Safari Update

by Gregory Sweeney

The last two weeks have been a superb experience for all of the guests as photographers and everyone was amazed by how close the animal encounters are; no 500mm lens needed here. I am lucky to have this wonderful corner of the world to share with my guests: South Africa is stable and safe and this area is legendary for its richness of wildlife; a premiere destination for natural beauty.

The weather was ahead of the season this year and we experienced wonderfully warm days and moderate nights. Every game drive yielded memorable and exciting animal encounters and all of the guests were ecstatic about the photographs they captured. In Kruger it seemed that the elephants were showing off and parading for us. It has been a while since I have witnessed so many elephants having a boisterous time in the waterholes. The three lion cubs I have watched grow up on the reserve are now adults and filling their roles. They no longer play together, but they are beautiful animals that the guides and myself have gotten to know over the years. I hope that soon the female will have cubs of her own for us to treasure. In addition to big 5 (and big 5 babies!) we had memorable encounters with kudu, cheetah, birds, raptors, and the ever photogenic giraffes.

I wrote about our adventures and posted photos while on safari: See them on my Blog: PhotographAfrica.com

Treasures from the Remote Wildlife Cam

Every time we are at our lodge we set up a camera trap in a clearing or along a wildlife trail. The remote camera revealed the daily visits of the waterbuck and warthogs to the waterhole. It also helped out the reserve's wildlife manager by confirming that the missing male kudu was still on the reserve and has a small harem. Some animals can hear the camera so many images are of some very curious looks.

Managing Your Digital Images during Your Photo Safari

Guests on our safaris can get overwhelmed by the volume of images they shoot on our trip. It is important to have a system in place for storing and backing up image files. Equally important is a method of triaging and cataloging images that gets your photos quickly into a state whereby you can review them each day. I believe reviewing good and bad images after each session speeds the learning process and gives the photographer the best chance of improving (and sometimes redeeming themselves) while still on safari. The view screens and information provided on the camera are good and can allow you to make quick technical adjustments during the shoot, but it is not a replacement for the cool-headed technical and artistic analysis that can only happen on a larger screen and when you are calm and settled back at the lodge.

Some preplanning and education before the trip will make the daunting task of sifting and learning from your new treasure trove of images quicker and more productive. Three major things need to be in place before travel as a foundation to keep you organized.

File/Folder Storage Structure (on a the hard drive) My file folder structure is not designed to organize the files by topic, shoot, or trip: I rely on my cataloging software to do this for me and point me to the storage location when I need the file. Instead my folders of raw images are numbered in sequence and code for the range of shooting dates contained within. They are sized to be 10GB or less for ease of moving them around and backing up

Image File naming I rename all of my RAW images (btw I only shoot RAW). There are many reasons to do this including: No chance of duplicate file names between different cameras and photographers (such as my wife's images) The file name encodes basic information that is apparent just by looking at the file name (who shot the image, sequence, and date). You can formulate a naming scheme to fit your needs and use presets to apply the name on each import automatically.

Cataloguing and Organizational Software Tools If you are serious enough about photography to go on a photo safari you will need more than your operating system's file browser to manage you photo collection. Adobe is not the only company making photo cataloging software, but their Lightroom, Bridge, and Photoshop programs are excellent and deep with features and they work well with other photo finishing packages such as the suite of products by Nik Software . A product like Lightroom acts like a database giving you access to all of the information stored by the camera as well as information you add such as key words, named collections you create, ratings, flagged images. They even give you a full set of nondestructive tools to correct the image, import , print, and export, and even make a slideshow or web gallery.

Once these elements are in place you can create presets to use as you load off your memory cards and some that automatically do some image correction (like white balance). Using presets and a structured data plan will make saving and preprocessing after a shoot a no –brainer and a simple task.

Read the extended version of this article on my blog www.PhotographAfrica.com

Caracals: The Leaping Cats

Though often called a desert lynx caracals are more closely related to the serval and African golden cat. Their name is from the Turkish "Karakulak" meaning "black ear" referring to the contrasting color of their ears and the tufts of hair at the tips. They have 20 different muscles in the ears to help them pinpoint the location of prey. A caracal's pupils contract to form circles rather than the slits found in most small cats. Like the cheetah caracals have been trained to assist humans while hunting.

The caracal is largely nocturnal but is sometimes seen by day, particularly in cooler portions of its range. It jumps and climbs well, and is a skillful, agile hunter. Mainly terrestrial and usually solitary, it stalks prey, then captures it with a quick dash or leap into the air. The caracal is renowned for catching low-flying birds. Caracals can leap an incredible 3 meters into the air to catch birds in flight. Hunting in the open plains the small cat often themselves become the prey of lions and other top predators.

watch a video of a caracal making an incredible leap to catch a guinea fowl

Photography Tips for Small Cats

Try to shoot at their level . Looking down at a small cat will make it look even smaller so you will want to get as low as your situation allows.

Cats come out at night so we are likely to see them at the end of our evening drive and first thing on our morning drives. A flash with a flash extender can help get the shot – but have it ready to go because cat encounters can be fleeting.

A cat will quickly go from intense stalking with no movement to a tremendous leap into the air. Have your camera set to a higher ISO so that you can shoot with a higher shutter speed and freeze the action. Know feline behavior so you can anticipate when he will leap at the prey and when he is too lazy to make an attempt.

Every visit to South Africa is different and gives me new topics and beautiful images. I look forward to sharing them with you after our next adventures in 2012 - or better yet, come with us!