUMZrTKhRJwwE9TLDKA8p9Iw7hLOousuh1LP4cVn4rUPrdSoSMr45q0ah9vsczDCXQiv0E24dswWbLcaoXkOrkZBVaMoTFsrp_lGvppqTvSEYFA40HHQy/s400/20091112_7639.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405407948164334354" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Each day usually starts with a wakeup call from staff who also brought us coffee in bed. This is followed by a light breakfast, morning drive and early lunch after which there were time for relaxation. The afternoons were spent doing the photography workshops that included lectures on light, composition, technique, digital workflow and processing. Afternoon tea and game drive followed, after which we had time for relaxing drinks and dinner.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-hYY5iF9xOKU8hu_qf5DfMz5Wg7aKzG4PSFEFVO3S7qQvQYuc6GprJWTX2Ho55DE25_1XK0C9ERn9oYV3ku5AW8lhHDI1MQMB4UUF8kIPuM3v-I3eg9lz6VcKiiiuDC2tbdrW7a2p4On/s1600/20091112_7661-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-hYY5iF9xOKU8hu_qf5DfMz5Wg7aKzG4PSFEFVO3S7qQvQYuc6GprJWTX2Ho55DE25_1XK0C9ERn9oYV3ku5AW8lhHDI1MQMB4UUF8kIPuM3v-I3eg9lz6VcKiiiuDC2tbdrW7a2p4On/s400/20091112_7661-1.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405409499380184258" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWvQO-qN2R6o56jp-5NAdk9uo_DSmW11NSXWbxR2z1AYeQF5_3X_4FcwOkzCCYZmoCMQ8vmku9SCpJCFCxQGy2AJ-N-Ds6OOO6T8aAW3EYWg92MGcATFOha123GoReNlrJAiVtyKPXTC-/s1600/20091112_7778.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWvQO-qN2R6o56jp-5NAdk9uo_DSmW11NSXWbxR2z1AYeQF5_3X_4FcwOkzCCYZmoCMQ8vmku9SCpJCFCxQGy2AJ-N-Ds6OOO6T8aAW3EYWg92MGcATFOha123GoReNlrJAiVtyKPXTC-/s400/20091112_7778.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405409699198483298" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />This safari would definitely be remembered for a spectacular late afternoon fast moving thunderstorm on our last afternoon drive, and a sighting where a black-backed jackal had killed a baby impala. As a natural history sighting this was very special, though gruesome at times. It was an opportunistic kill by the jackal of a few day old impala amongst a large herd of impala. I will also never forget the water crossings that we did with the game viewing vehicles. In areas better suited for makoros than vehicles we made our way through the water en route to the sightings. In one particular incident, our guide Ishmael were driving over a dry area of the floodplain when he spotted some lions in the distance. At that specific place we had a deep water filled deception between us and the lions and it would have taken us too long to drive around and through the water at the shallower regular crossing on the other end to get to the lions. Ishmael asked me if I think we should attempt to drive to the lions straight from there through the deep water. Not knowing what difference my opinion would make anyway, I think I was more curious than anything else to see how his attempt would unfold. I told Ishmael to go for it. Amazingly with water high over the bonnet of the vehicle and tyres gripping slowly but surely at the sandy bottom, we made it through and were rewarded with great photography of the lions and then lechwe running through the water.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX81AN6WxGZ-hhOK_fmdjv8Gz7uAIZ_FUpbpb-ufUB44_uJk7NFndWSxws1IRT6kG8EPzd8HSVa2xmu90lVx9EmoH0IgyNAbJ9T48fA7EHWwYydbh2Q9J0kCwxMOZ0uN6MUtmM6smyU0iV/s1600/20091113_7849-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX81AN6WxGZ-hhOK_fmdjv8Gz7uAIZ_FUpbpb-ufUB44_uJk7NFndWSxws1IRT6kG8EPzd8HSVa2xmu90lVx9EmoH0IgyNAbJ9T48fA7EHWwYydbh2Q9J0kCwxMOZ0uN6MUtmM6smyU0iV/s400/20091113_7849-1.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405410005436729362" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiohL53dWE-Joj8IhNCl-pbL9nH7yQG6uq0Fm4PT6a-kUMC8rNhrRZk4KLpkqPTszfhuIyRKCGwbDl2Dm65JBFRF2uQoLHtJZJDlReTrf0lnRwwutqilg_8Sr-J9K4cFVLYqJjISWEzJ5rB/s1600/20091113_7866.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiohL53dWE-Joj8IhNCl-pbL9nH7yQG6uq0Fm4PT6a-kUMC8rNhrRZk4KLpkqPTszfhuIyRKCGwbDl2Dm65JBFRF2uQoLHtJZJDlReTrf0lnRwwutqilg_8Sr-J9K4cFVLYqJjISWEzJ5rB/s400/20091113_7866.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405410513462956402" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Chief’s Camp delivered the magic of the Okavango Delta in many ways. During our last evening we showed a presentation of the top images from the safari from every guest. It was wonderful to see everyone’s own interpretation of the last few days and how the different photographic techniques we taught got put into practice with great success. It was sad to leave the island and although the flight back to Maun over the Delta was something to look forward to, it was of little comfort. We all wanted to visit Chief’s Island again soon!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0sMU3pdTz74HSADOP4_L8E-s-NqN2LkSE33dgqpQVmiIIrSJuhWbc9eABor_ByoHVOoS2B4pvpUJkUjXXIk3DwyJuVLPm0lGFkr8IkeDAsHP7MOdsNgBlnzBT7d5o03PPDHxh0LgxS6w/s1600/20091113_7921.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0sMU3pdTz74HSADOP4_L8E-s-NqN2LkSE33dgqpQVmiIIrSJuhWbc9eABor_ByoHVOoS2B4pvpUJkUjXXIk3DwyJuVLPm0lGFkr8IkeDAsHP7MOdsNgBlnzBT7d5o03PPDHxh0LgxS6w/s400/20091113_7921.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405410924159975410" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMCU9cZa1aaJwLRa8fuDViD3itJrXxl2pJPDXLfTPO9KbyFkcSxmtE83Wsi-LqS5X6w3DYp74a_IH45XfeYjn3DRhWTTZE8ZdzCNo0aRM9LEV_KRUoP9hGV2mf3Kf5FIUoxcFCCNgmC-V_/s1600/20091113_7996.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMCU9cZa1aaJwLRa8fuDViD3itJrXxl2pJPDXLfTPO9KbyFkcSxmtE83Wsi-LqS5X6w3DYp74a_IH45XfeYjn3DRhWTTZE8ZdzCNo0aRM9LEV_KRUoP9hGV2mf3Kf5FIUoxcFCCNgmC-V_/s400/20091113_7996.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405411127939524978" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Thanks Charl, Semma and the rest of the staff for making this a trip of a lifetime.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9GIkdZjmPDo865obRPgPWn1aE8U1Z7XU0NxnCB1_xb2SWzSTRBbvJyAFbc9o9-_OtIBmDoSr_QPmmYicnvFf6i-vlyKUU3L1QKujfdFVa3dkF5gKo85R91o7Du8AhbkxxKFD6cM2JNPv/s1600/20091113_8009.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9GIkdZjmPDo865obRPgPWn1aE8U1Z7XU0NxnCB1_xb2SWzSTRBbvJyAFbc9o9-_OtIBmDoSr_QPmmYicnvFf6i-vlyKUU3L1QKujfdFVa3dkF5gKo85R91o7Du8AhbkxxKFD6cM2JNPv/s400/20091113_8009.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405411316468984290" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicA2zJSL6qZ0Yj80J36DwVeH8GUsEphPDscLCd-ekUeNi3rOTB0nbw-JDBBdwlPStW3AwasntNwWOQDatb-yTwt4HCVMeRZnwq5CZKwyb10RTJKC2XmtV2qiWrvMCZiS4uaphiNOFsQJOs/s1600/20091114_8355.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicA2zJSL6qZ0Yj80J36DwVeH8GUsEphPDscLCd-ekUeNi3rOTB0nbw-JDBBdwlPStW3AwasntNwWOQDatb-yTwt4HCVMeRZnwq5CZKwyb10RTJKC2XmtV2qiWrvMCZiS4uaphiNOFsQJOs/s400/20091114_8355.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, isak pretorius, safari" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405411482374332674" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-55360982387688324782009-11-17T13:46:00.014+02:002009-11-17T16:00:09.194+02:00Chiefs Island Photo Workshop Trip Report Part 2<span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 3 and 4</span><br /><br />We returned to the leopard kill in the morning to find that the famous tree-climbing lions of Chiefs Island had climbed high into the thorny acacia and pulled down the carcass. The leopard was nowhere to be found of course, but the lions were great subjects in the early morning light. From there we spent time at one of the drying pools of water photographing yellow-billed storks fishing. The number and diversity of birds in the delta is something to behold- and it is one of the best places for bird photography.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl-O97CR2IwqZDdAqcWDeCK7ypnlnRLUzK4OkGowEyIgq7SQio2Uv8SjDCj2x_d8DO9uYNKyncwdoLPe3twN28R6AEgqdVwiTrEBN43KqxfUyu-FHvvFRp6BBfWuL1pj3RJ3Xw7nyz4WoL/s1600/091113_SCO_6527.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl-O97CR2IwqZDdAqcWDeCK7ypnlnRLUzK4OkGowEyIgq7SQio2Uv8SjDCj2x_d8DO9uYNKyncwdoLPe3twN28R6AEgqdVwiTrEBN43KqxfUyu-FHvvFRp6BBfWuL1pj3RJ3Xw7nyz4WoL/s400/091113_SCO_6527.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405045827844073442" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">The afternoon was a time to experience the mokoros of the Delta. This pirogue like boat is the best way to experience first hand the quiet tranquillity of the waters. It is also great for landscapes and macros photos. From there we spent time with some wattled cranes, a delta speciality, feeding and displaying. Our sunset sundowner was a mix of photographing zebra’s backlit into the setting sun and 5 bull elephants walking quietly past our vehicle, some 20m away. We almost didn’t have time to finish our drinks!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirf6wjOFJPLd121DCXNyr9hmHAz9ZXbB5TqKI4plUmO3f4hlFRu93DkPYKxCvtsMdL1YdUn_DkW5gAXbwvLZcF9FV2lns_CMsaQP_NknlzFBDioNaMe4u9xJv8onx_YeXruqICsiHdhefk/s1600/091113_SCO_6670.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirf6wjOFJPLd121DCXNyr9hmHAz9ZXbB5TqKI4plUmO3f4hlFRu93DkPYKxCvtsMdL1YdUn_DkW5gAXbwvLZcF9FV2lns_CMsaQP_NknlzFBDioNaMe4u9xJv8onx_YeXruqICsiHdhefk/s400/091113_SCO_6670.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405046060569522434" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHQ8QjlOeC_B_Dmdkp4Bk5RB1Vonnv3NTvfyhy40CrX0ez8qIDT-YcvnwAgKEyzlvVKvBh3y799WXOLc_3t-gkJxXlZaD6Gc8RDLenTiKO-OAGQS3m1MfaThUYIZDYnzb3sO2rTgGEqEJ/s1600/091113_SCO_6781.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHQ8QjlOeC_B_Dmdkp4Bk5RB1Vonnv3NTvfyhy40CrX0ez8qIDT-YcvnwAgKEyzlvVKvBh3y799WXOLc_3t-gkJxXlZaD6Gc8RDLenTiKO-OAGQS3m1MfaThUYIZDYnzb3sO2rTgGEqEJ/s400/091113_SCO_6781.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405046274032191970" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 4</span><br />This morning we spent 45 minutes at a small lagoon. It was a great spot for all sorts of action. Hippos fighting and yawning, squacco heron fly bys, fish eagle hunting and a slaty egret fishing nearby. From there we headed north and into some spectacular woodland and onto some open floodplains. Herds of lechwe greeted us. Three male lions and a leopard nearby also greeted us- we literally had our choice! That was until we had to pull the other vehicle out trying to cross the channel. Just another part of the delta experience! On the way back to camp we had baboons with babies to entertain our cameras- and us just the right way to finish off a drive.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR7wt4wepfI-29bYyrTB-3rkgs8HkYIZlNlPSf-Rj4EiXWfUVD6JMGE7rvpUuK0HwW85Luh6T-9kXw20mp8pl30Si2MXbzaQQILVkBnkNsfKQgRYEMVzTlW_f0WJ1zfOvidlj-jY1biROW/s1600/091112_SCO_6447.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR7wt4wepfI-29bYyrTB-3rkgs8HkYIZlNlPSf-Rj4EiXWfUVD6JMGE7rvpUuK0HwW85Luh6T-9kXw20mp8pl30Si2MXbzaQQILVkBnkNsfKQgRYEMVzTlW_f0WJ1zfOvidlj-jY1biROW/s400/091112_SCO_6447.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405049171668072946" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />The day had started with some cloud and it built up all afternoon with a large storm brewing up in the east. With the sun still shining in the west, this gave us some beautiful and intense light. First up it was some baboons backlit, their fur picking up the halo of light beautifully.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqkLUz8XWJeqYdtbgNVbnOZlRWqwb1d7dEpCkJ_MHkzU446XtQExostHFLZ84_Ybi0OimVEcmzwJ-Sd1P4d39tBD0cFkA2OcZC5U2zJ-qfD2dJJMwiXTRmIif3Z4ptMKdLKEmQ5jX-l-o/s1600/091114_SCO_0326.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqkLUz8XWJeqYdtbgNVbnOZlRWqwb1d7dEpCkJ_MHkzU446XtQExostHFLZ84_Ybi0OimVEcmzwJ-Sd1P4d39tBD0cFkA2OcZC5U2zJ-qfD2dJJMwiXTRmIif3Z4ptMKdLKEmQ5jX-l-o/s400/091114_SCO_0326.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405051039437601074" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Then the wind started blowing strongly at the approach of the storm and looking in the east we saw a rainbow developing, so we hurriedly went in search of some subjects. First up was a palm tree- an icon of the Okavango, then some lechwe and impala with the rainbow right on top of them. The intensity of colour was so strong that you didn’t need a polariser to capture the beauty of it.<br />Nearby we found two male lions. The quality of light on them was perfect, and then the wide-angle image of a dark and moody sky with the rainbow in the background was just the cherry on top. Brilliant in all respects!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7b2TiOZXyhPSrd1AXb94wE1FzW-_xGG7KdCuHFDo5TL_OmkRVwO9vo46uI0l7TO16V9_YCwnOExAzwDCitCMNHDOX1q8wztndXLkPzmL9hbmhHZK3Bn9li3uN0BT77q10WV5JzbHWGQH/s1600/091114_SCO_6997.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7b2TiOZXyhPSrd1AXb94wE1FzW-_xGG7KdCuHFDo5TL_OmkRVwO9vo46uI0l7TO16V9_YCwnOExAzwDCitCMNHDOX1q8wztndXLkPzmL9hbmhHZK3Bn9li3uN0BT77q10WV5JzbHWGQH/s400/091114_SCO_6997.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405051222284671826" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzEaBDF2LmZFVKrgHz9evAxDUZ7UneqgPCDOBTLBIxvfrGWsFVbNGLGTwNpej4thG3JOovzAi61Q_3vbApnLDNhOhXr81kDlUKCT_ac1HGDCB-jLkhhaghoF-fye_fnkzPerjsrjZDgZW/s1600/091114_SCO_7125.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzEaBDF2LmZFVKrgHz9evAxDUZ7UneqgPCDOBTLBIxvfrGWsFVbNGLGTwNpej4thG3JOovzAi61Q_3vbApnLDNhOhXr81kDlUKCT_ac1HGDCB-jLkhhaghoF-fye_fnkzPerjsrjZDgZW/s400/091114_SCO_7125.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405051687890122930" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Day 5</span><br />The last morning led us out to the floodplains for the last time and we spent quite a bit of time with a herd of 500 buffalo, photographing them, the egrets and the oxpeckers in various modes. We found a very productive pool with lots of birds in, which we decided to stay at. It paid dividends as no more than 8 species of birds came within 5m of our vehicle. The pied kingfishers hovering right next to us was a highlight, as was the slaty egret hunting 2m from the vehicle. This was a perfect way to end another very successful workshop with <span style="font-weight: bold;">C4 Images and Safaris.