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Elephant Photography
Have you thought of joining one of our photographic workshops? I watched a really interesting TV documentary about elephants and their communication abilities the other night and that got me thinking about the number of times we were “revved” by elephants during the time we spent doing the photographs for our Tuli - Land of Giants book . Not a day went by without some sort of contact with these very large grey beasts. There was one female in particular that seemed to know when the de la Harpes were out in their very tatty, very ancient Land Rover. (It's the breeding herds that are the worst by the way. The old bulls on their own? Hey, they're cool!). Were the old bulls and other elephants that we came across letting her know that we had left camp and were heading her way? In spite of the fact that these herds made things “interesting” they were a great delight to photograph and we did get some pretty useful pictures of them. Photographing elephants, and in fact many of the other larger mammals like buffalo, rhino and hippo can be very rewarding and in many ways easier than the smaller beasts. With the possible exception of black rhino all the larger animals tend to me much more relaxed than, say, the average steenbok, bushbuck or even impala in some locations. And, because of their size, a shorter focal length lens is needed to fill the frame from a given distance than with a smaller animal.  One does come across the occasional relaxed breeding herd of elephants that can be great value. (Keep an eye on the young males as they very often have a surge of testosterone and have this need to prove how strong and aggressive they are which can set the whole bunch off). Once the pictures of the whole herd have been done try to get in closer, either by using a longer lens or by repositioning yourself, and pick out details. The elephant's tail and rump make great pix as can the little ones at play, trunks sucking up water and really tight portraits. But be very careful and ALWAYS make sure that there is a path for you to move out of the way. I've watched many rangers and guides in game reserves taking guests into see elephants and it's only the really good ones, the professional ones, that pay heed to this, often reversing the vehicle slowly towards the animals. Don't forget to do the “animals in environment” shot with a wide-angle lens. One of the most appealing shots of ele's that I did was taken with a 35mm lens of the herd walking away from me in late afternoon light. It's not all about close-ups and details. area around Memorial Gate in Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park can be very good for elephants and also for rhino and buffalo. One thing to be aware of when photographing these dark animals is that the camera can very easily overexpose, especially when shooting close-ups. L ight meters “see” everything as medium grey (18% grey in fact), so will try to set an exposure to achieve this. When photographing something that is pure white the meter will give you a grey image so one needs to dial in some overexposure to get white. The reverse applies to blacks or very dark greys. The meter will try to give you a mid grey so one needs to underexpose to get the darker greys or black. Not much is required in the way of adjustment – two thirds to one stop in most cases, sometimes a little more. This really only applies to those using slide film or digital cameras. Print film and Raw digital images can be corrected during the printing stage. also enjoy photographing rhino, especially the blacks, as they tend to be somewhat more active than the whites. Black rhino have got themselves a terrible reputation for aggression and bad temperedness. This is deserved to a degree but they really are not that bad. Sure they are inclined to leap into the air (well, not quite. Just a small hop perhaps) and charge and paw the ground and snort loudly but once you've got them calmed down they're really are quite fascinating animals. And the best part is that they are very inquisitive so that it's easy to get them to come over to you. On one occasion we were driving slowly along the nGolotsha Loop in the western part of Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park when we saw a black rhino a hundred metres or so off the road. It stopped feeding and then trotted off a little way before stopping to watch us. I made some squeaking noises and before long it ambled over – quite relaxed. We spent about half an hour with it before it moved off. It was completely unstressed but one does need to do this in a calm and responsible manner. Probably one of the finest places to photograph white rhino is on Sontuli Loop in Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park where it runs along the Black Umfolozi River. The dry winter months are great when the rhino (blacks too) make the daily trip to the river to drink. It's a great spot to photograph animals with different lighting conditions, as often there are enough animals to get both front and back lighting on them. When shooting into the light (back lighting on the subject) a little underexposure can sometimes enhance the image, making things a somewhat more dramatic.  Buffalo also confuse light meters very easily. They can be surprisingly dark but great shooting value nonetheless. What often makes them really worthwhile is the oxpeckers that spend so much time with them. Again it's slowly slowly and it's possible to get really close, particularly with large herds when they seem to almost turn into a bunch of cattle. It's a matter of spending time with them and they soon forget about you and carry on doing buffalo things. The oxpeckers also return and can add a colourful aspect to what can easily be a very dark brown image. One last little tip to finish things off: When looking through the viewfinder, try to view the image in the view finder as a picture in itself rather than at the scene in front of you, but through the camera. Look carefully at that image. Look at the corners to see that there is nothing intruding there. Look at the background to see that there is nothing sticking out of your subject's head. Take it slowly. But above all look at the image. Only when you are completely happy with the picture do you very gently squeeze the shutter release button. If there's something that you would like to read about in this column or questions you have , feel free to contact me on e-mail at info@africaimagery.com . I will try to get back to you but things sometimes get a little hectic around here so please forgive me if I don't. It will, though, help to give me an idea of what you want to know. |
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