I wanted to add my praise - we have many capable wildlife photographers in this forum who can consistently turn out perfectly exposed and focused photos, but I have seldom seen wildlife photography that has this level of artistic statement. I consider myself a reasonably skilled wildlife photographer and these images remind me how far I have to go - thank you for posting.
lowside67 wrote:
I wanted to add my praise - we have many capable wildlife photographers in this forum who can consistently turn out perfectly exposed and focused photos, but I have seldom seen wildlife photography that has this level of artistic statement. I consider myself a reasonably skilled wildlife photographer and these images remind me how far I have to go - thank you for posting.
-Mark
Thank you so much Mark for those kind words. I always try to raise the bar a notch higher every time i make a trip somewhere, and am not afraid to put away all my gear for months and don't even touch them. Also i try to get inspired by other photographers just like i hope to inspire some with my own work. I think that's an important part of being a photographer.
kdacharya wrote:
The light it seems in Kalahari is to die for and you have captured it very well and the Brown hyena is the icing on the cake.
The light is special there yes, but in summer that timespan is amazingly short it's bizarre. You drive off when gates open 5:30 and hope to have a good sighting between 5:30 and 7. After that the light is getting too harsh and temperatures are already through the roof. Especially big cats are flat on the ground under a bush from let's say 8AM till evening (and evening sightings were always a bit less than morning ones. Add to that that the heat doesn't help with getting tack sharp photo's, especially when there is no wind). If you are lucky they start moving again before gates close. So, yeah,.. that can be a little stressy. And i have to add, that between some sightings we had days of seeing nothing, so luck is a very important factor with such safari's.
therealthings wrote:
The light is special there yes, but in summer that timespan is amazingly short it's bizarre. You drive off when gates open 5:30 and hope to have a good sighting between 5:30 and 7. After that the light is getting too harsh and temperatures are already through the roof. Especially big cats are flat on the ground under a bush from let's say 8AM till evening (and evening sightings were always a bit less than morning ones. Add to that that the heat doesn't help with getting tack sharp photo's, especially when there is no wind). If you are lucky they start moving again before gates close. So, yeah,.. that can be a little stressy. And i have to add, that between some sightings we had days of seeing nothing, so luck is a very important factor with such safari's. ...Show more →
I completely agree about the luck factor and the scarcity of the viewing.
I guess you did the Kalahari from SA side. You could also do Kalahari from Botswana side and will get great results and also no gates to worry about. You can actually camp out in the Kalahari under the stars
kdacharya wrote:
I completely agree about the luck factor and the scarcity of the viewing.
I guess you did the Kalahari from SA side. You could also do Kalahari from Botswana side and will get great results and also no gates to worry about. You can actually camp out in the Kalahari under the stars
Yes we have been on the SA side, where they have tented camps as well. But that was a little too adventurous for us which showed as on our last day one woman was brutally attacked in her tent by a leopard and rushed to a hospital from Matopi camp. (We saw a few vehicles drive by like crazy that morning, and knew something went terribly wrong) That absurd trip took hours and hours with a woman in severe pain.
What a wonderful opportunity you had! My favorites are the 'Tag you're It' for the kinetics and 'Admiration' for catching the cubs in such a great grouping.
pjbishop wrote:
What a wonderful opportunity you had! My favorites are the 'Tag you're It' for the kinetics and 'Admiration' for catching the cubs in such a great grouping.
Snopchenko wrote:
Very cool, especially the last one in the first post (as others had already remarked).
What kind of focal length do you need for that kind of shots - 500? 600? Or even more?
Thank you. For 90% of my shots i used the Canon 600mm F4 USM IS II paired with the 1.4x III on a 5D mark IV. The lion shots were pretty close so i removed the converter for those.
I had a 70-200 2.8 II on my 1Dx mark II for wider or closer shots, but it was rarely used for animals.
