Safari photography

As part of our honeymoon in September 2004 my wife and I went on a safari in Tanzania for a week. It's an amazing experience watching the animals so close by. However, to be honest, if you have a short attention span like me you need photography to keep it exciting...

Picture details: 1/1000s @ f5.6, ISO 200, 280mm

I felt the urge to jot down my experiences because others have helped me much with theirs. Hope it's of use to you. Note: some of the information below may only be relevant to Canon DSLR (10D, 20D, 300D, etc.) owners.


Picture details: 1/500s @ f5.6, ISO 200, 280mm

Camera
Having a digital SLR on safari is the way to go. Because you'll need the tele-range and sometimes the fast response, a compact camera just won't do. I'm the proud owner of a Canon 10D and have never loved a piece of hardware more than this camera...

Lenses - size matters
After reading many reviews I ended up buying the Canon 70-200 4L along with a 1.4 extender as my principal weapon of choice.

The two never left each other's side. It’s a great lens; small, light and lets in much less dust because it's more or less closed off. A bargain considering the "L" quality of the lens. The extender however, is a very expensive little piece of glass...

Multiplying 200 by 1.4 by 1.6 (the multiplication factor due to the size of the CMOS) gets you to 448mm. I found this to be enough most of the time. In Tanzania the cars cannot leave the road (which I think is a good thing) and this means the shy and rare animals such as the leopard and the rhino will probably be too far away for a good picture. For those you would need at least a 400mm lens.

Picture details: 1/350s, f5.6, ISO 200

Being a self admitted hardware freak I spent part of the time checking out other people's equipment instead of the animals... You see many people with big lenses (even 400mm white ones) shooting by hand. That can't be good.





Picture details: 1/1000s, f9.5, ISO 400, 280mm


The EXIF information will display 280mm if the focal length is 200mm plus the 1.4 extender (200 x 1.4). It ignores the 1.6 multiplier.








Picture details: 1/350s, f6.7, ISO 200, 280mm

I also took along two other popular lenses, the Canon 28-135 3.5-5.6 IS and the 50mm 1.8 MK I for portraits, but they haven’t seen a single animal.

Dust
During the day I tried not to change lenses because the amount of dust in the car is incredible and, as you'll probably know a CMOS feels very attractive to dust and the dusty particles share that feeling. This resulted in the "big L" hardly ever leaving the camera and therefore no CMOS cleaning was required. Ideally, you'd have an extra camera for each lens.

ISO dilemma
The lens with the extender on it results in a maximum aperture of 5.6 over the entire range. Setting ISO at 100 usually meant a shutter speed around 1/180. Unless the camera is completely stable this is to slow when the focal distance is 448 (using the rule of thumb that the shutter speed should be higher than 1/focal distance).

By looking at the LCD at the back of the camera you can’t really tell if the pictures were sharp even when zoomed in. So I ended up setting the camera to ISO 200 most of the time and sometimes treated the camera even to ISO 400.


Picture details: 1/180s @ f5.6, ISO 400, 196mm, cropped

The dilemma is whether to choose additional noise caused by the higher ISO over the potential blur caused by too low a shutter speed. I chose a higher ISO. If you own a faster lens or a lens with an image stabilizer (or a combination of those) you may not have this problem. You will have the problem of 2.3 extra kilos in your bag and a negative bank account...

Because this lens/extender has a maximum aperture of 5.6 I set the camera to Av and left it at 5.6 to get the highest possible shutter speed. This also means minimal depth of field, but that's usually what you want anyway to get the background blurry.

Picture details: 1/1000s @ f5.6, ISO 400, 280mm

Did you know the remaining number of pictures magically changes on the 10D when the ISO changes? I guess it makes sense that compression is harder when noise is added to a picture.

TIP: before going on safari determine what the effect of each ISO setting is. Also, try taking a picture with maximum focal distance without a tripod to see what shutter speed still gives you an acceptably sharp picture. Alternatively, this well-known site compares noise levels for each camera in great detail.