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-vTOsq5MHcGX7XyisjKCFxfj7LdkrJWe6wNwJ95-85hODisQtqD7xIWf1OU4SbymQFCoImn0qnveA2ez7eaeShJ-bs5nftP4U6VybD2bJUvhfVZwPta8xmmGgy4g4ev_llNiPZIFo4q6/s1600/091113_SCO_9939.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-vTOsq5MHcGX7XyisjKCFxfj7LdkrJWe6wNwJ95-85hODisQtqD7xIWf1OU4SbymQFCoImn0qnveA2ez7eaeShJ-bs5nftP4U6VybD2bJUvhfVZwPta8xmmGgy4g4ev_llNiPZIFo4q6/s400/091113_SCO_9939.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405051895415928002" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />After lunch it was I the charter flight and off to Maun for the quick flight back home. The beauty of the Okavango is that it is so remote, yet you can access it via charter flights in no time at all. Perfect for a photo workshop like ours to maximise your photography time and minimise your travel time.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KVtcpree2MfW1KFXdjZ7RT-4TAXqFoF9QM7mKg6XkqGvyOZchxDhPbppT544Zot5UifH4_WWHIUHWm1tlyBrv0zX-AdmSo0s0AsG3OohrkzbwOxD1kMRIRvSqJ5DA2JZ-6bjy-GEafMF/s1600/091112_SCO_9897.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KVtcpree2MfW1KFXdjZ7RT-4TAXqFoF9QM7mKg6XkqGvyOZchxDhPbppT544Zot5UifH4_WWHIUHWm1tlyBrv0zX-AdmSo0s0AsG3OohrkzbwOxD1kMRIRvSqJ5DA2JZ-6bjy-GEafMF/s400/091112_SCO_9897.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, chiefs island, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405052101485546994" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Click <a href="http://africanphotographyinfo.blogspot.com/2009/11/chiefs-island-photo-workshop-trip.html">here</a> to see part 1 of the report.<br /><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-18380435870730105402009-11-17T13:26:00.014+02:002009-11-17T16:00:39.441+02:00Chiefs Island Photo Workshop Trip Report Part 1We have just held the first of our Chiefs island Photo workshops.<br />Chiefs camp is based on the northern tip of Chiefs Island, within the heart of the world famous Okavango Delta, in Botswana. The camp lies in the Mombo concession, reputed as one of the best concessions for wildlife viewing in Africa and termed the “predator capital of Africa”. This caused quite a lot of excitement amongst us, who were hosting the workshop, and of course our clients too! Expectations were high…<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9haOx9HZUJMdtyxQzkRN17f7A-aCk7tK5r6i38SAz8d6F9T86x095r_6Q5rHyn6i9fc5a6SjHTzRqAfo2R3J8uNmABWZtCRbF3L7VBYOs834sqZrXDX_4Wdd74i_jmmpa0SfQypBsoMsO/s1600/091111_SCO_9631.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9haOx9HZUJMdtyxQzkRN17f7A-aCk7tK5r6i38SAz8d6F9T86x095r_6Q5rHyn6i9fc5a6SjHTzRqAfo2R3J8uNmABWZtCRbF3L7VBYOs834sqZrXDX_4Wdd74i_jmmpa0SfQypBsoMsO/s400/091111_SCO_9631.jpg" alt="chiefs island, okavango delta, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405034827135393842" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">Day 1<br />We arrived and settled in. Logistics worked perfectly- landing in Maun, we transferred straight to camp in a Cessna caravan. First game drive was out on to the open flood plains and the “Lechwe plain” we were to get to know over the next few days. Herds of wildebeest, lechwe and zebra led us to a large herd of buffalo- about 300 strong, where we spent time photographing tem with yellow billed oxpeckers. From there we drove onto finding our first lions, right on time as the light had softly turned a golden hue. Perfect for the eager cameras.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNW97wXQdchfcjjg-wYcGpIHfSGRzDVTFTl3vjOYLqQ0g8mOvvLaEpmLMq2XmQ7eqPxXpzonJkkykBjOCVsOZ3krFfoxGgp6IxmSVFObZTo4LYU9QmJGOJRrWjLnQwv3ogaqSaRdZu5bed/s1600/091112_SCO_6118.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNW97wXQdchfcjjg-wYcGpIHfSGRzDVTFTl3vjOYLqQ0g8mOvvLaEpmLMq2XmQ7eqPxXpzonJkkykBjOCVsOZ3krFfoxGgp6IxmSVFObZTo4LYU9QmJGOJRrWjLnQwv3ogaqSaRdZu5bed/s400/091112_SCO_6118.jpg" alt="chiefs island, okavango delta, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405034999907640354" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Day 2<br />An early start led straight to some ground hornbills feeding on insects in the fresh green grass. The sun was perfect and softly lit the birds as they threw up their morsels before eating them. From there we noticed two fish eagles hunting in a pool. We positioned near a bush they were using and had them repeatedly come to and fro as they searched for their breakfast- making for some dramatic in flight images of these magnificent birds. The other vehicle was photographing lions in the morning light, but we were quite content with the fish eagle! From there it was lechwe in the water and more lions before heading back to a deserved brunch.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgItH5kOqe8JzaHwPm-ieIDG45Ge6tdN_AsG6UdYtuy-TkbWegniZZ9Zd82wP4VgwF9BJjCxrCQKtRXAlkooYWpsu5NV7sJDD3ozx_bHDiZ6HJG2Zhr0GsQSeq-Xi_VGc8ZphmstxoqfVPO/s1600/091111_SCO_6087.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgItH5kOqe8JzaHwPm-ieIDG45Ge6tdN_AsG6UdYtuy-TkbWegniZZ9Zd82wP4VgwF9BJjCxrCQKtRXAlkooYWpsu5NV7sJDD3ozx_bHDiZ6HJG2Zhr0GsQSeq-Xi_VGc8ZphmstxoqfVPO/s400/091111_SCO_6087.jpg" alt="chiefs island, okavango delta, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405035275043605602" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />The afternoon was a classic and will go down as one of the best game viewing drives ever.<br />Out of camp we found a leopard resting in the shade. He had been courting a female, which others saw, but not us. He did oblige with some beautiful poses though, so quite happy! Leaving the leopard, we noticed an elephant bull walking in the channel. I noticed a mud wallow 5m from us, so decided to wait and see what happened. The bull came straight to the wallow and proceeded to splash, throw, roll, rub and scrub himself in the mud! He was so close we could hear him sigh as he rolled on his side. Simply beautiful! That was not all though, after his bathe, he wandered to within 2m of us, gently sniffing and inspecting this large, brown camera, clicking vehicle. It was a hard decision to choose between the wide angle or the long lens!<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiMRZLIFCkWMs8ia-K5uYAfrwN45xAvZ6khf3zeSLlooxPInyrFwtUW7d266i9whjlUBPy1LUbB4-yjSRT7qda_Lsd6qftH7fibCsmCBguyPOJR9w7Q9Q8TOz8DcOs85HKj_dxrqM0ERqP/s1600/091112_SCO_9821.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiMRZLIFCkWMs8ia-K5uYAfrwN45xAvZ6khf3zeSLlooxPInyrFwtUW7d266i9whjlUBPy1LUbB4-yjSRT7qda_Lsd6qftH7fibCsmCBguyPOJR9w7Q9Q8TOz8DcOs85HKj_dxrqM0ERqP/s400/091112_SCO_9821.jpg" alt="chiefs island, okavango delta, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405035496804481794" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_CY80pRmxEX9FaPiAkodfxjKqNhTnBaXWOe1xfDSw8375tTgbi_JVtcezF9FLmodJ8nsmyIAz2NrJIMKBCv8j7_EcFmlQofPBjbltOpOD7pzeAMKYHre1kslryIb5VzWUccWadA2TP28R/s1600/091112_SCO_6360.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_CY80pRmxEX9FaPiAkodfxjKqNhTnBaXWOe1xfDSw8375tTgbi_JVtcezF9FLmodJ8nsmyIAz2NrJIMKBCv8j7_EcFmlQofPBjbltOpOD7pzeAMKYHre1kslryIb5VzWUccWadA2TP28R/s400/091112_SCO_6360.jpg" alt="chiefs island, okavango delta, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405035687409594258" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />After the elephant left, we headed on and 1km later we stopped right next to a troop of baboons. We had just stopped when to our right some impala snorted their alarm. Looking into the thick bush, a jackal was spotted, and below it, an impala fawn. It had just made a kill. Startled by the vehicle, the jackal walked a few meters away. We watched quietly and all of a sudden the impala stood up. The jackal realised this and the chase began. It ended up with the jackal chasing the fawn down and making the kill. No photographs were taken, as we did not want to influence the hunt and kill. This was a time to watch and see nature play out.<br />We left the kill site, and headed down a channel to find 6 lions at sunset, about to begin their nightly foray. Now it was time to head back to camp, as darkness was upon us. However, in the headlights we saw another leopard! This time with a fresh kill of an impala. It dragged the carcass across the channel and pulled it up into an acacia tree.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfrwrTNEk4fB7U3dPNtLVOWrgk1A8wzJlAF2HOjFjHS-0Sexz_O0CKd9dHtJXm5xnzpvUZQoxxRD_v2eBb7ZI4meXS3czZfucQU8y3m44HR5Bno0uzigpAIGnj7-1FJwd7vRSjA8Ly9qL/s1600/091114_SCO_0462.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfrwrTNEk4fB7U3dPNtLVOWrgk1A8wzJlAF2HOjFjHS-0Sexz_O0CKd9dHtJXm5xnzpvUZQoxxRD_v2eBb7ZI4meXS3czZfucQU8y3m44HR5Bno0uzigpAIGnj7-1FJwd7vRSjA8Ly9qL/s400/091114_SCO_0462.jpg" alt="chiefs island, okavango delta, photo workshop" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405035955254590930" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />What an end to a fabulous drive! We were all exhausted from not only taking photographs, but also the excellent sightings we had just witnessed!<br /><br />Click <a href="http://africanphotographyinfo.blogspot.com/2009/11/chiefs-island-photo-workshop-trip_17.html">here</a> to read part 2 of the trip report.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-77450872357663562152009-11-06T11:51:00.004+02:002009-11-06T11:57:20.480+02:00November Essay, Masai Mara MoodsThe thread of this essay is simple. It’s about mood.<br />Sometimes an image is more about a feeling, than being technically perfect or a good, clean portrait of a nicely placed subject. It’s about how it makes you feel- an emotional response.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzqIOgIspdwT4-SJGmvmK8dHuWJWt1stL3jo_eIti_I8ww8VC-c31erXopHQw3Cx_WZvRZNM1Bjn1n0IRmrA9Cya7SFqY4ClGEiD5zIfAHPrErlo2dZ5_YK1iClxD9YcZ0gXteoQnEEyJ/s1600-h/essay+54.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzqIOgIspdwT4-SJGmvmK8dHuWJWt1stL3jo_eIti_I8ww8VC-c31erXopHQw3Cx_WZvRZNM1Bjn1n0IRmrA9Cya7SFqY4ClGEiD5zIfAHPrErlo2dZ5_YK1iClxD9YcZ0gXteoQnEEyJ/s400/essay+54.jpg" alt="masai mara, safari, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400926512570817378" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">I was lucky enough to spend another week in the Masai Mara this week. It was a great safari- Great client, the migration was still there (very late this year), the wildebeest were crossing daily and there was hardly anyone else around. We had the vast plains literally to ourselves; our daily agenda played out by natures hand leading us to leopard kills, 3 week old lion cubs and hundreds of thousands of animals right on the plain at our camp. Of course having a wildebeest crossing right at camp also helps- especially waking up to the honking of wildebeest preparing to cross. What a way to start a day! Get out of bed, have some good Kenyan coffee and walk down to the Mara River with cameras to photograph in the golden morning sunrise light. It was literally picture perfect.<br /><br />It was on the last afternoon drive that we saw dust rising along the Mara River. We drove closer, and there before us were about 5000 wildebeests anxiously preparing to cross in the last rays of the day. The frantic back and forth of the beasts caused dust so thick that at times we couldn’t even see them. The crossing started and we drove into position. It was just us, alone we sat in silent awe at this spectacle playing out in front of us. The noise, golden light, dust, hooves and water combined to create one of the most atmospheric scenes I have seen in a long time.<br /><br />We were caked in the dust, it gritting our teeth and cloaking our eyes. We revelled in it, shooting the scene with feverish intent. The tension was intense and we felt it in the scene. It was all I was aiming for in my images. I hope this does it some justice.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Exposure information</span><br />Nikon D700 - 70-200mm lens<br />Exposure – f 5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/500sec<br />Exp. Comp. - 0. EV<br />ISO - 400<br />Flash sync– not attached, Exposure mode– Aperture priority, Metering Mode– centre<br />File type– NEF (RAW)<br />Focal length: 155mm<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="fullpost">This article first appeared on <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.shemimages.com/">shemimages.com</a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-51493896434197299002009-10-15T14:33:00.006+02:002009-10-15T15:09:47.416+02:00Mashatu Trip Report - Part 2Part 2 of our <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mashatu.com/">Mashatu</a> <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/">photo workshop</a> trip report. The workshop was lead by <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.isakpretorius.com/">Isak Pretorius</a>. All text and images by Isak.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBJLjMaWYrUO3N6toCtqbJ0LuQJAcPm42X_MJq2ZxU8u4DSh7Ag-4uzW1qcUBBV20udiLtcYutthXN3HftZjpAjvXHfRYmm36r0h_emomHOKq9CUV-VmlSLqkKRvjeP8wkTh9SH3owM9H/s1600-h/20091006_8920-1%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBJLjMaWYrUO3N6toCtqbJ0LuQJAcPm42X_MJq2ZxU8u4DSh7Ag-4uzW1qcUBBV20udiLtcYutthXN3HftZjpAjvXHfRYmm36r0h_emomHOKq9CUV-VmlSLqkKRvjeP8wkTh9SH3owM9H/s400/20091006_8920-1%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="isak pretorius, mashatu, photo workshop, african photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392805595980118818" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">Game drive 5, Monday afternoon: The weather cleared and we were in for a sunny few days ahead. Not far from camp our first sighting was a leopard stalking impala. As if the leopard read a book on photography it provided us with perfect photographic moments, walking slowing towards us over big flat rocks with the sun perfectly over our shoulders, and golden light illuminating the eyes of the leopard. We could not ask for more. Unfortunately the impala caught sent of the leopard which spoiled the stalking attempt, so we moved on to landscape opportunities of big ana trees in a dry riverbed, and a colony of whitefronted bee-eaters. Our drive finished with star photography when we identified a beautiful shepherd's tree on an open plain. We had so much fun trying different angles and getting the exposure correct that Daniel had to radio in to camp that we were going to be and hour and a half late for dinner.