It's always been a dream of mine to go shoot in Africa. How many lenses each did you guys bring and which ones?
We all brought mutiple lenses with us. I used the Nikon 200-400 f/4 for most of my wildlife captures. The 70-200mm 2.8 VRII got a lot if use also. I used the 14-24 2.8 and the 28-70 2.8 for my landscape captures. The 50mm 1.4 got some use for people captures. The 1.4 TC and the 2.0 TC got some use too.
My D3s and D3 were my primary bodies. The D300 got some use on the last day but was along primarily as a back-up body. I also got quite a few captures with the Fuji X-100.
Harry http://behret.smugmug.com/NANPA member How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
It's always been a dream of mine to go shoot in Africa. How many lenses each did you guys bring and which ones?
I used primarily three lenses, the 500 f/4L, the 70-300L and a 24-105L. Zooms are practical as one minute you're photographing a small animal rather far away, and the next minute there's a leopard not 10 feet from your vehicle I brought a few other lenses, too - wide angle prime for landscape shots, and a fisheye as well.
So, the 2nd part of our trip was 5 days and nights in The Maasai Mara at Rekero Camp. Can't really call it "camping" with ginormous tents bigger than most hotel suites, comfy beds, flush loos, fresh linens, amazing food, great guides, beautiful common areas and a gorgeous location on the Talek River.
As a group we managed to hit 10 sunrises and sunsets - not too shabby! Each morning was glorious, here's a typical sunrise in The Mara
Hippos were everywhere in the Mara and Talek rivers
I mentioned that Lewa was a birder's paradise - well, they're all over The Mara, too
You really need to be prepared when on Safari here - one moment you're shooting at 500mm and the next there's an ele not a meter away from you!
This photo doesn't capture the amazingness of the Wildebeest - there are some 2,000,000 of them that migrate, everywhere you turn you see scenes like this
It did rain a bit here and there, never bothering us though - and then the rainbow!
Sarah and Chris getting up close and personal with a leopard
Fred enjoying the sunset - sometimes you just don't need a camera!
Watching the predation and the movements of the animals is fascinating. Here is a group on hyenas, this is the start of a gang war, sharks v jets style, where this group wanted the territory held by the group off camera to the right. Attack, parry, thrust, gnashing of teeth, etc - the home team fought the aggressors off 3 times, and held their ground - we watched this for well over an hour, just amazing.
Moar? Sure! As we continued our 5 days and nights in The Maasai Mara, we saw animals all the time on our early morning and then late afternoon game-drives.
Lion posing, just after waking
Getting ready for the hunt, gotta stretch those important muscles!
There were many opportunities to see family interaction
We loved the baboons - and next trip we'll spend even more time with them - including walking amongst them!
After this early morning game drive, it was lovely breakfast in the field, followed by the one-legged Maasai races
Then it was back to camp for downtime, lunch, and an afternoon critique session. After that, back out on another game drive....
I love capturing the animals' movements with slow shutter. Zebras and a beestie:
Giraffe abound, here are a mother, father and young one. The male is checking the female to see if she's ready for mating - she rebuffed him. Giraffes have a very long gestation period, and then - the young are delivered while the female is standing up :yikes imagine being dropped from that distance! They do this because to lie down and give birth would put the mother in a very vulnerable position, to predators.
Another of our many leopard encounters, these are such beautiful creatures
Day is done.
More coming, I hope to make my next post about predation.
Some great photos in this thread. I was with a few colleagues working in Namibia a few years ago and we decided to charter a plane out to one of the national parks in the north. The plane ride was spectacular but we were all very naive, thinking we'd get good wildlife photographs with Ixus and Sony digicams....... .
Some great photos in this thread. I was with a few colleagues working in Namibia a few years ago and we decided to charter a plane out to one of the national parks in the north. The plane ride was spectacular but we were all very naive, thinking we'd get good wildlife photographs with Ixus and Sony digicams....... .
Seeing Africa by small plane is amazing, glad you got to do it!
Predation. We saw plenty of it. If I had to come back as an animal, I'd want to be a lion in The Mara. There's food everywhere you look! I love the audience, there are vultures and other birds always standing by... pretty much NOTHING goes to waste, there are even some micro-creatures that eat up all the bone marrow
Marc will have some more predation shots I'm sure.
Linda's response when she saw the lions feeding off the wildebeest, "I may never eat ribs again".
Harry http://behret.smugmug.com/NANPA member How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Marc MuenchRegistered UsersPosts: 1,420Major grins
edited November 8, 2011
And here is more!
On the way from Lewa to the Mara we flew over some Flamingos...... actually thousands
Next year we are planning on spending a night here.
Once in Camp Rekero we had some business to take care of, so we hired the Maasai. Trickle down economics
We headed out in the rain.
And captured animals in the soft light, I call this "blurry light"
This being our first game drive in the Mara, the graphics of the scenery appeared supercharged
I rode on this afternoon game drive with Harry and Lynda. After photographing for a few hours on the large plains we headed down to a sighting we will never forget! A female lion and her cubs. I have video of this scene, which I am editing into a piece for the entire trip, but Harry's shutter was firing the entire time so much for the audio:D
Then while our shutters were firing totally out of control Lynda says to us, "Oh look up" and for a good reason....
Then it was getting dark but but but..... I had a camera that can shoot in the dark!
So I found this very interesting! I have seen many upon many sunsets over the years and have seen many upon many upon many ways to process sunsets Of all the methods in photography that I simply dont like is an over-saturated sunset...... So I usually try very hard to only bring out the colors with contrast and then even find that most often I am de-saturating the final image. Believe it or not that is what I had to do with this scene,,,, but look at all those colors! The colors are there in the RAW files so I did not make them up. I guess it's just a Mara Sunset
Somehow I'm not feeling all the guilty about my camera's clicking ruining your audio.
