Five (5) tips for your next African Safari
Bring Fast Memory Cards
The perfect photo doesn’t just happen, it usually involves and a bunch of waiting followed by a flurry of photos in burst mode.
Be sure your camera and your memory card are ready. To ensure your memory card doesn’t hold your camera back, be sure to have the fastest memory card available today. Your camera only has a small portion of space in its memory to hold photos while transferring them to the SD Card. If the transfer rate of your card is too slow your camera will not be able to shoot another photo until room has cleared.
The last thing you want is for your memory card to be the bottleneck because you didn’t want to spend the extra $100. Memory is very cheap compared to other parts of your gear, make sure to have plenty of fast cards.
There is a blog post written by “Have Camera, Will Travel”. Read that post here, https://havecamerawilltravel.com/photographer/fastest-sd-cards
Always be ready when coming up on an animal
I find it best to have your camera set to very fast shutter speed between animal spottings because you never know when or where your next sighting will come from.
It may mean adding some ISO to your shot, but it’s better than missing it. Sometimes you only get a brief moment and you don’t want to end up with a handful of unusable, blurry photos.
When arriving up to a new animal try starting with a fast shutter speed and once the animal is comfortable with you being there, and you’ve captured it… then take the time to optimize your shot by working on composition.
Back Up in duplicate
There are a couple of ways to backup your images while on the road. The simplest is to buy a device that does just that, backup flash memory cards. There are a number on the market (google “portable photo storage devices”) and they can be used without a computer, saving weight and worry on a trip. Turn the device on, insert a memory card and hit the button! Instant, up to 30 minutes instant depending on card size, backup!
Then there is the laptop solution. If you are already bringing a laptop I would suggest bringing along two portable harddrives, like the Seagate portable harddrive devices. I take two 4TB portable hard drives and back up my images to each portable drive. Here is a link to portable hard drives on Amazon. https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-Backup-Portable-External-STDR4000100/dp/B00ZTRXFBA/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1517495429&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=portable+hard+drive+4tb&psc=1
As another option, do not erase or format your memory cards after you back them up, unless you are totally out of space and it is a must. The idea is to keep your memory cards, with their precious memories, on you at almost all times and then keep your backup copy in another location. This way if something goes missing, you have another copy.
Composition
Look all over your viewfinder. If you are accustomed to taking photos in a controlled environment, the ‘clutter’ of the bush can make composition a challenge. Sometimes you are shooting fast, but when you have time to set up your shot, really hold the camera steady and have a look around the viewfinder.
Trust me, good photographers still get trees sticking out of elephant’s ears. Remember that the depth of field doesn’t look the same in the viewfinder as the final image. Consider if you need to flatten the depth of field (larger aperture) to cut on background clutter.
Don’t forget to sit back and enjoy the experience
I have been leading trips for years and I find that it is really important, from time to time, to get the photographers out from behind their cameras.
Pull yourself into the experience. Share with your traveling partners, the magic that is an African Safari
Want to join me on safari? Read the details here, https://www.kevinpepperphotography.com/2019-tanzania-photo-safari-in-april