This weekend I decided to do some studio photographs for my business cards and ended up, wildlife hunting in the studio, the results where rather interesting…
But first, the requirements:
- 1x large garage to be transformed into 1x photography studio.
- 1x Chromakey green screen 3x6m
- 1x Partner (to setup the studio and push the trigger, not to mention give some odd ideas)
- A couple of 300W big flashes, remote triggers and soft boxes to boot.
- A tripod
- 2 DSLR and a couple of lenses
- 1x fluffy penguin
- Lots of patience, I do not particularly enjoy being on the wrong end of the lens.
As I said it all started for a shoot aimed at allowing me to complete my business card… And ended up with me shooting a penguin with a 100-400mm lens as shown above.
A couple of things I learned doing this, do not forget the flash sync speed on a Canon camera is between 60 and 200 m/s ! I though that there was something wrong with my camera, the right of the picture was always dark, like an idiot I had my camera set to 250th of a second. I knew better but still managed to loose an hour at attempting to figure this out. Secondly, it takes me about 2 hours to setup shop, and then an hour to pack it all up, so if you use your garage as a studio and to park your cars be ready for that. And thirdly, padded mats, those tiles used by sports people, rock. My knees, survived the whole shoot and it was not uncomfortable lying down either, so I recommend it.
This is my fist attempt at using a Chromakey background to do a special effect. Though the one here above has not effect save the fact that I removed the key. Now take the image above (can you still call it a photograph?) and replace the background and the fluffy penguin with a cheetah …
I agree I did not put a lot of effort in this case but imagine…
I was recently in the Kapama Private Game Reserve for a 4 day wildlife shoot. I feel I need to share my experiences of that shoot.
- What equipment to pack?
Now that is a rather good question, to shoot wildlife I recommend the following 2 lenses:- A 100-400mm, you will need the reach
A long lens is advisable for shoots like these.
- A 24-70mm f/2.8, to shoot before and just after sunrise/sunset, when reach is not that important any more.
- I would also take a 70-200mm f/2.8 if I could for the same reasons as above.I also recommend a professional flash for the night and spare batteries. To catch the boma’s (restaurant), a tripod may come in handy. Don’t forget plenty storage and camera batteries.
A tripod is required to get shoot’s like this one.
- Travelling
If you are travelling by plane, chances are that an international carry-on bag will not fit in the cabin of a local flight to a small airport like Eastgate Airport in Hoedspruit, to my horror. It will fit under the seat but to your comfort cost. I have a Think Tank Airport Acceleration V2 and under the seat it just fits. I recommend that you check what kind of airplane you will be using and the maximum weight allowed on board. - Shooting
Be ready for anything, choose your lens carefully before leaving, I typically leave with a 70-200mm early in the morning and switch to the 100-400mm when light permits. In the evening I apply the same reversed.
Set your camera to the highest continuous shooting mode it has, I also set my ISO to auto but be careful to check that it does not go too high. I also shoot entirely in RAW and mostly in Shutter Speed Priority.
I get asked why Shutter Speed Priority, it is really simple to avoid movement blur, unless I want it.
Slow shutter speeds will result in movement blur. - The rangers
Talk to your ranger and try to sit behind him, you’ll get a better angle every time.
Framing can be achieved with your ranger’s help. - Flash?
I hear a lot of criticism regarding flashes in wildlife photography, so I will let a couple of photos speak for themselves and let you decide…
But I think more important is to enjoy the experience and come back with some trophies.
On a personal note I would like to thank the rangers and staff of Kapama Main Lodge for their impeccable support and assistance.
Tags: Photography Tips, Traveling, Wildlife
In the days of film, there was only tree things that a photographer had to worry about once the film was inserted. These were how many shots do I have left, getting the exposure and aperture right and getting a beautiful photograph goes without saying but this is a technical post and we will forgo the actual photograph framing, beauty and quality for a while.
In the digital age, not much has changed except that we are no longer limited by film but there is a new factor, ISO. In the analogue days this was a constant once the film was in the body. This brings me to the triangle of light exposure, aperture and sensitivity.
Each of these factors have now become vital from the time you pickup your camera. Each have their own pros and cons, our jobs as photographers is to mitigate these to achieve the best possible photograph.
Let’s talk about each factor individually before we address them in unison.
- Exposure, the time taken to capture the image, measured in seconds or parts thereof.
Pro Cons Higher Speeds (1/1000s) Freezing motion No low light capability Lower Speeds (2s) Low light capability Motion blur - Aperture, the amount of light allowed to traverse to the sensor at any time, measured in f-stops or parts thereof.