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwobTuJYJu0XiDX-1l-X9pRgt2rtEHY4pe7z3UPK2iW9Ega7zM6L6aw_ZT8ZR2pf8VaLdJU5RwAS8NlLiK-VNhDU0lswPOlptwiU8Fzf2bfwR_jh35Py3mhdFsgzpvoFkjcw2D2TzSXfH/s1600-h/20091006_9179%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwobTuJYJu0XiDX-1l-X9pRgt2rtEHY4pe7z3UPK2iW9Ega7zM6L6aw_ZT8ZR2pf8VaLdJU5RwAS8NlLiK-VNhDU0lswPOlptwiU8Fzf2bfwR_jh35Py3mhdFsgzpvoFkjcw2D2TzSXfH/s400/20091006_9179%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="isak pretorius, mashatu, photo workshop, african photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392805947443598946" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Game drive 6, Tuesday morning: After all the excitement of the previous evening we were all keen on taking it slow this morning. The euphorbia’s on top of the white cliffs in the Mujali river provided good opportunity to do early morning landscapes. Not far from that we stopped at a big pool in the riverbed where we spent the rest of the morning watching impala, baboon, and kudu coming to drink. The birdlife was also impressive with a black stork and pied kingfisher fishing in the pool and green pigeons coming down for a drink.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiug_UULvTInre2OXK0BNu8pUw2eky3-ei6gP_oGPU7icXw5rRGj-f9eysyjK4Oln1uWUYClLFvCHFj8ZdEnLDVX2RkvSf6faM8NsB0ScQNImUiQiC-2tkD7GCkj4QqoenxVE7KfnULuCdk/s1600-h/20091006_8905%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiug_UULvTInre2OXK0BNu8pUw2eky3-ei6gP_oGPU7icXw5rRGj-f9eysyjK4Oln1uWUYClLFvCHFj8ZdEnLDVX2RkvSf6faM8NsB0ScQNImUiQiC-2tkD7GCkj4QqoenxVE7KfnULuCdk/s400/20091006_8905%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="isak pretorius, mashatu, photo workshop, african photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392806273787107554" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Game drive 7, Tuesday afternoon: I asked the group if there were any of the photographic opportunities we had which they’d like to do again and the unanimous answer was to go back to the bee-eaters. We headed straight for the bee-eaters colony and on the way there we stopped for more landscapes of big trees in dry riverbeds. This became a popular theme on our trip because everyone loved the creative opportunities that it provided. As promised we ended up at the bee-eater colony again, after which we had sundowner drinks before heading back to camp. On our way back we identified a tree for a star trail and could managed a twenty-minute exposure before the moon started to rise over the horizon.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtu3kU2kuTGbUNw_q9ZgSlzq9zPLfSUB3r3PcP8TzyhVXxa16uqIgxlOfsYuEkveAI5FOmQZm4fBAhg6xuCFfLSirL3abhuzjBiH_rimyyTQ6i5iM4Clv-OkAx1yhW4ArIqKgwVISRcacy/s1600-h/20091006_9050%5B9%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtu3kU2kuTGbUNw_q9ZgSlzq9zPLfSUB3r3PcP8TzyhVXxa16uqIgxlOfsYuEkveAI5FOmQZm4fBAhg6xuCFfLSirL3abhuzjBiH_rimyyTQ6i5iM4Clv-OkAx1yhW4ArIqKgwVISRcacy/s400/20091006_9050%5B9%5D.jpg" alt="isak pretorius, mashatu, photo workshop, african photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392806552722542178" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Game drive 8, Wednesday morning: Trying to make the most of our last game drive we were desperate to find anything interesting to photograph. It was not long before we found a large herd of impala running, redbilled queleas, and two few-day-old crowned lapwing chicks and their parents. Soon after that we heard on the radio about some baboons harassing a leopard and we headed straight for it. On top of a hill we found our favourite leopard, the young male, lying in the shade of a bush being followed by about eight young male baboons. The baboons were all around him and very cautious in their attempts of mock-charging the leopard, probably just to drive him away far enough away from the rest of their troop. The young male baboons were quickly joined by more baboons, including a few big males with big teeth. The mock changes continued and although in the beginning the leopard did not look to care too much for them, he now started feeling more and more vulnerable and made a few charges at the baboons himself. The tension mounted and it was like a pressure cooker getting ready to explode. After another charge by one of the big male baboons the leopard made a run for it, and as soon as the leopard turned his back to the baboons and started running away, all hell broke loose. The whole lot of baboons ran after the leopard and was on his tale in a matter of seconds. Some of the baboons pulled the leopard’s tail and in a cloud of dust the leopard retreated to lying on his back, claws in the air and ready to defend himself. The baboons were all around him, jumping over him and attacking. This all happened in a matter of seconds. Then, the leopard saw a gap, got up and ran as fast as he could away from the baboons. The baboons stopped, turned around and went back to their troop, happy that the leopard was far enough away from their young ones. As a natural history moment this was something spectacular which none of us will ever forget.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVYIAvkoXtPQWOuiwBwK2qIRJwrs5O-YeIJwnRq0CvSqjBormhFtTxyu1BdqvMd9bRJXFIssMGKDVSJLauILff4vdbtCAd1ZujIgrXeA_wvHPwS_DLVXoaJtYN7toHHH-tFXQxV6eaWAg/s1600-h/20091007_9271%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVYIAvkoXtPQWOuiwBwK2qIRJwrs5O-YeIJwnRq0CvSqjBormhFtTxyu1BdqvMd9bRJXFIssMGKDVSJLauILff4vdbtCAd1ZujIgrXeA_wvHPwS_DLVXoaJtYN7toHHH-tFXQxV6eaWAg/s400/20091007_9271%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="isak pretorius, mashatu, photo workshop, african photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392806883627472162" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />After all this excitement we stopped for coffee at a baobab tree in a dry riverbed where we had a last chance to do some landscape photography. We headed back to camp for brunch before heading home.<br /><br />Meeting as strangers and leaving as friends, the trip was a huge success where everyone learned a lot and got great shots. Mashatu delivered again and it’s a pleasure to work in an area that provides such good and unique opportunities.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHtNQ0-PCgKUlUqxfeptj7bhtvQKkgpmoCwKX80fA3xYCL35-aFgnRJ1MeNjkpwpX0WivroMjzSE-RNaSdsxcDj9KV0ypnULIc_xo4w9sNOvFYRFUYtToJE5iCH75r7doyVrZeMORlUHq/s1600-h/20091004_8532%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHtNQ0-PCgKUlUqxfeptj7bhtvQKkgpmoCwKX80fA3xYCL35-aFgnRJ1MeNjkpwpX0WivroMjzSE-RNaSdsxcDj9KV0ypnULIc_xo4w9sNOvFYRFUYtToJE5iCH75r7doyVrZeMORlUHq/s400/20091004_8532%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="isak pretorius, mashatu, photo workshop, african photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392807150095442018" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />This article first appeared on <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris-blog.com/">C4 Images and Safaris Blog</a><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-1419164665192365872009-10-15T14:04:00.008+02:002009-10-15T15:04:55.224+02:00Mashatu Trip Report - Part 1The name “Mashatu” originated from the local people describing the area’s Nyala berry trees and the danger of big snakes lurking in them. On the recent <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/">C4 Images and Safaris</a> photographic workshop at <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mashatu.com/">Mashatu</a>, I was wondering if this name didn’t have to do with leopards instead. The sightings we had of leopards were plentiful, exquisite and a privilege to see so much of their behaviour -something that I will remember this trip by... This tour was lead by <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.isakpretorius.com/">Isak Pretorius</a>. All text and images by Isak.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdqJVo81N2wofH4fe0o7DNAnDHAqTv2RuhXUx5D2icskj5tCdL1vdYu2bIrpUI7fZryV-85SirVvo4QXwiTVq-rQzy1pMmK8CdBN9SR1B6UJr1XZBWeDYX9vbSBiIGx43mruPTg4IrBLcC/s1600-h/20091005_8632-1%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdqJVo81N2wofH4fe0o7DNAnDHAqTv2RuhXUx5D2icskj5tCdL1vdYu2bIrpUI7fZryV-85SirVvo4QXwiTVq-rQzy1pMmK8CdBN9SR1B6UJr1XZBWeDYX9vbSBiIGx43mruPTg4IrBLcC/s400/20091005_8632-1%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, isak pretorius, mashatu, photographic workshop, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392799209416758850" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">The group of photographers on our trip was very keen on exploring all genres of nature photography. It was a joy to work with them and we fed off each other’s energy doing everything from standard wildlife portraits, wide angle portraits, slow shutter speed motion blur, zoom blur, landscapes, backlit, flash photography, star photography and star trails. Of course it makes life very easy when a reserve like Mashatu offer these opportunities in bucket loads and we have a guide like Daniel who is just as keen about us “getting the shots”. The highlight of our trip was an incident between a leopard and baboons and although it was a great photographic opportunity it was probably a “once in a lifetime” natural history moment that we will never forget. Read more about this in the breakdown of our game drives below.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKFXabJ7xOfGvNnSvteEcjEeD9YZa8gdN3vUryfOejKOqaHUU6MHx7axoeuMbPX-7yFPxF1NWpUfoxv77OQQGeyiJtp-fbTw4oFcyDP6yKNHm41Qhg5bKPESpghAB4cKinZpyY6vbnQKG/s1600-h/20091007_9004%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKFXabJ7xOfGvNnSvteEcjEeD9YZa8gdN3vUryfOejKOqaHUU6MHx7axoeuMbPX-7yFPxF1NWpUfoxv77OQQGeyiJtp-fbTw4oFcyDP6yKNHm41Qhg5bKPESpghAB4cKinZpyY6vbnQKG/s400/20091007_9004%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, isak pretorius, mashatu, photographic workshop, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392799477003117202" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Game drive 1, Saturday afternoon: A bit of drizzle could not dampen our enthusiasm and at 3:30pm we were off on our first game drive. Not far into the drive we stumbled upon a familiar face. It was the young male leopard we had seen earlier in the year, famous for the incident where he had been inquisitive about a porcupine. He is probably the most beautiful leopard I’ve seen – perfect skin, and getting quite muscular now, with loads of character. He did not disappoint! We found him on the bank of the Nyaswe River grooming himself and getting into the most interesting positions physically – something the most flexible athlete could not do. After the grooming session he walked around looking for impala and climed into a couple of trees to gain vantage point. This turned out to be a mistake as he had wondered into another big male leopard’s territory who spotted the intruder in one of the trees. The young male got chased away by the other bigger male and soon both of them disappeared over a hill. Not far from that we came across a female leopard with a freshly caught impala which was to big to get into a tree. She was sitting under a lead wood tree trying to eat some of the impala to reduce the weight to drag it into the tree. A few attempts to get the impala into the tree failed and then she lost the kill to the big male leopard that also tried to get it into the tree but failed. He then dragged the kill to a nearby bush and that was the end of an exciting first game drive.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09nTqqnjrv6EFB1GTYqTvDjfOJxGF8FDh6FPfsOQEGhzHoLPSCd97monl_3JmJCTjCdWd4gogKV9CTfAoi1oE5w8EpzNfI7-xnKMDla5pSnCFsk-QeEkmXSDi4efTX2sbXYj10jNUpimS/s1600-h/20091003_8273%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09nTqqnjrv6EFB1GTYqTvDjfOJxGF8FDh6FPfsOQEGhzHoLPSCd97monl_3JmJCTjCdWd4gogKV9CTfAoi1oE5w8EpzNfI7-xnKMDla5pSnCFsk-QeEkmXSDi4efTX2sbXYj10jNUpimS/s400/20091003_8273%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, isak pretorius, mashatu, photographic workshop, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392799792951982178" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Game drive 2, Sunday morning: We woke up with the sound of raindrops falling on dry leaves, but luckily photographers is a different species altogether and with raincoats on we left camp excited about the opportunities that rainy weather brings. We found some rain soaked impalas standing under a tree and made the most of ground hornbills and painted snipes in a dry riverbed before there was a break in the clouds. Our gamble with the weather paid off when we found the young male leopard in a Mashatu tree trying to stay dry. This ended off our game drive on a high note.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzudE8-UNOfMDxpt9jP4KA-t1EDcnK0RhFj71Zo_EUXa81ftUXIY4Q3i-4uenJCwZV15735xnINKt92SdSoqEQPfoDR6jTEyywV7vFu3buFGrfY2Nk9Zp5Gyyv7EW6lDFcapa6z-3GzNqa/s1600-h/20091004_8461%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzudE8-UNOfMDxpt9jP4KA-t1EDcnK0RhFj71Zo_EUXa81ftUXIY4Q3i-4uenJCwZV15735xnINKt92SdSoqEQPfoDR6jTEyywV7vFu3buFGrfY2Nk9Zp5Gyyv7EW6lDFcapa6z-3GzNqa/s400/20091004_8461%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, isak pretorius, mashatu, photographic workshop, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392800093657201890" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Game drive 3, Sunday afternoon: After the first of our afternoon workshops on digital workflow and Lightroom, and a piece of Magret’s famous lemon meringue pie, our afternoon drive commenced. Spring has sprung at Mashatu and the creative juices got flowing when we photographed newly sprouted mopane leaves backlit against the sun and the shadow of a hill. Other highlights of the game drive included following a large flock of redbilled queleas and a klipspringer. We were photographing the klipspringer in beautiful soft light when he started staring intensely in one direction and making alarm calls. Our guide, Daniel, had not finished his sentence telling us that this is typical behaviour when a klipspringer sees a predator, when down the hill came a leopard walking straight towards us and climbing into the tree next to us. The game drive finished with drinks at a sloping hill with a beautiful baobab tree where we did a star trail.