Lessons from Africa: Animals

I just returned from leading three photo safaris in Kenya. Three awesome groups went to three amazing locations, where we had tons of fun and captured hundreds of fantastic photos. Whenever the CPA group travels together there are lessons learned. Here are a few lessons on photographing animals on safari.

This was our first safari with 100% full-frame mirrorless cameras. The Nikon, Canon and Sony cameras performed superbly; we had zero failures on safari! My personal kit was fantastic, capturing the moving animals, local people, scenery and video of Kenya under challenging light and conditions. What was my kit? A Nikon Z9, a Nikon Z8 and a Nikon Z8 converted to infrared, with the 24-120mm, 100-400mm and 400mm f/2.8 TC lenses and a 1.4x converter, packed in a Think Tank FirstLight 46 bag.

Lesson 1: The right kit makes picture taking more fun and more successful.

Nikon Z8 and Z9 autofocus was spectacular! AF-C, Wide-Area Small and Wide-Area Large, and Animal Face Detection followed mammals and birds through the grass and in the air. Finding and following focus automatically allowed me to capture magic moments that were fleeting with previous cameras. Today's autofocus technology dramatically changes which photos you take and which photos you make successfully!

Lesson 2: Know your camera and use the technology to your advantage.

The Nikon Z S-Line lenses (just like Canon RF L and Sony GM) made spectacular photos under challenging light conditions on safari. Dusty, backlit, soft-light subjects glowed brilliantly. Wide-aperture photography superbly isolated the subject and produced razor-sharp images with detail that was unheard of three years ago! Look at the clarity and the depth. It's almost better than being there.

Lesson 3: Great lenses make the best photos.

Speed in photography is your friend. Speed sees the intimate action. Speed can make award-winning photographs. A fast shutter speed captures the minute movement and makes a thrilling image. A shutter speed of 1/4000 or 1/3200 (the Nikon Z8 and Z9 shoot up to 1/32,000) freezes the movement of the lion's roar or the cheetah's run. Not only shutter speed but shooting speed (frames per second) is vital to success. Making 20 pictures per second sees every nuance in a movement. It captures the look in the eye and the gesture in the gait. I was never a fan of high-frame-rate photography until I experienced what the Nikon Z9 can do (or the Nikon Z8, Canon R3 or Sony A1).

Lesson 4: Speed captures the magic moment.

Creative Photo Academy has been leading photo safaris to Africa since 2005. We specialize in welcoming new photographers and sharing the safari experience with you! Our veteran safari photographers love the personalized attention, amazing accommodations and the "up close and personal" look we achieve in our wildlife photos. We can't wait for you to join us on our next African photo safari!