Pro Cons Higher Apertures (f/1.4) Low light capability Low depth of field Lower Apertures (f/22) High Depth of Field No low light capability - Sensitivity, the light sensitivity of the sensor, measured in ISO
Pro Cons Lower ISO (100) Sharper image, no noise No low light capability Lower ISO (1600) Low light capability More noise, less sharpness
I will go deeper on each subject in further posts.
So what does it all mean? Generally, it means that, as photographers, we often have to compromise on something. The aim is to get the middle of the triangle all the time, but it is seldom possible.
The good news is that there are very good tools for one of those factors, noise…
Tags: Photography Tips
As a photographer I get a whole lot of questions about a whole lot of photography related things. Some are easy to answer others need to be demonstrated. This one needs to be demonstrated…
I will not go into great technical details, however understand that a zoom lens usually allows for more than one “ZOOM” factor and it has moving glass in addition to focus. In fact it is usually safe to assume that the further away the glass elements are, the longer the lens is, the higher the zoom factor.
So what do we mean by zoom factor? It is the magnification that a lens can produce in relation to the human eye. In photography, it is generally accepted that a 1x zoom factor is equal to a 50mm lens on a 35mm film/digital format camera, I am not going into more details than this as it is not relevant to this post. So assuming that 50mm is 1x what would be 400mm ?
The equation is:
In a Canon EOS 5D the answer would be (400×1)/50 or 8x magnification. However with a crop sensor camera such as the Canon 7D, it would be (400×1.6)/50 and thus would result in a 12.8 magnification. But what about a 16mm wide angle lens? Well (16×1.6)/50 results in a 0.512 magnification which is a theorical negative magnification. So what are the actual result in a photo? Here are a few photos of commonly used zoom factors to illustrate, all taken at the same place with a Canon EOS 7D with a 1.6 crop factor.
 16 mm (0.51x) |
 24 mm (0.77x) |
 35 mm (1.12x) |
 50 mm (1.60x) |
 70mm (2.24x) |
 85 mm (2.72x) |
 100 mm (3.20x) |
 135 mm (4.32x) |
 150mm (4.80x) |
 200 mm (6.40x) |
 300mm (9.60x) |
 400 mm (12.8x) |
 500 mm (16x) |
 600 mm (19.2x) |
 700 mm (22.4) |
 800 mm (25.6x) |
(for a 1.6 crop factor)
| Lens focal length | Magnification factor |
| 10 | 0.32 |
| 16 | 0.512 |
| 24 | 0.768 |
| 35 | 1.12 |
| 50 | 1.6 |
| 70 | 2.24 |
| 85 | 2.72 |
| 100 | 3.2 |
| 135 | 4.32 |
| 150 | 4.8 |
| 200 | 6.4 |
| 300 | 9.6 |
| 400 | 12.8 |
| 500 | 16 |
| 600 | 19.2 |
| 700 | 22.4 |
| 800 | 25.6 |
| 1200 | 38.4 |
Tags: Lenses
Situated in the heart of the Waterburg and about 2.5 hours from Johannesburg, Marakele National Park is probably one park I will carry on visiting. Not that it has a lot of wildlife, but rather that the wildlife comes to you when camping at Bontle Camp Site.
A word of warning though, as with Mapungubwe National Park, a high rise vehicle is advisable if you intend to visit the park’s northern side.
Bontle Camping Site is situated next to a small dam making it an ideal spot to setup camp and relax. There are no fences to talk about here, the pillars are there but the fence is long gone. A good thing really because you feel more connected. The ablution blocks are well maintained and clean, as with Mapungubwe National Park, the park’s shop has very little to offer, luckily it’s a short 15 minutes ride to Thabazimbi, a mining town where you can find anything you will need.
Left side of view from my tent at Bontle camping site in Marakele 
Right side of view from my tent at Bontle camping site in Marakele
Once you have set up camp on the dam side, if you can find a spot, sit down relax and let the wildlife come to you, let it sink in, enjoy the sounds and smell and who knows the local rhinoceros and ostriches may just come and visit, not to mention the usual bucks and antelopes… It is also worthy to note that Marakele National Park has a vast bird life.
Click to enlarge photographs.
Tags: National Park, Reviews, Traveling
Sometimes when taking wildlife well funny things happen…
Wasn’t me, I swear, wasn’t me…
Move over you bully… It’s my spot!
Hey dude I can do that photography stuff too you know. I shoot those pesky impalas, yes? Now where is da button dude?
Hey, I got developed in black and white, OK. Now stop staring at me!!!
Sharp corner, don’t fall, must not fall, stay up…
Don’t trip, don’t trip…
I coming Zorro. To the rescue I go!!!
The case of the Mapungubwe Red Baobab, yep a new sub-species