Beanbag
Despite all the preparation by reading the excellent sites about this topic there was one thing I didn't have cause I couldn't find it. It's really quite essential for safari: a beanbag. Instead I had a little tripod, which is utterly useless with such a big lens. So I ended up using the lodge's laundry bag with clothes in it, which is a lousy alternative for a beanbag. The camera will not be stable and pointing at the wrong animal. Take my word for it: bring a proper one if you can find it. A lot of airport stores sell those beanbags to put on your neck during the flight.

By the way, the wind can sometimes shake the car substantially and no beanbag will help you there.

Focussing
In order to get the focus right you'll need to focus on the animal's eyes and then recompose the shot. This is quite tricky especially when you have a laundry style beanbag. This led to actually using the camera's multiple focal points (other than the center one) for the first time ever.

Laptop?
Not being able to see your pictures on full size and color is frustrating especially if you're not sure of the effects of camera movement and ISO setting. I did not bring one (because its to damn heavy). My pocket pc (used to type in this text) reads CF cards but has insufficient resolution to be useful for checking pictures. Maybe the new VGA pocket pc's will be the answer.

Action shots
Confession: I used one of the dummy icons. I found the Running Man icon useful for quickly switching to both the ISO 400 setting and the AI Servo without touching the other settings. Handy for fast-moving animals…

Picture details: 1/2000s @ f6.7, ISO 400, 252mm. AI Servo kicks in automatically

Picture details: 1/1500s @ f5.6, ISO 400, 280mm. So that's when you need the buffer in the camera...

Remote Switch (shutter-release extension)
Buy one. They're ridiculously expensive but you will need it for the longer exposures. A cool trick for getting rid of all the cord is tying it in a knot around the lens. The 10D uses the RS-80N3.

Time of day
Basic knowledge is that during early morning and late afternoon the light is at it's best for photography. Safari starts early so that's good but most parks close at 18:30 meaning the best light is unfortunately lost driving back to the lodge.

1/350s @ f6.7, ISO 100, 203mm
Time is 11:30, harsh shadows

1/500s @ f6.7, ISO 100, 280mm

Time is 16:30, softer light

1/20s @ f5.6, ISO 200, 280mm

Time is 17:00

Storage and back up
Having forgotten 1 gig in the card reader at home (doh!) I had to buy some extra at the airport back home and ended up with 2. You can't buy extra storage in most of Tanzania. You can find it in Arusha, which is the basis for most safaris, but it's easier to bring enough. Kenya is a more developed country than Tanzania is.

I set the file size on the camera to "Large" with the medium compression (the staircase icon). These files are about 1.2 MB, so with 2 GB that provides plenty of opportunity for random fire without having to delete the crap ones immediately.

Picture details: 1/350s @ f6.7, ISO 100, 280mm

If you haven't been on safari before you may have an incorrect assumption of how many animals you'll see in a day. On top of that you spend a lot of time traveling to the next park. In one week of safari I took home approximately 550 pictures excluding the pictures I shot during the rest of my holiday. Much less than I expected.

In retrospect, I could have used low compression and still have enough space. RAW definitely wouldn't have worked and the time spent on those afterwards is just a bit too professional for me. I did use RAW a couple of times when I suspected the white balance would be difficult and that turned out well. The 10D also stores the lens type in the EXIF-data when you use RAW, which is nice. For some reason this doesn't happen otherwise.

1/250s @ f8, ISO 200, 60mm, RAW
RAW gave a slightly better result

1/250s @ f8, ISO 200, 60mm
Auto Whitebalance

It's a bit scary not to have a back up of your pictures during travel. I looked at the Belkin card reader for the iPod but found in a review that the transfer speed between the reader and the iPod is a joke. Too bad... I decided to live life dangerously - without a back up. You may want to consider buying one of the many image tanks available.

Camera bags
Choosing the right bag is normally not a man's concern. However, choosing the right camera bag when you own a couple of lenses is more difficult than choosing the right wedding dress.