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebnHQnJaab4rer1J8hcRU0FQvKxorYMu-fIzhyLaSBfLXllYAeL-76jXLBOPN8iIZYTYhHIdbyLJRGA1Og_R3sCqU_sdwAmeY_smPT7FyiCjKp1HKaRY71p3U0Jy10NtIKtuRuMkV4a6S/s1600-h/20091005_8719-1%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhebnHQnJaab4rer1J8hcRU0FQvKxorYMu-fIzhyLaSBfLXllYAeL-76jXLBOPN8iIZYTYhHIdbyLJRGA1Og_R3sCqU_sdwAmeY_smPT7FyiCjKp1HKaRY71p3U0Jy10NtIKtuRuMkV4a6S/s400/20091005_8719-1%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, isak pretorius, mashatu, photographic workshop, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392800633339676866" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />Game drive 4, Monday morning: At camp there was talk about a pride of lions in the Southern part of the reserve and that became our objective for the game drive. After photographing some of the usual stuff on our way there, we found the lions doing what they do best… lying around! A few portrait shots later we were off and stumbled upon a breeding herd of elephants. The elephants at Mashatu are the most tranquil elephants you'll find anywhere. We positioned ourselves a hundred meters or so away from, but right in the way of the moving herd. The elephants walked past us, only meters from the vehicle. This is photography bliss! We found several herds moving in an easterly direction and after getting all the standard shots it gave us the opportunity to try several different kind of shots as well… low angle wide shots, motion blur and zoom blur.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJ8S3DxGiswkQCf8O1vRUvGheK8j61YnvyrsMum0BHtWmL4fFJ7KKzCstwrql8P4jzloO7dSvhDNkSuhNbQZ3krMAvtiR_kt7S41jcy9OcfsFJOoYvRb8gPvdgwwk9Nt5HRl8U7LNxrWP/s1600-h/20091005_8649%5B8%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJ8S3DxGiswkQCf8O1vRUvGheK8j61YnvyrsMum0BHtWmL4fFJ7KKzCstwrql8P4jzloO7dSvhDNkSuhNbQZ3krMAvtiR_kt7S41jcy9OcfsFJOoYvRb8gPvdgwwk9Nt5HRl8U7LNxrWP/s400/20091005_8649%5B8%5D.jpg" alt="c4 images and safaris, isak pretorius, mashatu, photographic workshop, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392800877013994130" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">This article first appeared on C4 Images and Safaris Blog<br /></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-62876491752995657382009-10-07T14:18:00.004+02:002009-10-07T14:23:45.694+02:00October Essay - Masai mara, CheetahIt’s not until you leave the Masai Mara that you realise what a spell it puts on you. In my case, the morning after my return, I was on an early drive to the lowveld of South Africa. Spring was in the air, the temperature was mild, and I was heading back into the bush with the wheels of the Landy humming away underneath me. It was a perfect time to reflect on my last week and tour to the Mara: Our location was perfect, the game viewing had been great and the photos were, well, just excellent.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWlmIIPucC2mbyvv_yH6gxRVOit42m1MX_kxLqeEAHsSB3_CH7KGA3m-t8SRZg-ZPDu0LPDChrsijf1H32Dd8vFaGuHFyNkUf4FF7iBiefxC3PQGjewaY4Q4kJGRGZ6Na7orcvxjXlf8w/s1600-h/Essay+53.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWlmIIPucC2mbyvv_yH6gxRVOit42m1MX_kxLqeEAHsSB3_CH7KGA3m-t8SRZg-ZPDu0LPDChrsijf1H32Dd8vFaGuHFyNkUf4FF7iBiefxC3PQGjewaY4Q4kJGRGZ6Na7orcvxjXlf8w/s400/Essay+53.jpg" alt="masai mara, shem compion, shemimages" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389831812382988690" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">It’s hard not to take clichéd images of the Mara. The place has been so well covered by many very good photographers over the years that one can almost tell where each image was taken. So working there as a photographer can be tough, as all your images can seem generic and “done”.<br /><br />But some images of the Mara are iconic.<br />These are the ones that have come to symbolise the region via its special characteristics, moods, and features of the landscape. Indeed, images of the crossings of the Mara River are exactly that. An icon of the region.<br /><br />Another icon of the Mara is the cheetah; my favourite animal. Seeing it at play in the early morning on the open plains is something one does not forget in a lifetime. The scene of a cheetah, standing proud on a fallen log is also one of those classic Mara scenes. No matter how many times you see it, its one that gives you that feeling of an open wilderness, untouched. It’s an image I have been wanting for years.<br /><br />So when this scene happened upon us one morning, it was a frenzied few seconds in which we stopped the vehicle, frantically pulled out the cameras and fired off a handful of images to record this scene. The whole thing took perhaps 5 seconds. It felt like years, it was beautiful and I felt privileged.<br /><br />Back in South Africa, the Landy was humming up the Abel Erasmus pass, one of this countries most beautiful drives. My thoughts wandered again back to the Mara. At that moment one of Ben Harpers songs started playing on the iPod. The pass climbed steeper; I dropped a gear, opened up the window and let the wind blast in on my face as I overlooked the open valleys below.<br /><br />Suddenly it all just fell into place.<br />The songs title was “Blessed to be a witness”.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Exposure information</span><br />Nikon D700 - 200-400mm lens<br />Exposure – f 7.1 Shutter Speed: 1/320sec<br />Exp. Comp. 0 EV<br />ISO - 400<br />Flash - none<br />Exposure mode– Aperture priority, Metering Mode– Matrix<br />File type– NEF (RAW)<br />Beanbag support in vehicle<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="fullpost">This article first appeared on <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.shemimages.com/">shemimages.com</a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-27386149325819879052009-10-02T10:11:00.005+02:002009-10-02T15:18:29.795+02:00National Geographic/Getaway Digital Photography WorkshopShem Compion will take you through taking images with digital cameras, showing you the advantages of this medium in today's world. It will also discuss how to manage and organise your digital files so that you can find them when they need to be published. Lastly Shem will discuss how to get your images 'out there' for the world to see. Expect innovation, creativity and stimulating ideas about your images, web marketing and publishing.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6fOxUuCGN1jkl80LUy-uMcQ1Bvu2fAkLfugHrbQKDqP3LTdLc_kEPfaofmGECX9c9xcLNye13vaM7q5iww0NE7ouUEhzh9Cac9dDqYHv6xTNaeRGwjsPZVUvNpd4Vv1EeaGmqYNx7idD/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 367px; height: 83px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6fOxUuCGN1jkl80LUy-uMcQ1Bvu2fAkLfugHrbQKDqP3LTdLc_kEPfaofmGECX9c9xcLNye13vaM7q5iww0NE7ouUEhzh9Cac9dDqYHv6xTNaeRGwjsPZVUvNpd4Vv1EeaGmqYNx7idD/s400/Picture+2.png" alt="digital photography, photo workshops, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387912853937021282" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Themes</span><br /><br />* Digital cameras and how they changed the camera world<br />* Why you should be a better photographer with digital<br />* 5 stars for image management- workflow and editing<br />* Searching for gold- finding order amongst 50 000<br />* creating- showing the world your images<br />* Guerrilla marketing<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">When:</span> 21 November 2009<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Where:</span> Muldersdrift, Johannesburg<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cost:</span> R700 per person<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bookings:</span> Tracy-Lee Behr<br />021 530 3379<br /><a href="mailto:tracy-lee@ramsaymedia.co.za">tracy-lee@ramsaymedia.co.za</a><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNV8AWcezDLN6TAe6dZdFzZGZiNCrGQneGa5kkknmV2xZXgpGMa-BrrKFARqzhdN-s1i4GUm0u19oVxGlPKdFAcccHOZtjOrY-e3KXUEnE3xmZcEqtf_67RqDDp2P301cEdx_pZvEbTnT/s1600-h/Picture+1-1.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 303px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNV8AWcezDLN6TAe6dZdFzZGZiNCrGQneGa5kkknmV2xZXgpGMa-BrrKFARqzhdN-s1i4GUm0u19oVxGlPKdFAcccHOZtjOrY-e3KXUEnE3xmZcEqtf_67RqDDp2P301cEdx_pZvEbTnT/s400/Picture+1-1.jpg" alt="digital photography, photo workshops, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387913026700846786" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-31253706161186895172009-09-01T12:46:00.003+01:002009-09-01T13:10:54.805+01:00Saving your soul, Earth Lodge, Sabi Sabi.This essay has come about via a recent shoot I did for a client. No it wasn’t a glamorous wildlife shoot in a remote location. It was an interior shoot- and I thoroughly enjoyed it… if you think I’m mad, read on.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggVKUzrNO-J88ys-NMnSqLmOK7wRIt67pAPqtOqVJZte1rGroShghpjmmtBgIbRsLQUDdWVTKhfT-BeaF-JetB2HKJC_9UxjgotaWFcK7jpASNrowb6iwos-yaYH0YwRl41V2R7m732nKZ/s1600-h/Essay+51.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 231px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggVKUzrNO-J88ys-NMnSqLmOK7wRIt67pAPqtOqVJZte1rGroShghpjmmtBgIbRsLQUDdWVTKhfT-BeaF-JetB2HKJC_9UxjgotaWFcK7jpASNrowb6iwos-yaYH0YwRl41V2R7m732nKZ/s400/Essay+51.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376464602961337922" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div><span class="fullpost">When deciding to become a <a href="http://www.shemimages.com"><span style="font-weight: bold;">professional wildlife photographer</span></a>, many thoughts go through your head. It’s a life call: the romantic notion of shooting award winning wildlife images with National Geographic printing each and every of your stories quickly subsides into the reality that you are a small fish in a very large, shark infested pond. Its about that exact moment when it also dawns on you that things like admin, accounting, marketing, websites, bills, overheads, equipment and offices need to be maintained and paid. Precisely then you either you go back to your current day job, or you somehow (for some goodness knows what reason) neglect those challenges and head on blindly into the world…<br /><br />A few months later you realise wildlife photography is not all about National Geographic with endless days of exotic wildlife; it’s like any day job- you have to pay the bills.<br />Its not embarrassing, <a href="http://www.lanting.com"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Frans Lanting</span> </a>did it, <a href="http://www.chasejarvis.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chase Jarvis</span></a> did it, almost every photographer at some stage in their career has waited tables, photographed birthday parties, weddings, shoes (yes that was me…) or some other aspect of your career you just do not like to do. You do it cause it pays the bills.<br /><br />Being in the bush a lot, I managed to get involved in photographing lodges. From a financial point of view, it was a good sideline in lean times; but more and more I realised that I actually enjoyed the work. So when I was approached by <a href="http://www.sabisabi.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sabi Sab</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">i</span></a> to photograph their <a href="http://www.sabisabi.com/lodges/earthlodge"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Earth Lodge,</span></a> (voted the 3rd best hotel in the world), I was somewhat interested, intrigued, and challenged.<br /><br />It’s at times like these that questions arise in the depths of your soul about doing what you love and “selling out” to commercial photography. I studied my approach and realised that yes, I can label my self as a <span style="font-weight: bold;">wildlife photographer</span>, but in truth, I am a <span style="font-weight: bold;">creative photographer</span>. It took some time to realise, but give me a photographic challenge, and I will be there trying to solve it with some creative angles, light and sheer tenacity, regardless of the subject matter. And that is exactly what I did.<br /><br />Guess what? I enjoyed it. I approached it like any wildlife subject I photograph. I researched my subject; I studied other works on the lodge and challenged myself to produce something new. It was a good shoot with hopefully excellent results. However, the crux of it all was that I had fun. I was creatively stimulated and I was creating images of worth. As a <a href="http://www.shemimages.com"><span style="font-weight: bold;">wildlife photographer</span></a> I’m not sure I want a “name” as an <a href="http://www.shemimages.com/index.php?page=corporate_portfolio"><span style="font-weight: bold;">interior photographer</span></a>, but if I can shoot at locations that challenge me as this one did, then yes, I will be there, working the angles and playing with light until I get my shots. If any one ever said this was “selling your soul”, then I must have the worst job in the world…<br /><br />The day it hurts me to work in these environments Ill be the first to say no more (I only photographed shoes once, before saying no more!). But until then, if it can supplement wildlife work and keep me out in the bush, then yep, I’ll be there.<br />Creating.