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

is brought to you  by:

Bush Warriors Wildlife Photography Workshop: Leave Some Space

By doing a quick Google search you will find many articles and websites that deal with composition.

You will read about the rule of thirds and other guidelines which are all aimed at helping you take better pictures.  In the coming weeks we will look at these compositional guidelines in a whole lot more detail but for now let’s look at space.

In wildlife photography, wild animals need space to move into.  They need space to look into.

When I am out in the field with new photographers, all too often they place their subject dead centre in the frame.  On every frame.

There are most definitely times when you want to place your subject in the middle of your image but not all the time.  Here are a few examples.

The Brown Hyena’s face has been placed in the middle of the frame.  The important thing to take note of is open space on the left of the animal.  This negative space is important as it leaves room for the animals to move into and makes for a much more dynamic image.

Try this, take your hand, or a piece of paper, and place it directly to the left of the hyena’s face.  By doing this, and cutting out all of the negative space, you can see how it changes the look and feel of the image.

Here is another example.

As with the Brown Hyena, the little bird has been placed almost in the middle of the frame but there is a lot of space for it to look into.

In both the above examples you can almost not help but following the invisible line that gets created by the direction the animals is moving or looking in and the moment you get your viewer’s eyes moving around your image you have created a good image.  A good visual story.

Now there are definitely times when you want to cut down on the space you leave for your subjects.

When you cage your subject, by not leaving any negative space for it to move into, it makes the images a little more ‘tense’.

By going in tight on the more dangerous you can create rather interesting images.  Look at the example below.

This image would not have been half as powerful if the spider was placed in one corner with a lot of space around it.  In this case, the lack of space around the subject enhances the ‘danger’.

When you are out photographing wildlife take a second and thing about how space, or the lack thereof, can impact your images!

As time goes on we will be looking at many different approaches to wildlife photography.  If, however, you have any specific questions or you would like me to discuss a certain approach , whether technical or artistic, please feel free to contact me at gerry@photo-africa.com

Have a great weekend and see you next week.

Gerry van der Walt

 

Wildlife Photography Workshop: Eye Contact

Welcome to the first edition of  Bush Warriors Wildlife Photography Workshop.

Apart from sharing images which will, hopefully, create an awareness of Africa’s natural heritage, this weekly post will also give you short tips, tricks and some inspiration that you can use to better your own wildlife images.

At the best of time, wildlife photography requires quite a bit of luck but by focusing on some basic, and other not so basic, techniques you  can be sure that when you are faced with a potentially great wildlife image you will be ready to capture the beauty that is Africa.

To kick things off, this week the focus is on eye contact.

I am not referring to catchlight, the little specular highlights in an animals eyes which make the image come alive, but rather direct eye contact from your subject.  Don’t ignore catchlight though!  It is one of the most powerful tools you have when creating wildlife images but for now let’s look at direct eye contact.

Take the following image for example.

A big male lion walking directly towards us.

Beautiful animal?  Absolutely.

Dangerous?  Sure.

But can you feel that in the image?  Nah, doubt it.

Now take this image, taken of the same animal a few seconds before.

Quite a different feel to this one.

The difference that eye contact makes to a wildlife image , especially if your subject is one of the more dangerous species, is invaluable.

So, what is the lesson in all of this?

Well, in order to capture that magical eye contact you might need to wait for your subject.

Patience!

When you look at the work of professional wildlife photographers rememeber that they did not just arrive at a sighting, click the shutter to create an award winning image and move on.  It takes patience to create striking wildlife images with eye contact and, if you are lucky, some catchlight.

And, as a bonus, you will get to enjoy nature at the same time!

Until next week!

Gerry van der Walt

What is the Bushmeat Trade?

The bushmeat trade is the illegal, over-hunting of wildlife for meat and income.

Already in West and Central Africa this trade has resulted in declines and local extinctions of many wildlife species and the economic, cultural and ecosystem services they provide. In addition, a number of human health threats have emerged from the trade in bushmeat including linkages to  HIV/AIDS, ebola and the threat of anthrax.

Bushmeat trade is not regulated or managed by any authority. Economic benefits from the trade go mainly to hunters and traders. If current trends continue, future generations of citizens in Africa will not have the opportunity to access benefits from wildlife. Using wildlife to meet protein and income demands cannot be supported in the long term.

The immediate threat of loss of economic opportunity, cultural and ecological services, and other values to a wider community must be addressed today.

(Taken From: www. bushmeatnetwork.org)

Here are some images from the Bushmeat Trade for you to get an idea of what we are talking about:

Smoked Gorilla Meat

Poachers kill 65 elephants, 30 rhinos in Zimbabwe

Due to recent shift on the African political landscape,  International crime syndicates take advantage of the situation and are threatening the survival of rare African wildlife species. A recent press release by AFP confirms this report.

Some images from gruesome aftermath:

The Issue

There is a war taking place on our planet for which there are no headlines, no demonstrations, no voice. It is a war against some of the most endangered species on earth, and it takes place in some of the most beautiful and majestic biospheres of Africa that are yet to be fully explored . Unseen and untouched by the Western world, it is the perfect place to hide the atrocious acts that are being committed.