Here's what worked for me. When you own a couple of lenses and a flash, you've probably looked at the backpacks that have nice compartments for each lens. You don't want those, especially not for safari! You need a top loader to be able to reach your things easily while in the car, with the bag on the floor. Besides, you'll want to carry more than just camera stuff. In order to store a camera and one or more big lenses you're automatically looking at the expensive semi-pro camera bags. Thieves love those bags. Even more so when they have "Lowepro" written on it. What I did instead was put my small camera bag and my tele-lens in a normal bag. The tele-lens has it's own soft case. This also left some space for binoculars and other gadgets. The bag I found at a mountaineer shop and was made by Timbuk2. It's perfect.

Flash
In Tanzania there's not too much opportunity for night-drives. Even if you do plan one, you'll probably scare the animals to death with your flash. I hardly used my flash at all.. If you do plan a night-drive you'll need an external flash to be able to focus accurately. The Canon 420EX is the logical choice for 10D or 300D owners (430EX now...).

Wide angle
If you like shooting landscapes you'll need a wider lens than a 28 if you have a digital SLR. A popular top lens is the Canon 17-40 L. Due to the lack of one I used the Photostitch feature on a digital IXUS to be able to take a picture of the beautiful view of the Ngorongoro crater in the morning.

Photostitch with the IXUS s410

Exposure I have only one gripe about the 10D and that's the lack of spot metering. Somebody at Canon please tell us why it's missing, the public deserves to know!

On safari you need it more than ever because animals often have a clear blue sky behind them. For example the giraffe's face up in the sky is easily under-exposed. You'll need to over-expose up to 2 stops to get it right. Fortunately you can see the result immediately and you'll quickly develop a sense for the correct setting. I felt sorry for all the people with film cameras that undoubtedly returned back home with many silhouettes of the leopard in the tree. Having said that, you can always try to Photoshop your way to a good picture (use Shadow/Highlights in Adobe Photoshop CS).

1/125s @ f5.6, ISO 100, 280m, RAW
Over-exposed 2 stops and used Shadow/Highlights in Photoshop CS because it was still underexposed. Photoshopped a new sky in there too...

1/180s @ f5.6, ISO 200, 280m, RAW
Using a Photo filter in Photoshop CS: Cooling (80) and lowering contrast

Batteries
The 10D and 300D have excellent battery life using the BP-511/BP-512 (the 20D has even better). I brought 3 but 2 is already enough (especially with the extended version). Most lodges and tented camps have 220V electricity so you can charge at night. You get best value from your batteries if you drain them entirely (even Li-ion ones) because the number of re-charges is limited. One battery lasts about 2 days if you switch the camera off consistently after taking a picture.

Private safari
Sharing the car with 6 other people? Personally, I couldn’t imagine a more frustrating experience. To take a good picture you need to be able to maneuver through the car. Also, if the animal is not on your side of the car you cannot rest your camera on the roof if the car is full and you'll have to shoot by hand. It's obviously more expensive but I think it's worth it. A holiday like this just is something most people only do once in a lifetime. Another choice is that between 4WD and a minivan. A 4WD is more comfortable (and thus more expensive) because the roads are quite rough in Tanzania. We saw mostly 4WDs.

Other stuff
The mountaineer shops have little bags they call stuff-bags. Handy for keeping all your wires and adapters together in your luggage.

Kenya or Tanzania?
Choose Tanzania. Or Botswana if you can afford it (I've heard it's great). Read other sites about where to go and when (because it depends on time of year).

Parks visited
Lake Manyara, Serengetti, Ngorongoro crater, Tarangire.

Links (to some stunning pictures)
http://www.wildlifephotography.nl/
http://www.andybiggs.com/
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/locations/tanzania.shtml
http://www.vothphoto.com/recent/africa2003/ africa2003_wildlife_main.htm

Have fun!

1/1500s @ f5.6, ISO 200, 280mm

1/250s @ f5.6, ISO 100, 280mm

1/1500s @ f5.6, ISO 400, 280mm

1/1500s @ f5.6, ISO 400, 280mm