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-26943186541785944782009-08-03T13:55:00.007+01:002009-08-03T14:19:33.130+01:00National Geographic/Getaway Wildlife Photo WorkshopJoin Shem Compion on this unique one day photo workshop where he will take you through the most important aspects of wildlife photography and digital workflow. Not only will he cover the usual techniques but he will also be highlighting how you can use digital workflow to easily get your work out there for all to see. Shem will also be talking about marketing your images and getting them to the right people. It promises to be popular talk, so get in touch with <a href="mailto:tracy-lee@ramsaymedia.co.za">Tracy-Lee </a>for booking information.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjntsdvRJIrSBLr86DMZjtr1X7mnMUssoLT7LoYe3Xpj8RmqMbuvsPkffT4zauufphduNXUFFt08ton-Vc-7BY1Czj2CA010OFh80wZwJ5wi8IxJtstacmtR3ErHCpOXLmXqAnfMb88-rHm/s1600-h/Picture+2.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 305px; height: 101px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjntsdvRJIrSBLr86DMZjtr1X7mnMUssoLT7LoYe3Xpj8RmqMbuvsPkffT4zauufphduNXUFFt08ton-Vc-7BY1Czj2CA010OFh80wZwJ5wi8IxJtstacmtR3ErHCpOXLmXqAnfMb88-rHm/s400/Picture+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365722257667849090" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">When: 4 October 2009<br />Where: Kloofzight Lodge, Muldersdrift<br />Cost: R700<br />Bookings: Tracy-Lee Behr<br />021 530 3379<br /><a href="mailto:tracy-lee@ramsaymedia.co.za">tracy-lee@ramsaymedia.co.za</a><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost">Click the image for larger version.</span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fullpost"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggwoW51qVksHLiM1CQwXlH46ACrBMR9TveLMCQumvt790n7ZbfxBzjkQSCEipT2eL29CC6NVk5Zi4BP3YAwEBVN3KGBgy-EPjxFszDUj54J0wY5mXZy1NOE3Woso7CfDhXmbAjZHpPGj-G/s1600-h/natgeo-Sept09%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 305px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggwoW51qVksHLiM1CQwXlH46ACrBMR9TveLMCQumvt790n7ZbfxBzjkQSCEipT2eL29CC6NVk5Zi4BP3YAwEBVN3KGBgy-EPjxFszDUj54J0wY5mXZy1NOE3Woso7CfDhXmbAjZHpPGj-G/s400/natgeo-Sept09%5B1%5D.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365720924164065202" border="0" /></a></span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-29474786917626393712009-08-03T10:05:00.004+01:002009-08-03T10:15:10.223+01:00Dusting Desert ElephantIt had been a long drive. Sesfontein, the town where we were based is far from anywhere. The last 100km of ‘main road’ took 2 hours- that after 2 days of hard driving on gravel toads to get here. We were all knackered, travel sore and far from any conveniences of soft lodges. As far as I’m concerned, Damaraland is frontier country- a place with long roads that lead to petrol refuel pumps and nothing more. It’s a place of endless plains and mountains and wind and dust. And it’s beautiful; stunningly so.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiWbc9vXPmTGh_BU1wLwmnuPnezB6H5RKwyblDNGDn0bXELBA4r3is9vVNCQ1yMBizvFsKeCWBWBr76x3ccPPnWWqjGHYMVjKFalPh8j2EAdKCI7AqkygiVvRYYnUWj8qoslNgcM1XNRu6/s1600-h/Essay+15%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiWbc9vXPmTGh_BU1wLwmnuPnezB6H5RKwyblDNGDn0bXELBA4r3is9vVNCQ1yMBizvFsKeCWBWBr76x3ccPPnWWqjGHYMVjKFalPh8j2EAdKCI7AqkygiVvRYYnUWj8qoslNgcM1XNRu6/s400/Essay+15%5B4%5D.jpg" alt="sesfontein, desert elephant, damaraland, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365662047590659634" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">The following morning was another full day- Driving up the Hoanib Riverbed in search of the elusive desert elephant. It takes about an hour and a half to get into the actual riverbed, but once in, and surrounded by the huge cliffs and arid mountain scapes you just stare in awe at the wonder of the place you are in. Water, still from the good rains in March, was seeping down the riverbed, creating a splash of blue and green amongst the harsh, browns and dustiness of the mountains. It was simply spectacular.<br /><br />The real beauty of this area is that the animals here are all free roaming. No fences, no reserves- just wilderness. We saw huge lion tracks, giraffe, gemsbuck, baboons, springbuck and some very interesting wading birds due to the water in the riverbed. But by11h00 we had not yet seen an elephant- and it was hot. Of course we continued and by midday we reached a water hole, where we found a bull elephant drinking. Not being a reserve, these elephant are a little bit belligerent, so we kept our distance. As he finished his drink, he walked closer, to a dusting spot. With the backdrop of the rugged damaraland mountains, it was a perfect scene. The elephant started dusting enthusiastically right in front of us. I’m not sure how much of it was bravado, or how much was true dusting. Either way, it was really impressive!<br /><br />I started out shooting wide, showing the elephant in its environment, and then worked closer until this frame came into the viewfinder. On seeing it, I knew it was destined for black and white, as I wanted to emphasise raw, rugged, dry, and dust in this series of images. This image shows exactly that.<br /><br />We arrived back at Sesfontein after dark around 18h30. It had been a 12-hour long game drive in the dust and heat. However, the joy of finding these elephants far outweighed any long day. The hard work had been put in, and the rewards had been quite sweet.<br /><br />What defines a desert elephant?<br />The main adaptation is that they can go without water for much longer than normal elephants, which need to drink at least once a day. Desert elephants also travel much further distances and will walk 40-50km, (with 80km being recorded) per day to get to water. These two are their most characteristic features. These elephant are not a different species to the normal African elephant; their name should really be “desert adapted elephants”, but are generally termed as “desert elephants”. Perhaps in a few million years they will be another species…<br /><br />Exposure information<br />Nikon D300 - 200-400mm lens<br />Exposure – f 6,3 Shutter Speed: 1/1000sec<br />Exp. Comp. 0. EV<br />ISO - 250<br />Flash - none<br />Exposure mode– Aperture priority, Metering Mode– Matrix<br />File type– NEF (RAW)<br />Focal length: 260mm<br />Beanbag support in vehicle<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="fullpost">Shem Compion</span><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />This essay first appeared on <a href="http://www.shemimages.com/index.php">shemimages.com</a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-25319715523546344882009-07-01T10:52:00.007+01:002009-07-06T09:01:30.284+01:00Elephant crossing, (and camera crushing) at Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana.One of my favourite sayings harps back to the days of the A-team, when Hannibal, the leader of the motley bunch would say, with thick cigar in his mouth: “I love it when a plan comes together”.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsQwVBMm9-3eftreTyMYc7chCgMecVY6RaDcfNT6rM2cA9g3sHApxCNWFcc5HF-9nKpvDUyaOfF48nOvtAUDAdcDkP0VO1dt7CSHLlx7qoaytzmZgg7o4RU_R_Tj05KS1LOA1iM53cQwDw/s1600-h/Essay+50.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsQwVBMm9-3eftreTyMYc7chCgMecVY6RaDcfNT6rM2cA9g3sHApxCNWFcc5HF-9nKpvDUyaOfF48nOvtAUDAdcDkP0VO1dt7CSHLlx7qoaytzmZgg7o4RU_R_Tj05KS1LOA1iM53cQwDw/s400/Essay+50.jpg" alt="photo workshop, mashatu, c4 images and safaris, shem compion" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353428042489734322" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">This was how I anticipated my weeks of anticipation for my 8 days to be spent here at <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mashatu.com/">Mashatu</a> where for the first 4 nights I was hosting a <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photoworkshops">photo workshop</a> with my company, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php">C4 Images and Safaris </a>where you can see what we saw and <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://blog.c4images-safaris.co.za/?p=187">photographed here</a>. Trust me, it was another cracker, not to be forgotten in a while, and that’s what I said after the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://blog.c4images-safaris.co.za/?p=174">May workshop… </a>Nevertheless, the reason I was so excited was after the workshop, I stayed on to do some marketing work for Mashatu.<br /><br />My excitement stemmed to the planning of a specific shot I wanted since my last visit 6 weeks ago. Mashatu’s elephant population is extremely relaxed. So much so, in that I was willing to put a wide angle lens low on the ground right next to their daily routes on the ‘elephant highway’ to get a scenic and wide image of these large animals.<br /><br />Studying the elephant movements of Mashatu on my many visits here, I knew a scene exactly where in it would take place. Each time I had been here, I had seen herds of elephant crossing. Of course, as soon as I came prepared, nature and Murphy being as they are, all the elephants had changed tack, with their daily routes coming from a completely different angle. Oh the joy of working with wild subjects!<br /><br />For 4 days I studied the movements of the elephant with the rangers. We concluded that there was no real exact daily movement like in the summer months. The elephants were moving widely into and out of the mopane veld- making predictions very difficult. In the end we decided to stick with any relaxed herd we could find and anticipate their movement to place the camera down. His worked very well, and I managed to get some great shots with different scenes. However, the image of a herd crossing the river still eluded me. Added to that the fact that the elephants weren’t staying long at the water sites, we were having a rough old time of things.<br /><br />Day 8 arrived and still that one shot eluded me. Leaving camp we found a herd in mopane. This would be our last attempt at the desired image and so we stayed with the herd until they headed directly to the Mojale River. We drove ahead and anticipated where they would exit out the far side. A nervous and wet minute in water followed, as I set up the camera in a dead bush right on the side of the waters edge. Then the wait began. Where did the elephants come out? 100m upstream of the camera... With Bashi, my (elephant whispering) ranger enticing them closer with some soft words, the herd slowly moved down towards the camera. It was an agonisingly long 20 minutes as the herd moved right past the camera, totally ignoring the clicking. After a week of looking for good scenes and crossing points, I was getting my shots.<br />All I could think was “I love it when a plan comes together”!<br /><br />Exactly then, a bull elephant walked out of the bush into the river and started smelling some of the female’s. He was sexually active and clearly had one thing on his mind- meaning his mood would not be very friendly. He walked past my camera and immediately heard the shutter. His trunk snaked forward into the bush and sniffed at the camera. By now I had turned from celebratory, to a nervous wreck. The elephant grabbed my camera, throwing it into the wet mud. It was like watching a man throwing a sweet into the ground.<br /><br />It stopped clicking, obviously. And the elephant left it alone. We quickly drove closer and got the camera out of the mud. It had been buried half into some sandy mud- hard enough to hold my weight… Intense stuff! After a quick inspection, all worked, good work Nikon.<br /><br />I did end up with my shots, but a lesson was learnt: Don’t start your celebrations before the last elephant has come along.<br />I guess that is why the A team had BA Baracus!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Exposure information:</span><br />Nikon D300 - 10.5mm fish eye lens<br />Exposure – f 8 Shutter Speed: 1/160sec<br />Exp. Comp. 0. EV<br />ISO - 400<br />Flash - none <br />Exposure mode– Aperture priority, Metering Mode– Matrix<br />File type– NEF (RAW)<br />Focal length: 10.5mm<br />Gorilla pod<br />Remote release.<br /></span><div style="text-align: right;">Shem Compion<br /></div><span class="fullpost"><br />This essay first appeared on <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.shemimages.com/index.php?page=july2009essay">shemimages.com</a><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-40531464480962450042009-06-17T09:36:00.007+01:002009-07-06T09:07:12.306+01:00Improve Your Photography - Part 12, Creative TechniquesOnce we know the technicals of photography, we can now venture out with creativity and<br />capture scenes. However, there are still a few techniques that can be used to increase the<br />quality of your images. What is important is that when you see a scene, and you want to<br />photograph it, you must have the ability to know what technique works for that scene.<br />Basically it is applying the correct technique to the correct scene to get the best result.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3s8Mvcc7uhkbvLWpK_3BgVv_DDPDlbvWtqS8Dm9V-Z-Cd8rvR_I2VnASPl5rtbDgkjj542W4jz5beHLsHp11j_2QBu2LE4YF0kwae3DgSQxpj0xxCFZYFx5_7oaoB1dB2subQKyAh4DQ/s1600-h/_DSC7416sheep+farming.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3s8Mvcc7uhkbvLWpK_3BgVv_DDPDlbvWtqS8Dm9V-Z-Cd8rvR_I2VnASPl5rtbDgkjj542W4jz5beHLsHp11j_2QBu2LE4YF0kwae3DgSQxpj0xxCFZYFx5_7oaoB1dB2subQKyAh4DQ/s320/_DSC7416sheep+farming.jpg" alt="improve your photography, photography courses, photography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348938945407079010" border="0" /></a><br /></div><span class="fullpost"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Flash</span><br />Probably the most misunderstood of features on a camera, the flash is there to light up a<br />scene when the camera deems a situation too dark for it to take a decent picture.<br /><br />There are a few types of flash: Normal, Fill in Flash, Red eye reduction and Rear curtain sync<br />flash.