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First time I ever used a DSLR so this was all in auto mode and no work done to the pictures after. Following this trip I was hooked and I bought my own camera within a year.     Looking back now I know there are so many things I could have done to improve these shots. I didn't know how to put the lens to manual focus for instance, so with the leopard I was struggling with the servo motor trying to force the focus by hand. Total nightmare that left me really frustrated back then but I can only laugh at now. The plan is to go back next summer, but I doubt I'll ever get a sight such as the hyenas again. Very happy with the grazing herd and the last elephant though, both shots are just so crisp. I probably have tons from that trip if anyone is interested in safari stuff, but only these I can access here at my work. BioTech fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Jan 23, 2012 |
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Jan 23, 2012 13:31
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wizard sticks posted:Those are great - where did you go? Kenya, I travelled through Tsavo East, Amboseli and Tsavo West. It is a little bit more restricted than most safari countries from what I understand. You cannot get out of the car, it is not allowed to go into a park without a licensed guide and all cars should have a hard roof, no open tops of Jeeps with those stretched canvas covers. As a solution they take a minivan, cut off the roof and re-attach it with a system of hinges and extension poles. As soon as you go in the park they slide the roof upwards so you are still covered, but can stand up inside the van and there is a three feet gap to look and take pictures through. Like this;  
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Jan 24, 2012 09:09
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Same trip [*] [*] [*] [*] [/LIST]
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Jan 24, 2012 21:14
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mobot posted:Is that in Nairobi National Park? I swear I have a really similar shot going up that hill. Maybe not, if I remember correctly the whole country had similar terrain. I can attest to the fact that those vans are, in fact, awesome. I think this is in Tsavo East, but you are right that almost everything looks the same. If I had to describe the big differences then Tsavo East is very flat, with hardly any bush and just endlessed dark red sand. Much darker than in the picture, it is just incredible. Tsavo West has very thick bush and a lot of hills, really limiting your sight. It does make for great shots of lions sunbathing on top of rocks and it is where I found the leopards since they like to hide in that bush. Amboseli is a lot of tall grass, really making you search for heads sticking out. It is where we found the dead buffalo, the lions that killed it chilling not far from there while the hyenas finished the rest. It also has a lot of sand tornadoes and is famous for giving a great view of Mount Kilimanjaro. Except for when it is covered in mist. Which is over 300 days a year and very disappointing. East Lake posted:BioTech if do don't mind me asking how much it cost you? I'd like to make a trip like that once I can save up but it'll probably be hard while I'm in school. I live in the Netherlands, so I doubt it will be accurate if you are in the US, but this trip was relatively cheap. I wanted to visit Greece, but with their prices soaring when the crisis hit and Kenya actively promoting tourism through low prices I paid around 1000 euros for a 12 day all inclusive stay at a beach resort near Mombasa. All I wanted was sunshine, but it seemed like a waste to visit Africa and not go on safari. The safari was booked seperately and it was around 800 dollars for 4 days. I booked it with a local company about a month before I flew there. This is their website for the trip, but they have tons of others as well. http://www.naturaltoursandsafaris.com/4_days_tsavo_west_amboseli_&_tsavo_east_rs.php The site may look bit shabby, but everything was arranged perfectly. They called us after receiving the payment, pick you up to visit their office when the trip begins and afterwards the owner calls you to ask if everything was satisfactory. Now, this is doing a safari cheap, so we did have to wake up at 0500 every morning and were driving on badly paved roads in a van for 6 hours a day before reaching the next park. You could fly these distances, but it was about $900 dollars more from what I remember. Then again, for 1500 euros total including over a week of beach holiday and all dinner/drinks this was worth it. If you can sleep when the ride gets bumpy, don't mind reading and don't get cranky sitting for hours it will save you a lot of money. Even if you fly they won't let you spend the extra time in the park, you just stay at the hotel longer. You can see animals there, but it isn't as much fun. I would really recommend you not to book a full safari trip that lasts for weeks. Four days might seem short and while it is infinitely more beautiful I always compare it to a zoo visit. How long can you look at animals? The first elephants had me shouting, after 2 days you just stop taking pictures and look for something else. Then again, I would like to go longer next year so take that as you will. Biggest advise is that if you decide for the beach/safari combo then don't book the safari with your trip. We had people do the exact same trip, but arranged through the tour operator, and they paid double the price while getting worse lodges. We left the beach resort with them, visited the same parks, drove behind them most of the time only to drop them off at locations and hear them complain the next morning. There are hundreds of local companies that can arrange everything you want, just look for the Kato logo and you will be fine. http://www.katokenya.org/ They have stands outside of every hotel, resort and each reception will have recommended local companies. This turned out a lot longer than I expected, sorry!
