Bush Warriors Wildlife Photography Workshop A Fresh Start

Hi everybody!

With a lot of very exciting developments in the pipeline at both Bush Warriors and Photo-Africa things have been hectically busy but it is good to be back!

One of the new, and very exciting, new parts of Photo-Africa is a weekly video chat where we look at wildlife photography and pretty much anything to do with this wonderful past time.

These videos are a great way to keep widening our online community and includes:

• Wildlife photography tips
• Lightroom Tutorials
• Discussion on photography
• Random thoughts related to wildlife and photography

I am very happy to say that after chatting with Dori, we will be sharing the Weekly Chats, which are posted every Friday, on the Bush Warriors website.

I look forward to hearing from you so please feel free to contact me with any questions or thoughts you might have on wildlife photography.

Below is the latest chat, divided into two parts, and then a list of all the previous chats we have done!

Hope you enjoy.

These chats are a great way to share information and in future we will be including a conservation section as well.

If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to contact me!

If you have any interesting wildlife or nature conservation links please feel free to send them through so that we can share them

Gerry van der Walt

Bush Warriors Wildlife Photography Workshop

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Bush Warriors Wildlife Photography Workshop: Learn from Technology

With today’s camera technology, it is too easy to get caught up in all the settings and buttons.

I see it all too often.  We are out in the field, a great photographic opportunity presents itself, and then some people are struggling with settings and–you guessed it–they miss the shot.

Don’t get me wrong.  Technology is great and it has definitely changed the way we photograph wildlife and nature, but if you make the technology your focus, you will not create better images.

It is your artistic approach, your vision, which will allow you to take better images with the use of the wonderful technology available to us.

So, with that being said, let’s use technology to teach us something about the artistic side of wildlife photography.

Apart from running Photo-Africa, I also manage a safari lodge in the Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa.  I recently started putting up camera traps around the waterhole and we have been getting the most amazing results.

I have no idea what the settings on these basic cameras are, but they take the most amazing photos, and all of this purely because something walked in front of it.

Here are a few of the images I have been able to get off the camera traps and a few lessons you can take from it to improve your own wildlife photography.

Bush Warriors Wildlife Photography Workshop: Are You Stuck?

Hi all,

After a few weeks it’s good to be back!

As I was sitting thinking what I should write about for this blog I kept on coming back to one thought.  What is it that gets us inspired to photograph wildlife?  What is it that makes us click the shutter?

After running a wildlife photography workshop last week I wrote this blog post on my site.  The bottom line is that you should never decide before hand, like some people do, as to whether you are going to get good images or not.  Get out there and give it a bash first before giving up.

So to pick up on that, what can you do when you get stuck?  When you are out there and you just cannot seem to create good images?

Hey, I wish I had a definitive answer, but due to the nature of wildlife photography, that’s almost impossible.  I do think, however, that there are ways that you can approach your own wildlife photography to keep things fresh and to keep you inspired.

Here are a few thoughts I came up with, and images I shot, during our workshops last weekend.

Bush Warriors Wildlife Photography Workshop: ‘Decisions and Choices’ with Grant Marcus

Please welcome our guest pro photographer, Mr. Grant Marcus!

‘Decisions and Choices’ with Grant Marcus

So often we sit with decisions in wildlife photography that can either work or bomb out completely.  Especially when you have an opportunity to capture something rare or unique.  It normally happens at the worst time of day, early morning and late, late afternoon.  That is where you need to know your equipment.  Post-processing plays an enormous role in the outcome of your image especially if you worked in bad light.

These lion images were shot just after 6:00 a.m. in the morning.  Normally, I wouldn’t even bother shooting them in this light, but the situation, the scene ,and the opportunity to capture something unique was there and I had to take it.  In wildlife photography you only get maybe one chance to get that unique shot of a species.  We all know that lions swimming and playing in water is, in itself, a unique opportunity.

Bush Warriors Wildlife Photography Workshop: Don’t Cut It Off

Last week, we started looking at some basic compositional guidelines which will help you to improve your wildlife photography.

Picking up from there, today we going to have a look at one of the most common mistakes people make when photographing wild subjects.  Whether it is due to the excitement of the moment or they just do not know better, many people cut pieces off their subjects.

Sounds strange yeah?

Let me use examples to explain a little better.  Have a look at the following image.

Not a bad lion image but there is one big distraction.  Whether you know it or not, your mind will always pick up on it.

See it?

Yeah, the foot has been cut off.  Now compare it to the following version of the same image.

Much better hey?  You get the full picture.

Here is another example.

Nice sighting.  Great light.  Workable background.

If only the elephant’s feet were not cut off.

The only way in which you can rectify this common mistake is to take note of it when you are looking at your subject through the viewfinder.  If possible, always rather leave a little bit of extra room around your subject to make sure that you get the full picture.  If necessary you can always crop off the empty space afterwards.

Having said all of that, there are most definitely times when you can, and will, cut some of your subject off.  During these times you should try and cut them off at one of the major joints. The knee, the middle or the neck.  In both examples above, the subject was cut off in between major joints leaving it looking a bit strange.  A little distracting.

By cutting your subject off at some of the major joints you can create striking, powerful wildlife images.

By cutting off this elephant at his middle, I have created an image where there is no distracting elements (such as half a foot or knee) and there is no doubt as to where I want my viewer to focus.

Here is one more example.

I chose to cut this young lion on the neck.  By doing this I kept the focus on the youngsters face and eliminated any distracting elements.  Also, going back to last week’s post, there is lots of empty space for the cub to look into.

By getting into a habit of checking your composition just before clicking the shutter you can markably improve your images, all of these posts, and others you find on the internet, is purely intended as guidelines.  That’s the great thing about photography!

Go out there and enjoy!

See you next week.

Gerry van der Walt