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Normal flash</span><br />This is the everyday flash that occurs when you pop you flash up. It is designed to illuminate<br />the entire scene that it sees. This means that anything that is in front of the scene will be over<br />exposed, as it will receive too much light. This is often the case with portraits of people as<br />they are too close to the camera and in front of everything else. The way to prevent this is to<br />have the flash dialled down a bit so that the flash is only powerful for short range. This will<br />give a better overall effect. It also helps the recycling time of the flash, as it does not use as<br />much power as normal flash- so it allows you take images faster and it saves your batteries.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Red eye reduction</span><br />The closer the flash is to the lens of the camera, the more chance of Red eye being prevalent.<br />Red eye is caused by the reflection of the flash into the lens.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How to reduce red eye:</span><br /><br />• Have a hot shoe flash and bounce flash off ceiling or hold flash away from the camera<br />and direct it onto subject. Of course this is not always possible.<br />• Red eye reduction mode on camera. Camera pre fires flash so that subject’s pupils<br />dilate and then the camera takes an image with flash.<br />• Subject looks into bright light before taking picture- effect is same as red eye<br />reduction.<br />• Post processing- this is done on the computer.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fill Flash</span><br />Fill flash is a small amount of flash that the camera emits to help the image. It is one of the<br />most useful ways to improve your daytime images. It is best used in shadows, under trees and<br />in harsh day lighting. What is important is to realise that fill flash is there to fill in shadows<br />only. This means that it is a subtle effect and if a viewer cant see that flash was used, then the<br />effect is successful. I am a firm believer in Fill flash. It turns horrid daytime photos into<br />acceptable images that you can use for family albums. Must also remember that many<br />weddings are taken in full daylight, so this is where fill flash saves the day for those<br />photographers. Probably its most creative benefit is that of when used when shooting against<br />the sun. The fill flash fills in the detail of what would normally be a silhouette. This gives an<br />image a lot more substance and evens out the contrast in an image.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rear curtain sync</span><br />This is the most creative flash effect and it produces ethereal and mystical effects. What<br />happens is the shutter opens for the exposure and the Flash only fires at the end of the<br />exposure. If used with a slow shutter speed, can create beautiful effects and blur is created by<br />the slow SS, but the flash freezes the subject when it fires.<br />Best results are had when used with a support- being a tripod, beanbag or by resting against a<br />pole or wall.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Filters</span><br />Filters are pieces of glass that fit onto the front of a lens, either by screwing on or via a drop<br />in system. There are many types of filters and they provide many types of effects, many of<br />them not natural in look. I will concentrate on two types of filters that re very useful and help<br />in producing better and more balanced images.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Polarising filter</span><br /><br />This is a circular filter that screws onto your lens. The front section of the polariser turns,<br />increasing and decreasing in strength of polarisation as it turns. It gives the best results are<br />when used at 90 Deg to the sun. The polarizer is best used in mid day light conditions, forests<br />and over water.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What it does: </span><br />Daylight: Adds contrast and saturates colours<br />Forests: It reduces the leaf shine (glare) on wet leaves- makes for a much better<br />resultant image<br />Water: Reduces glare over water- excellent for “seeing” into the water.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The graduated Neutral density filter</span><br /><br />Used mainly traditionally for landscapes, but it use is not confined to scenery. I find this one<br />of my best travel lenses. The filter is one half clear glass and the other half a dull grey colour.<br />What it does is balance the exposure of the sky with that of the land. This balances the<br />exposure so that the entire scene is made equal and you dint get an image of a dark<br />foreground and a bright sky.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Panning</span><br />This technique is used for capturing various forms of motion. It means that you follow your<br />subject, as it is moving. It is important to try and keep your movement as smooth as possible<br />with the moving subject. There are various ways types of effect that you can get from<br />panning, depending o your shutter speed.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Most common:</span><br />Pan with subject to get your subject sharp and background a nice blur. This type of shot is<br />good to start around 1/250 sec.<br />It is sometimes nice to make your subject a blur. This equates into a very abstract effect and<br />uses a much lower shutter speed. Anything from 1/10 sec will give you a blur of movement.<br />It must be remembered that this is a difficult technique and the success rate can be quite low.<br />Luckily you have a digital camera and you can practice and adjust our settings to get the<br />desired result.<br /><br /><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script><br /><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-68969220023869152052009-06-08T10:52:00.008+01:002009-07-06T09:11:57.987+01:00Improve Your Photography - Part 11, Patterns and CreativityCreativity is considered as being divergent thought to create a solution. Thus it means<br />‘breaking ‘ the rules, but still being aware of those rules, especially when it comes to<br />photography.<br />The word pattern is a very diverse one. In photographic terms, it could be described as<br />something worthy of repetition, an artistic or creative design or a composite of traits.<br />It is clear that these two combine together in the creative realm of photography. The outdoors<br />are full natural patterns that we just need to open our eyes to and photograph. This is where<br />your knowledge of the camera comes in. if you can see a pattern, you can make it more<br />evident through the camera and the control you have over the camera, especially aperture.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-665" title="4354" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/4354.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/4354.jpg" alt="improve your photography, photography courses, night photography, photography, nature photography" height="379" width="252" /></p> <p><b><br />How aperture affects the way you see patterns </b></p> <p><b><br />Aperture determines your DOF. </b><br />By selecting your DOF, you can create even more impact in an image. It can add great DOP<br />throughout an image and show a pattern in its entirety, or it can select one part of a pattern<br />and leave the others a soft out of focus blur. These selections may seem simple, but they are<br />extremely effective in creating a stronger impact in your image.<br />Using aperture you can also select certain subjects and isolate them from a scene. This is<br />probably the most powerful manner that a selective aperture can influence an image and is<br />extremely effective in isolating subjects from the image or the background.</p> <p><b>Creativity with Shutter speed </b></p> <p>Shutter speed determines if you freeze or blur your photograph. This obviously lends itself to<br />more creative applications. A fast shutter speed freezes motion and is thus good for action<br />A slow shutter speed causes blur: so when used on a tripod, it can be used for some really<br />creative effects.</p> <p><b>Shutter speed selection </b></p> <p>Still Portrait - 1/60 sec<br />moving portrait - 1/125 sec</p> <p>Action<br />Walk- jog- 1/250 - 1/500 sec<br />Sport and fast action - 1/750 - 1/1250<br />extreme action- birds in flight, snowboarding etc 1/1250 - 1/2000</p> <p>Blur - (Tripod required)<br />Slight water blur - 1/30 sec<br />complete blur - 2 sec and more</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-666" title="_dsc1822night" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/_dsc1822night.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/_dsc1822night.jpg" alt="improve your photography, photography courses, night photography, photography, nature photography" height="256" width="386" /></p> <p><b>Night Photography </b></p> <p>This is a great way of experimenting with your photography, as the results are fascinating. A<br />tripod is essential here as well as a cable release, but a self-timer on the camera will also<br />suffice. Night colours are very warm and saturated, making for strong images, especially if<br />there are moving lights in the picture.<br />A few tips:<br />• Shutter speed can be from a few seconds- through to a few hours<br />• If you are taking a photograph of a city scene- results are much better after recent<br />rain, as the streets will reflect the lights nicely in the image.<br />• Use a low iso (200). You want the best image quality and your camera is on a tripod.<br />• In the evening and especially so in winter, there is a ‘blue hour’ about an hour after<br />sunset. This is when the sky is still slightly blue, but not yet completely dark. It is the<br />best time to take night images, as it adds ambiance to the image.<br />• Dusk and dawn, are excellent times to do night photography. This is because the light<br />colours are extremely beautiful and subtle. Our eyes don’t actually realise these<br />colours and cameras render them a beautiful colour.<br />• When shooting stars: for a circular trail of stars, aim your camera to the south<br />(southern cross) and the whole sky will whirl across your frame.</p> <p>For more information on <a title="Photography Courses" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=courses" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=courses" target="_blank"><b>Photography courses</b></a> and how to <b>improve your photography</b> see <a title="C4 Images & Safaris" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za" target="_blank">here. </a></p> <p>All text copyright <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" target="_blank">C4 Images and Safaris</a></p><br /><script src="%22http://feeds2.feedburner.com/%7Es/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=%22%20+%20data:post.url" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-50484055578621587492009-06-05T11:34:00.003+01:002009-07-06T09:14:21.792+01:00Leopard Portrait, Mashatu Game Reserve, BotswanaIts funny how things work out. I’ve always ascertained that the large cats are over photographed. In that vein, for my personal work, I try to keep away from them and focus on the smaller things.<br />Fortunately though, I do come across the big cats relatively often and have had the pleasure to witness and photograph some spectacular interactions. These are wonderful to photograph and see, but it is one part of the wildlife world where I know “everything has been covered”.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHklSzq6iT38c9tTHvu1RXzZyZvRbsIkaF1A3TDN_f3oWLQ7FiEnP2TIoWFss-u6O4FRMOPZ-8SIZyHEhFD-bizF2n5xXe887a0EVMxLMLHycfdJRtZp9Akdqa_TCz06D5pFo4tFjRplr/s1600-h/essay+49.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHklSzq6iT38c9tTHvu1RXzZyZvRbsIkaF1A3TDN_f3oWLQ7FiEnP2TIoWFss-u6O4FRMOPZ-8SIZyHEhFD-bizF2n5xXe887a0EVMxLMLHycfdJRtZp9Akdqa_TCz06D5pFo4tFjRplr/s400/essay+49.jpg" alt="photo workshop, shem compion, c4 images and safaris, mashatu, isak pretorius" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350470250126496322" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">There is no denying that these large cats, and the leopard in particular, are very special creatures, and have a special charisma about them. It is also no wonder that they have dedicated followers, with safari goers and <span style="font-weight: bold;">photographers</span> alike stalking them out from behind every bush. Indeed, if a reserve or lodge has good, relaxed leopard or lion sightings, the “value” of the lodge increases greatly! The demand to see these cats reaches such a fever pitch that there is a term coined when people get leopards into their heads. Its called “spotted cat fever”, and I have a seen a few instances where people actually start hyperventilating whilst stalking a leopard in thick bush. I’ve also seen photographers trying to put their flash on backwards, so much was their excitement that they could not even perform a simple function in the anticipation of this spotted denizen of the forest!<br /><br />Due to the fact that there are so many people out photographing these big cats, I do tend to give them the slip. That is unless they are actually doing something and are photographable… if not, I would rather be photographing insects backlit. Far more challenging and rewarding!<br /><br />There are however the exceptions. I was privileged enough to be at one of the best leopard setups and sightings recently. I was leading a <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photoworkshops"><span style="font-weight: bold;">photo workshop</span></a> up at <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.mashatu.com/">Mashatu</a>,</span> in Botswana with <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php"><span style="font-weight: bold;">C4 Images and Safaris</span>.