07 Jul Rick’s Top Five Big Cat Photo Tips
Adventurous travelers can photograph in-the-wild big cats in several locations around the world – Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania and India perhaps being the most popular. In this column I’ll share with you some of my favorite in-the-wild photographs of big cats, along with some tips for getting good photographs of these magnificent animals.
I converted my color photographs to black-and-white images using Topaz Black & White Effects, one of the plug-ins I use to enhance my photographs. All my plug-ins are listed here: http://ricksammon.com/save-on-plug-ins/
I coverted the files to black-and-white to remove some of the reality from the scene. When we remove some of the reality, our pictures can, but not always, look more artistic and more creative.
Okay, let’s get to the big cats.
1. Freeze the moment.
When the action happens, as was the case when this lioness was giving her mate a “love bite,” you need to shoot fast – and you need a fast shutter speed to stop the action.
For this photograph, which I took in Botswana, I used a shutter speed of 1/400th of a second to stop the action. Setting your camera on rapid frame advance will also help you get the shot.
When shooting in low light, you may need to boost your ISO to get a fast shutter speed. Don’t worry about noise. A picture with a bit of noise is better than a blurry shot. What’s more, you can reduce the noise in Photoshop and in Lightroom.
2. See the light.
In most cases, I want the eyes to be well illuminated and in focus when I photograph a big cat, or any animal (or even a person) for that matter. Silhouettes, of course, are an exception.
As photographers, we need to see the direction of light, which in this photograph, also taken in Botswana, is coming from the left side of the frame and beautifully illuminating the big cat’s face. Had the animal been looking to camera right, its face and eyes would have been shaded, and the picture would have had less impact.
If the light is not right, be patient and wait for good light. Of course, you could open up the shadows in Photoshop or Lightroom, but there is no substitute for good light.
3. Use long lenses.
Although big cats often come surprisingly close to safari vehicles, you still need a telephoto lens or a telephoto zoom to get full-frame shots. My “go to” telephoto lens is my Canon 100-400mm IS lens. For extra reach I attached a Canon 1.4x tele-converted to that lens. That combination gives me a zoom range of 140mm to 560mm. All the photographs in this column were taken with that lens or lens/tele-converter combination.
When using telephoto lenses, it’s especially important to check your shutter speed. As a general rule, don’t use a shutter speed slower than the focal length of the lens when handholding a camera and when not using an image stabilization or vibration reduction lens.
When your camera is set on a tripod or on a beanbag, and when using IS or VR lenses, you can shoot at slower shutter speeds, but it’s still important to check your shutter speeds – because telephoto lenses (like binoculars) exaggerate camera shake.
4 Get a good guide.
Never underestimate the importance of a good guide. He or she can help you find big cats because they know the animal’s habitat and behavior. They also know how track the animals. Before you leave your safari camp, discuss your photographic goals with your guide.
Generally speaking, you’ll see the most action at dawn and dusk, and when big cats are on the hunt or are mating (as in the opening photograph).
When you find the animals, be very, very patient. Wait for behavior shots, which are often more interesting that portraits.
5. See eye-to-eye.
The best seat for photography in a safari vehicle is the one that is the lowest to the ground, which is the front seat. The next best seat is the one behind the driver.
The lower you are to the ground, the more you can see and shoot eye-to-eye. When you get an eye-to-eye photograph, the person looking at your photograph can relate to the subject and feel as though the animal is looking directly at him or her, which is very cool.
The higher up you are in the vehicle, the more your photographs will look as though they were taken at a wildlife park.
6. Watch the background.
The background can make or break a shot. Try to compose your photograph so that the background is not distracting. If the background is distracting, you can blur it by using the widest aperture on your lens – and by blurring it and darkening it using, for example, Focus Pro 2 and Nik Color Efex Pro of the plug-ins I used on this image).
For general tips on photograph on safari, check out my on-line video class: Capturing the Wild – Safari Photography.
I hope to see you back here on Adventure Collection soon. Thank you for joining me.
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