BEST TIME OF THE DAY TO TAKE PHOTOS
1. Most people have heard about the golden hour. This is typically the hour after sunrise and before sunset, which basks animals in a soft warm light. The light is not as harsh as typical in the middle of the day.
2. Cloudy days (not heavy overcast) produce soft light and prolong your photographic hours.
BE PREPARED
1. Learn from my mistakes: Switch on your camera before leaving the camp or driving into the park. Countless occasions, I have missed shots because my camera was still switched off, or the lens cap was still on.
2. Check the light from time to time and adjust the settings accordingly, should you shoot on Aperture or Manual mode. (Auto mode will adjust the settings by itself, but also offers less control over the speed and depth of a shot.) It is quite frustrating to take a photo with a previous sight’s or day’s settings. There is sometimes simply too little time to adjust your settings as nature waits for nobody!
3. Make sure you download your memory cards on a regular basis to provide ample space for the next day’s shooting.
4. Keep the camera batteries charged. I do this as soon as I return from a drive.
LIGHT
Unless you want the animal to have rim lighting, don’t shoot into the sun. It will result in your subject being a silhouette only, and you will lose detail and colour.
ANTICIPATION OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
Anticipation of possible behavioural trades will aid you significantly during your photographic adventures.
– Animals are normally quite wary of lurking predators at a waterhole since they tend to be vulnerable when they are drinking. This makes for good action photography, as they will start drinking and at the slightest sound or movement, react and start fleeing.
– Elephants are notorious for believing they are the ‘owners’ of any water source and don’t readily share with other thirsty animals. Yet again this provides interesting interaction and therefore photographic opportunities as the elephants will charge/shoot water at other animals which dare to try and share.