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Jan 25, 2012 09:09
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I went to Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem (Netherlands) yesterday. Very happy with these two shots. 
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Mar 5, 2012 10:42
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I went to a reptile convention on Sunday.    I love how both lizards stare at you.
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Mar 27, 2012 09:13
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While 400 or 600 would be great, be aware that you don't really need the range for daytime pictures as much as you might think. It would help, but the results will not be bad without it. My safari pictures earlier in this thread were all made with a 300 without IS at best. While I would definitely love to go back with IS and a higher zoom not all of them would have benefitted from the increased range. I don't think 200 will stop you from making beautiful pictures so don't worry if you lose your chance to get a better lens, but if you have the money I would go for it. I figure animals in South Africa might be a bit less shy since tourism has been going on longer there, so don't worry about range too much. For night shots you would need something better, as the leopard pictures show. I'm not sure if the IS would be enough, since I only had the camera for a few days and did everything on AUTO.
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Mar 27, 2012 15:16
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Zlatan Imhobitch posted:What is he doing in a tree?! There are two populations of tree-climbing lions in the world. The theory is that they want to escape insects by climbing up to a stronger breeze. I hope to see a pride of them in Uganda this summer. If my picture turns out half as nice as this one I'll be happy, it is amazing.
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Feb 21, 2013 22:44
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Quote is not edit.
BioTech fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Oct 20, 2013 |
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Oct 20, 2013 19:30
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Haven't posted since the first page, but I went back to Africa. Did gorilla tracking in Uganda this time. The gorillas were absolutely amazing, but it wasn't easy to shoot on that location. Very dark because of the thick forest, light metering is wonky because of the strong shadows combined with really bright patches where the sun came through. We got to them after climbing uphill through dense jungle at high altitude for a few hours, so I was really exhausted. Must've thrown away 200 shots because I was shaking. With them constantly on the move it wasn't really possible to set up some shots, just take what you can get. Plus you gotta keep watching your feet with all the undergrowth, so moving around with the camera ready was no option either. It got better when they moved towards the river. I caught my breath by that time, the ground was mostly rocks so no chance of getting caught in something and no trees in the river, so the light was much better because there was no roof of leaves. I am really happy with the results, but they definitely could have been better.      Elephant, because Africa. Not a bush elephant, but this one was quite aggressive nonetheless. It kept trying to charge us, but we were in a boat so that didn't really work out. Lots of trumpeting, posturing and sudden sprints towards the water before backing off.   This is probably my favorite shot of the whole trip. Gorillas are slow but always moving, the chimps on the other hand were really modeling. This alpha male came down from the trees at some point and didn't mind us at all. He was being groomed, completely relaxed, just watching us with some mild curiosity but not caring enough to get involved. Most of the other chimp shots have the same jungle-shooting issues as I described above, but this guy went into a clearing and everything just came together perfectly.
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Oct 20, 2013 19:32
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Thanks for the kind words, everyone. ExecuDork posted:But... one or two of the gorilla shots look a little purple. Maybe it's my monitor, maybe it's your white balance. You probably mean the two up-close portraits, right? I wanted to get the colors more like the last gorilla shot because I do prefer the darker fur, but I'm both bad and lazy when it comes to editing. If it doesn't happen within a minute or so I usually save and continue with the next shot. This whole project feels finished to me and I'm working on other things, but you are right and I should get back to those two. Winter here is not very interesting to shoot and I have few trips planned, so I'll mark those to check again when I hit a lull.
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Oct 21, 2013 08:16
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:23 |
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This one is stunning.
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Aug 11, 2018 21:47
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