Harry http://behret.smugmug.com/NANPA member How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Moar? Sure! As we continued our 5 days and nights in The Maasai Mara, we saw animals all the time on our early morning and then late afternoon game-drives.
Day is done.
More coming, I hope to make my next post about predation.
This pic reminded me of a track from the Kronos Quartet's "Pieces of Africa" album. The name of the piece is "Sunset".
Awesome shots here, people!
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Lauren Blackwell
www.redleashphoto.com
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We all brought mutiple lenses with us. I used the Nikon 200-400 f/4 for most of my wildlife captures. The 70-200mm 2.8 VRII got a lot if use also. I used the 14-24 2.8 and the 28-70 2.8 for my landscape captures. The 50mm 1.4 got some use for people captures. The 1.4 TC and the 2.0 TC got some use too.
My D3s and D3 were my primary bodies. The D300 got some use on the last day but was along primarily as a back-up body. I also got quite a few captures with the Fuji X-100.
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
I used primarily three lenses, the 500 f/4L, the 70-300L and a 24-105L. Zooms are practical as one minute you're photographing a small animal rather far away, and the next minute there's a leopard not 10 feet from your vehicle
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Kristine
As a group we managed to hit 10 sunrises and sunsets - not too shabby! Each morning was glorious, here's a typical sunrise in The Mara
Hippos were everywhere in the Mara and Talek rivers
I mentioned that Lewa was a birder's paradise - well, they're all over The Mara, too
You really need to be prepared when on Safari here - one moment you're shooting at 500mm and the next there's an ele not a meter away from you!
This photo doesn't capture the amazingness of the Wildebeest - there are some 2,000,000 of them that migrate, everywhere you turn you see scenes like this
It did rain a bit here and there, never bothering us though - and then the rainbow!
Sarah and Chris getting up close and personal with a leopard
Fred enjoying the sunset - sometimes you just don't need a camera!
Watching the predation and the movements of the animals is fascinating. Here is a group on hyenas, this is the start of a gang war, sharks v jets style, where this group wanted the territory held by the group off camera to the right. Attack, parry, thrust, gnashing of teeth, etc - the home team fought the aggressors off 3 times, and held their ground - we watched this for well over an hour, just amazing.
...more to come!
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Lion posing, just after waking
Getting ready for the hunt, gotta stretch those important muscles!
There were many opportunities to see family interaction
We loved the baboons - and next trip we'll spend even more time with them - including walking amongst them!
After this early morning game drive, it was lovely breakfast in the field, followed by the one-legged Maasai races
Then it was back to camp for downtime, lunch, and an afternoon critique session. After that, back out on another game drive....
I love capturing the animals' movements with slow shutter. Zebras and a beestie:
Giraffe abound, here are a mother, father and young one. The male is checking the female to see if she's ready for mating - she rebuffed him. Giraffes have a very long gestation period, and then - the young are delivered while the female is standing up :yikes imagine being dropped from that distance! They do this because to lie down and give birth would put the mother in a very vulnerable position, to predators.
Another of our many leopard encounters, these are such beautiful creatures
Day is done.
More coming, I hope to make my next post about predation.
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Lauren
Lauren Blackwell
www.redleashphoto.com
:jawdrop
I really like day is done. I think it screams for a pano crop.
Sam
Thanks so much, more to come
Seeing Africa by small plane is amazing, glad you got to do it!
Thanks Sam! I haven't yet critically looked at all my shots, much less the lansdscape-y ones but I love your suggestion!
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Marc will have some more predation shots I'm sure.
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Great captures
Linda's response when she saw the lions feeding off the wildebeest, "I may never eat ribs again".
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Cuong
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Next trip: Feb 2013
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Fabulous images and an amazing experience, I'm sure.
Ceci
http://www.imagesbyceci.com
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Picadilly, NB, Canada
I know this journey has moved on to the Maasai Mara,,,,,,,,,,, but,,,,,,,,,, there is one more "butt" that I wanted to highlight from Lewa.
Did you know that an elephant butt looks like the front of an elephant
I promise much much more insight in the next post:D
Muench Workshops
MW on Facebook
Lauren Blackwell
www.redleashphoto.com
On the way from Lewa to the Mara we flew over some Flamingos...... actually thousands
Next year we are planning on spending a night here.
Once in Camp Rekero we had some business to take care of, so we hired the Maasai. Trickle down economics
We headed out in the rain.
And captured animals in the soft light, I call this "blurry light"
This being our first game drive in the Mara, the graphics of the scenery appeared supercharged
I rode on this afternoon game drive with Harry and Lynda. After photographing for a few hours on the large plains we headed down to a sighting we will never forget! A female lion and her cubs. I have video of this scene, which I am editing into a piece for the entire trip, but Harry's shutter was firing the entire time
Then while our shutters were firing totally out of control Lynda says to us, "Oh look up" and for a good reason....
Then it was getting dark but but but..... I had a camera that can shoot in the dark!
So I found this very interesting! I have seen many upon many sunsets over the years and have seen many upon many upon many ways to process sunsets
And yes there is still much much more to come.
Muench Workshops
MW on Facebook
Somehow I'm not feeling all the guilty about my camera's clicking ruining your audio.
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
This pic reminded me of a track from the Kronos Quartet's "Pieces of Africa" album. The name of the piece is "Sunset".
Awesome shots here, people!