</a> We had come across this young male leopard on the first night and knew he was very relaxed around vehicles. On the second evening, we heard that this same leopard had been discovered by the other photography vehicle, led by <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.isakpretorius.com/">Isak Pretorius</a> (our other photo guide). Luckily we were only a couple of minutes away and as we headed around a corner of the dry river bed, the scene opened up in front of us, just as it has before in all my dreams of the perfect set up.<br />The river ran east-west. The leopard was sleeping on top of a dead log, washed down by the recent floods, in the middle of the river. It was facing west, into the setting sun, the bank behind it was already in shadow, making it stand out and glow in the evening sunlight. There were no branches or other distractions to the scene. It was simple, clean, and by golly, damn beautiful. It is at these times that you take a breath, take a step back and just enjoy the pure beauty of such a scene. All the ideals of not taking pictures of large cats go out the window and the camera started working. This is a studio set up in the bush. Things could not get more beautiful or better set up! We all had spotted cat fever trying to get the best images. I actually realised how hard it was to do the scene justice, as it was so well set up.<br /><br />It was then that the real action started. A porcupine walked into the scene… (I wont deal with that here- you can read more about on my blog.) But we had just witnessed such a stunning set up and it’s in times like these that you realise why there is never the “perfect shot” of any species of animal.<br />A leopard sighting like that one was a very refreshing slap in the face. Im all for the different animals and shots, but when a scene comes along like that, it makes you feel like a beginner again, shaky, excited and damn happy to be a part of such beauty!<br /><br />Exposure information<br />Nikon D3 - 200-400mm lens<br />Exposure – f 4 Shutter Speed: 1/20sec<br />Exp. Comp. -0.3. EV<br />ISO - 1000<br />Flash - none <br />Exposure mode– Aperture priority, Metering Mode– Matrix<br />File type– NEF (RAW)<br />Focal length: 400mm<br />Beanbag support<br /></span><div style="text-align: right;">Shem Compion<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />This essay first appeared on <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.shemimages.com/index.php?page=june2009essay">shemimges.com</a><br /></div></div><span class="fullpost"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-13893507128517039602009-05-05T11:27:00.001+01:002009-07-06T09:21:48.189+01:00Wild Dog Ghost -Mashatu Game Reserve, BotswanaThis may be the shortest essay yet, as this months image is one that “just occurred” through a bit of playful experimentation- even if the sighting was pure bliss.<br /><br />I was hosting a <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photoworkshops"><span style="font-weight: bold;">photo workshop</span></a> at <a href="http://www.mashatu.com"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mashatu</span></a> through my company <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php"><span style="font-weight: bold;">C4 Images and Safaris</span></a> and we had just spent the last hours of the day photographing a pack of African wild dogs in glorious sunlight. The scene was perfect, with the dogs awake, alert and at times very curious, walking to within a few feet of our vehicle- perhaps attracted to the sound of the clicking shutters, as all of us composed and photographed away.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJZwHJ4D2nGAuwgOy3X4aJgN4A7b0nkkUc-r0Ie5GGw6udNxmRKvLoNYmt3GXnSNl08ph42Vrz_rMLlrxtdrun3OiG4Cd3uhhbp8PW31UOOXacW6aGxi7Kmm3Rilp1DsvPR7Pc0k8XOuH/s1600-h/Essay+46%5B2%5Dth.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJZwHJ4D2nGAuwgOy3X4aJgN4A7b0nkkUc-r0Ie5GGw6udNxmRKvLoNYmt3GXnSNl08ph42Vrz_rMLlrxtdrun3OiG4Cd3uhhbp8PW31UOOXacW6aGxi7Kmm3Rilp1DsvPR7Pc0k8XOuH/s400/Essay+46%5B2%5Dth.jpg" alt="mashatu, photo workshop, wild dogs, wildlife images" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350468106954369538" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><span class="fullpost">After the sun had set, we watched the dog’s disappear into the mopane bush setting off on a fast trot. We drove off, content and happy and ready for a sundowner. It was here where we were chatting excitedly away about how stunning these dogs were to photograph when we noticed behind us, in an open plain some movement.<br /><br />It was about 30 minutes after sun set, so the dusk was quite full, yet through it we saw 16 wild dogs trotting silently not 10 meters from us. They totally ignored us and trotted alertly past as we stood, stunned by the silence and the proximity of these charismatic creatures. I picked up my camera, aimed the lens and fired one frame. Being so dark, I knew the exposure would be long, so I just panned with the movement of the dog as it ran along.<br /><br />This is the result. Probably not to everyone’s taste, but it brought back to me the same feeling as when I was there and the feeling of elation in seeing them so close and on foot. These ghosts of the dusk hour, shadowing through the bush portray to me a beautiful sense of movement and also reflect their conservation status, as they are critically endangered. To me it seemed a fitting metaphor.<br /><br />It goes to show what playing around with a camera can produce- never a dull moment when you are prepared to push the boundaries and add another element to a scene.<br /><br />Exposure information<br />Nikon D300 - 200-400mm<br />Exposure – f 4 Shutter Speed: 2 seconds<br />Exp. Comp. 0<br />ISO - 800<br />Flash - none <br />Exposure mode– Aperture priority, Metering Mode– Matrix<br />File type– NEF (RAW)<br />Focal length: 400mm<br />Handheld<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-92089763768343405072009-04-20T10:48:00.004+01:002009-07-06T09:27:47.662+01:00Improve Your Photography - Part 10, Aperture and Shutter SpeedFor any control over the camera, one has to know how <b>aperture and shutter speed</b> combine to<br />create an exposure.<br />An aperture is defined as: The device that controls the amount of light entering a camera.<br />It controls the amount of light entering the camera through a circular diaphragm designed<br />blade.<br />The aperture opens in a circular manner. The wider the aperture, the more light it allows<br />through. And vice versa for when it is closed down.</p> <p>Shutter speed: A shutter blade that allows light to enter the camera for a determined time.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 381px; height: 253px;" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-605" title="_dsc8311wildebeest" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/_dsc8311wildebeest.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/_dsc8311wildebeest.jpg" alt="wildebeest,improve your photography, photography courses, apperture and shutter speed, wildlife images" /></p><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"> <p><b>Exposure:</b><br />Exposure is the resultant image that a camera produces once the shutter release is pressed. It<br />is the resultant image that comes from a combination of the shutter speed of the shutter and<br />how much light the aperture let through the diaphragm.<br /><b>Aperture and shutter speed</b> are the two controls a camera uses to make an exposure on the<br />film when you "take a picture". Shutter speed is the speed with which the camera's shutter opens when the picture is taken. It is the "click" you here when you push the button.</p> <p>You probably have seen a dark picture or light pictures; these are illustrations of incorrect<br />exposures. With Compact cameras, these properties are most of the time beyond your control,<br />as the camera is working in “auto” mode. The more control you have over an image, the less<br />incorrect exposures you will have. We are lucky that cameras produce good results 95% of<br />the time- allowing us to enjoy our <b>photography</b> without worrying too much.<br />However, creative control comes with you controlling the camera, so your camera will have<br />to move off the “auto mode” and start working in Aperture” and “Shutter” Priority modes on<br />your camera.<br />These modes give you control over what aperture to use and how you can control the<br />resultant image, allowing extensive creative control.</p> <p>Added to this equation is Depth of Field (DOP).</p> <p>Aperture also controls Depth of field. The smaller the hole in the diaphragm; the greater the<br />DOP. The larger the hole in the Diaphragm; the narrower the DOP. We will cover this later,<br />for now lets look at shutter speed.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-607" title="bull-elephant-drinking-water" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bull-elephant-drinking-water-197x300.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bull-elephant-drinking-water-197x300.jpg" alt="elephant bull, improve your photography, photography courses, apperture and shutter speed, wildlife images" height="336" width="221" /></p> <p><b>Things to consider when choosing a shutter speed:</b><br />There are some basic rules that we need to know:</p> <p>• Most individuals cannot hold a camera steady (without blur in the photo) for anything<br />slower than 1/60 of a second.<br />• Subjects need to be extremely still/steady in order to not show motion/blur in the<br />image less than 1/60 sec<br />• Fast moving subjects tend to need shutter speeds of 1/250 of a second or faster into<br />order to freeze motion or prevent blur.<br />• The faster the subject, the faster the shutter speed needed<br />• Low levels of light limit one to a slow shutter speed<br />• High levels of light may limit one to fast shutter speed<br />• Thus for low light- one needs support to get a steady shot (or flash)<br />• For High light levels, can hand hold and good for action shots<br /><b>ISO</b><br />Iso is the digital cameras sensitivity to light. As with film, and asa, iso is determined by an<br />increase in numbers. As each number doubles, so does the sensitivity of the sensor.<br />Ie: iso goes up as 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 etc<br />With each increase, the sensitivity of the sensor increases.<br />If all other factors were to remain constant and iso had to increase, then the shutter speed<br />would have to also increase. For each increase in iso, the shutter speed would halve. This is<br />due to the sensor being twice as sensitive to light (it needs half the amount of light to make an<br />image) and thus the shutter speed halves.<br />One problem with iso is that as it increases, so does images quality decrease. Thus it is almost<br />not worth taking photographs at iso’s above 800, unless you are going for a specific effect.</p> <p><b>Conclusion</b><br />Shutter speed, aperture and iso go hand in hand in determining how your creativity. You need<br />to know how they affect one another and how you can use them to your advantage.</p> <p>For more information on <b>Photography courses</b> and how to <b>improve your photography</b> see <a title="C4 Images and Safaris" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photography" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photography" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: left;" mce_style="text-align: right;">All text copyright <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" target="_blank">C4 Images and Safaris</a></p> <mce:script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-3463425882242381"; /* Homepage 468x60 ads */ google_ad_slot = "9374455800"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; // --></mce:script></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-80959067716822451072009-04-14T10:44:00.002+01:002009-07-06T09:32:37.163+01:00Improve Your Photography - Part 9, People2. People</p> <p>People are probably the most photographed subjects around. Photos are always taken at<br />gatherings of friends and families. Thus it makes sense that you need to photograph it<br />properly.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 349px; height: 232px;" class="size-full wp-image-581 alignnone" title="_dsc7343zendre-sand-jump" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/_dsc7343zendre-sand-jump.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/_dsc7343zendre-sand-jump.jpg" alt="photography courses, improve your photography, shem compion" /></p> <br /><br /><span class="fullpost">A few ‘ rules’ when taking portraits of people:<br />1. Fill the frame<br />2. Make sure your subject’s eyes are open. A tip is to take two photos, the second<br />right after the first, so that you capture the open eyes, or else a more relaxed<br />expression.<br />3. Turn the shoulder towards the camera. Have you ever thought why models<br />always have their shoulders towards the camera? It’s because it creates a leading<br />line and opens up the image, instantly bringing in depth into the image. Ok you<br />don’t have to pout…<br />4. Raise the chin. This is not a given, but it also a trick from the modelling industry. A<br />raised, lifted, or chin pushed slightly forward make the person look a bit more alert and it makes them open their eyes more. It is important to not overdo this<br />technique, as a high raised chin does not look nice at all.<br />5. Choose your background. Portraits are the one time when you can choose your<br />setting, so make sure you have the best spot available. A dark background with even<br />colours is always a nice start. Look out for bright spots in the background that may<br />be a distraction in the picture.