For many people, the reason for coming on safari again and again is the anticipation of capturing outstanding images. Photography allows for unlimited freedom, flexibility and artistic expression, and is not a perfect science. For those photographers that are Composing Symphonic Wildlife Photographs with guidelines such as the ‘rule of thirds’, using focal points and not cutting off body parts, this post it for you! This is to take your photography to the next level. It is important, in life, to try new things, explore, and be ready for change. Try out some of these tips when you next go out and see how creative you can get with the images that you capture.
1. Look them in the eye
Often a shot is more striking when the subject matter is on eye level with the camera. This works especially with cats as it makes one feel as though you are on their level. Although often this is not the easiest image to achieve as certain animals dont appreciate us jumping out the car and lying on the ground. They don’t quite understand the concept of the perfect shot. Even though this would be the easiest way, there are other ways of getting an eye level shot without getting yourself eaten or trampled on! If the animal is on a termite mound or in a tree then the eye level shot can be achieved easily.
In this picture, the Majingilane male was on a mound which gave him the photographer the opportunity to get this incredible eye level shot. – Photographed by Rich Laburn
Safari for the senses vehicle with side holes in order to get that eye to eye shot!
2. Framing
Often we find ourselves cursing a branch or tree in a sighting when we are not able to get the ‘perfect’ shot but often these obstacles can work in our favour. You might not end up with the picture that was originally intended but one that is incredibly different. The image is composed using the natural shapes and lines to frame the subject.
The Vomba young female has been framed beautifully by the fork of the tree. – Photographed by Elsa Young
Rich said that he would have liked to take the picture of this leopard with no branches, however these two branches frame him nicely nonetheless. f5.6, ISO 400, AWB. – Photographed by Rich Laburn
3. Don’t put your camera away after dark
How often have you put your camera away as that sun goes below the horizon? There have been two separate posts by Jacqui Hemphill and Mike Sutherland to prove that this no longer has to be the case. Expand your portfolio and knowledge by experimenting with night photography.
Capturing the Milky way with a silhouetted Lead-wood tree. f4.0, 30 Seconds, ISO 5000 – Photographed by Kate Neill
Adding a new dimension to the shot, we lit up the tree with a flash light for a few seconds of the exposure. f4.0, 30 Seconds, ISO 5000 – Photographed by Kate Neill
A hyena in the darkness photographed with back lighting. ISO 1250, f 5.0, 1/60sec – Photographed by Mike Sutherland
4. Involve Contrasting Subjects
A great photograph can be comprised of many things. Some are amazingly simple whilst others intriguingly complex. I have found that the combination of interesting and contrasting subject matters provide for brilliantly unique pictures. In the bush this is as true for things such as cloud patterns, tree shapes and seasonal colors of the plant life. If you mix and match textures, shapes, patterns, colours and animals you will find that your images suddenly have many different elements and the photographs become that much more interesting.
The softness of the clouds and the rough feel of the grass as the sunsets over a Male Lion creates wonderful contrast – Photographed by Rich Laburn
5. Play with Texture
The images speak for themselves:
A Scarlet Dragonfly on the bark of a tree – Photographed by Mike Sutherland
The overcast weather provides some wonderful opportunities to get some good texture shots. – Photographed by James Crookes
6. The Little Things in Life
Spiderwebs, flowers, insects and reptiles are so easy to overlook when driving and walking around the wilderness. If you are in camp, choose a small area and see how many things you can photograph in this area. I guarantee that you will be very surprised at the images you get of things such as the bark on trees, dew drops, colorful petals and camouflaged agamas.
There is an amazing world of smaller beings right under our noses. Flies, wasps, butterflies and countless others are going about their daily lives, mostly overlooked. This bottle-green fly was investigating the carcass of a wildebeest and is seen here perched on its horns. – Photographed by James Tyrrell
Not everyone’s favourite organisms, ticks can nevertheless be beautiful if one examines them closely. This one was on the wildebeest carcass, and given the untimely demise of it’s host, I’m guessing it moved off in search of another animal to parasitise. – Photographed by James Tyrrell
7. Tell a Story
There are many stories to be told and often these stories are told around a camp fire at night or from behind the wheel on game drive but often a story can be told in a single image. Often zooming in on a subject is not always complimentary to an image and sometimes it is worth getting more of the scenery in to tell the story of what is going on.
This is the perfect example of telling a story. It would be easy to focus in on the Maxabene 3:3 male in full stalk and you would get a great picture but zooming out and getting the warthogs fighting makes this an award winning image! – Photographed Mike Miller
If David did not capture Kate Imrie’s look of shock in this image it would just not be the same. – Photographed by David Dampier
8. Blurred Isn’t Bad
Motion Blur is primarily about capturing a scene in which an object is frozen still, whilst everything around it is blurred in motion. Motion blur photography is a challenging technique that is, more often than not based on quite a large amount of luck. I have taken hundreds of pictures to only have two or three come out nicely. So if at first you don’t succeed, keep at it!
Panning the camera using a slow shutter speed allows you to achieve this effect, where the head is sharp but the motion blurred. It can be a bit hit and miss – Photographed by David Dampier
I hope that these creative tips will be useful in furthering your photographic skills.
Written by Kate Neill
Rich Laburn is filmmaker, photographer and writer who is based at Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa. Spending his time capturing scenes of the wild and communicating the beauty of the African bushveld, he runs the Londolozi Blog as a way to entertain and engage people wishing to visit these wild lands.
