Edition 45: Winter 2008/9

With big zooms ablazing, photographers – professional and amateur alike – are seemingly always after the ever-closer close-up. Are they missing the big picture? Tracey Rich and Andy Rouse think so.

One of the first things everyone comments on when speaking of Africa is the sky and the vastness of the landscapes. However, when on safari it’s often the close and the intimate experiences with wildlife that we focus on, meaning we forget to widen our view to take in the context in which these memories are placed. While you can’t bottle or photograph the sounds and smells that accompany your safari experiences, nor bring home the wonderful joy of spirit of Africans, one thing we can all do is to take some time to try and capture the wider picture on film. The habitat in which an animal lives is ultimately as important as the individual, and to include this as part of your picture will help to tell the story of their relationship.

Reclining Mountain Gorilla, Virunga volcanoes, Rwanda
Nikon D3, 70-200mm VR lens, ISO 1000, 1/250th at f8
Just because your animal is in a landscape doesn’t mean that you have to think only in terms of the horizontal. Choose the image format that most suits your scene and is most appropriate to the story you are trying to tell. Clearly the emphasis here is to show that this gorilla lives at altitude, in fact on the slopes of a volcanic range – the peak of a nearby volcano serves to illustrate this. To create an image that successfully shows an animal within its environment like this one you need to use a large aperture to ensure that the depth of field is big enough to also keep the background focus. This will inevitably create a slower shutter speed, so a steady hand, tripod or car window is essential to alleviate camera shake.

Lone bull elephant, East Africa
Canon EOS 1Ds MkII, 70-200mm f2.8L lens, ISO 200, 1/125th at f11
The East African plains are exactly that: plain. But the creatures that traverse these flat and reasonably featureless areas are anything but. This lone bull elephant adds further interest to this image, whose centrepiece is the dramatic sky created by the approaching storm. Importantly, the photograph also tells us something about the animal and how it lives its life, solitarily and constantly on the move. Aesthetically, it’s crucial to get the right proportion of the elephant against the sky itself, and to have the mighty herbivore walking into the available space in the image – not out of it.

A lull in the annual wildebeest migration, Masai Mara, Kenya
Canon EOS 1Ds MKII, 70-200mm lens, ISO 400, 1/250th at f11
Again, it is the sky that really makes this image come to life. Care needs to be taken when photographing animals in landscape images like this one. Keep it balanced by remembering the classic ‘rule of thirds’ (1/3 land to 2/3 sky, or visa versa) and ensuring that the animals are still readily identifiable. For instance, try not to allow the horizon to trace through the middle of the animal, which results in the visual equivalent of having the animal’s legs lopped off. Also watch out for features that can help frame the focal point; in this image the leaning acacia tree helps to lead the eye towards the main subject, the wildebeest grazing serenely.

Hippos at dawn, South Luangwa, Zambia
Canon EOS 1Ds MkII, 100-400mm f4.0 lens, ISO 400, 1/50th; and a very steady hand!
Wow! What an amazingly pink sky. This image not only illustrates the hippo’s intrinsic link with the river, but also tells of problems within its environment – the stunning colour of the sky was due to neighbouring brushwood fires. If shooting towards the sun (like this) try not to aim your lens directly at the sun – like you’d do with your eyes, point the camera at a slight angle to it. This will reduce nasty sun flares on the image and, more importantly, potential damage to your camera and eye.

Pro-photographer's top tips

• Look for lines and patterns, and have in your mind an idea of what you want the end result to look like.
• Keep an eye on the sky – weather conditions can make or break an animal-in-landscape picture.
• Pick a focal point and stick to it. Lovely landscape images, even when they have lots going on in them, need to be in focus.
• Take it when you see it. I have passed by numerous opportunities for a wonderful image, only to forever kick myself for not having stopped and captured it.