<br />6. Make your subject laugh or smile. Any relaxed person is going to be easier to<br />photograph. A few test shots with the camera will also help them relax whilst you<br />talk to them, show them a picture on the LCD and get ready for a better shot. One of<br />the most famous portraits of all time, of Sir Winston Churchill, was taken in a light<br />moment. The photographer, Karsh, stopped Mr Curchill and asked for a photograph,<br />Winston reluctantly obliged. Karsh set up the shot and then grabbed the cigar out of<br />Winston’s hand. As he did so, he took an image. As soon as Winston realised that it<br />was a joke, he broke out into a broad smile, and Karsh grabbed the next shot. Only<br />two images taken and both were to become legendary.<br />7. Get to the level of the subject. If you take a picture of a child from adult level, you<br />will get a picture of a child from adult level, and not a very flattering one. Get down<br />to the level of the subject and take the photo at their eye level. This increases the<br />intimacy of the image</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 344px; height: 219px;" class="size-full wp-image-579 alignnone" title="35770023" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/35770023.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/35770023.jpg" alt="photography courses, improve your photography, shem compion" /></p> <p><b><br />Portraits in the environment </b></p> <p>This is where you can use a wide angled lens to photograph people. Use the mantra, ‘get<br />close, go wide’. Meaning get close to your subject and use a wide angled lens. This technique<br />shows the environment where the along with the person. It can often show a picture of a<br />person in their work environment. Another benefit is that you can combine this technique<br />with other composition techniques to increase the overall impact of the image<br /><b><br />Candid Photography </b><br />Similar to environmental photography, candid images are those that capture scenes or<br />happenings when people are unaware.<br />It is the type of people photography that focuses on spontaneity to make the image rather<br />than a proper set up of camera equipment. This is the typical “fly on the wall” type of<br />photography and is extremely enjoyable when nice images are captured. Children are easy<br />candids, as they often play in the own little worlds. They are good to practice on.<br />Its important to note that in many countries today it is illegal to photograph people who you<br />don’t know in public places. This law is in effect in many first world countries and relatively<br />strictly enforced.</p> <p><b>Action and sport </b><br />Sport and action are always the most difficult photos to get. Use the sport mode in your<br />camera to make sure you get the fastest shutter speed. Also use the burst mode to get as<br />many frames per second to capture the action. A good technique to learn is to pan with your<br />subject, as it is moving. If the subject is running from left to right, then keep a steady pan in<br />the same direction. Even if someone is on a trampoline, pan up and down to catch freeze the<br />motion of the person jumping. When there is action, always remember to keep your eye on<br />the viewfinder so as to be ready for the shot you want.</p><p>For more information on <b>Photography courses</b> and how to <b>improve your photography</b> see <a title="C4 Images and Safaris" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photography" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photography" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 376px; height: 249px;" class="size-full wp-image-578 alignnone" title="6533" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/6533.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/6533.jpg" alt="photography courses, improve your photography, shem compion" /></p> <p style="text-align: left;" mce_style="text-align: left;">All text copyright <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" target="_blank">C4 Images and Safaris</a></p> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-3874331657865769192009-04-10T10:41:00.002+01:002009-07-06T09:42:54.057+01:00A Landscape of Insect - Tswalu Kalahari ReserveTwo years ago, I met good friend Duncan MacFadyen for a birthday drink one Thursday evening. For a present, I gave him a fine art print of an image I had taken at Tswalu reserve, a stunning reserve in the Kalahari of which Duncan manages all the conservation research for. In the excitement of the moment, we decided there and then that we would work together to produce a book- him doing the text and I the photography. It was seemingly innocent talk, but waking up the following morning, we both had that nagging feeling that we had started something that would not go away. That evening was to be the spark for “A Landscape of Insects”.<br />Over the course of these last two years, Duncan and I have worked through numerous proposals; ideas and processes of how produce this mass of work. We are both new to this game and it all meant a lot of meetings and e-mails flying back and forth planning new ideas and solutions.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-661" title="essay-45th" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/essay-45th.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/essay-45th.jpg" alt="landscape of insects, tswalu kalahari reserve, shem compion" height="283" width="200" /></p> <br /><br /><span class="fullpost">Both of us being “bush people”, the real part was when the fieldwork was to begin. To both of us, this meant the project had really begun and we were on our way to actually, physically producing something. During this process, we have been able to visit and work on some spectacular reserves across South Africa. These properties cover varying habitats, meaning we are seeing and photographing a great diversity of insect life. I was relatively new to the “insect world”, but with the help of Duncan and Ruth Müller from the Transvaal Museum, I have learnt to distinguish a Graphipterus from a Graphiurus and no longer squeal at handling a ground beetle! It’s been a great experience and one that has taught me a lot of the natural history of insects, as well as photographing them.</p> <p>Photographically, it has been a great challenge for me. Macro work is traditionally a technical realm of photography. My aim though, was to make it an artistic realm- One that a reader could relate to and see the insect within its environment; not just on a black background. Zendré kept repeating to me: “Context, I want to see context.” Naturally, I listened…</p> <p>So a few rules were established.<br />We would always photograph in natural light. No set up studios. (Except for some real close ups done with specialised equipment)<br />Insects were photographed in situ, in the outdoor environment, where they naturally occur and the insects would be doing something. We didn’t want any insect stuck onto a plant- all our insects were to be alive in their own environment.<br />This proved tougher than expected. One thing we learnt very quickly, is that insects fly- and fly very fast! Needless to say though, we persevered and have managed to get some excellent results- of which all will be in the book when it launches in December.</p> <p>I was still adamant to break new boundaries though- test the limits of equipment and try new angles. I consulted with various photographers in the industry and decided to try a fish eye lens in the insect world. A fish eye lens is an extreme wide-angle lens that has an angle of view of 180°. It requires extreme care when working with it to not get ones own feet in the shot!</p> <p>Our latest field trip was to Tswalu and the reserve was in full summer bloom. Every blade of grass was green, the devils thorn flowers were out in bloom and very importantly, insects were everywhere.</p> <p>It took me a short while to locate this blister beetle feeding in a patch of tribulus flowers. Getting down low on my stomach and 5cm from the beetle, the fish eye lens opened up a new world to me. In the foreground was a beautiful flower, whilst it still captured one of the icons of he Kalahari: A camel thorn tree with a sociable weavers nest. The image came together instantly and I got up covered in thorns and red Kalahari dust.</p> <p>As I down loaded, I immediately knew the new lens had done what I wanted. This image, to me, captures the essence of what we are trying to achieve with our book. It shows an insect going about its daily business in a landscape that we all know, and many of us love to visit. But the beauty extends beyond the tree and the nest (and the lions), it too extends to the beautiful spotted blister beetle feeding happily away amongst some yellow flowers. That is exactly what we will be showcasing in our book.</p> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Exposure information</span><br />Nikon D300 - 10.5mm fish eye lens<br />Exposure – f 18 Shutter Speed: 1/250sec<br />Exp. Comp. -0.3. EV<br />ISO - 200<br />Flash - SB900 -0.7 TTL BL FP<br />Exposure mode– Aperture priority, Metering Mode– Matrix<br />File type– NEF (RAW)<br />Focal length: 10.5mm</p><p>This article first appeared on <a title="Landscape of Insects Essay" href="http://www.shemimages.com/" mce_href="http://www.shemimages.com/" target="_blank">Shemimages.com</a></p> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1948243771740042753.post-74884090812781529932009-04-09T10:36:00.005+01:002009-07-06T09:45:33.452+01:00Improve Your Photography - Part 8, Colours, Shapes and PatternsIntroduction<br /><br />With the knowledge gained from recognising the different types of light and the basics of<br />composition, the next level is to start applying these skills in the great outdoors. We are<br />blessed with a climate that begs to be photographed and I always believe it a sin not to take<br />advantage of the great weather that we have. This section is dedicated to showing you how to<br />take better images of everyday scenes. Pictures that we like to take while on holiday, portraits<br />of your children, and other examples are covered to help you enjoy your photography more.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost">The section is broken up into three headings:<p></p> <p>1. Colour, shapes and patterns<br />2. People, portraits, candids and action<br />3. Travel, holiday and landscapes</p> <p><b>1. Colour, shapes and patterns<br /></b><br />Our eyes see a multitude of colours and shapes every day. The secret is to be able to<br />recognize the ones that compliment each other and then frame them in an image. Below are a<br />few types of ways to create balance in an image. The more you recognize such shapes<br />patterns and colours, the more your mind will be stimulated; It’s an ongoing learning process.<br />To be able to train your eye is an essential part of improving your eye for colour, shape and<br />patterns.<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 404px; height: 278px;" class="size-full wp-image-569 alignnone" title="stone-beach-copy" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/stone-beach-copy.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/stone-beach-copy.jpg" alt="photography courses, improve your photography, photography information" /></div><p></p> <p>Balance by colour- Eyes are attracted to colour. A small area of bright colour can balance a<br />much larger area of duller colour. Typically, your three primary colours of red, green and<br />blue compliment each other and one another.</p> <p>Balance by value – the contrast between light and dark often makes for a nice balance</p> <p>Balance by shape – complicated shapes are much more interesting to the eye and it lingers<br />on it compared to simple shapes.</p> <p>Balance by texture – a variegated dark and light pattern is much more interesting than a<br />smooth pattern</p> <p>Balance by position – a large item closer to the center of an image can be balanced by a<br />smaller item closer to the edge. In western art a heavier subject is placed on the left and<br />balanced by a smaller item on the right due to the fact that we read from left to right.</p> <p>Balance by eye direction – heavier elements can direct your eye towards a smaller item</p> <p><b>Patterns </b></p> <p>Patterns occur naturally, we just need to look to find them. Again it is a matter of training<br />your eye. Flowers on a bush can make for very simple patters in a natural setting, whilst<br />people can be placed behind one another to make a pattern for an image.</p> <p>Patterns are typically seen as:<br />• Repeat of the same form or shape. Triangles and circles are often repeated in nature<br />• The repetition of lines<br />• Repetition of a structure<br />• People behind one another<br />• Stacks of objects piled up together<br />• A row of buildings<br />• A stand of trees</p> <p>Patterns can also be isolated and reflected as an abstract. Most abstracts are derived from<br />close ups of repetitive forms.<br />For more information on <b>Photography courses</b> and how to <b>improve your photography</b> see <a title="C4 Images and Safaris" href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photography" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=photography" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="width: 346px; height: 224px;" class="size-full wp-image-572 alignnone" title="dsc_7015daisies" src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc_7015daisies.jpg" mce_src="http://www.africanphotographyinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc_7015daisies.jpg" alt="photography courses, improve your photography, photography information" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">All text copyright <a href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" mce_href="http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/" target="_blank">C4 Images and Safaris</a></p> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script expr:src='"http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~s/AfricanPhotographyInfoblogspotcom?i=" + data:post.url' type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13578443009198964809noreply@blogger.com0