Some of the comments only make sense in the contevt of the trip report - which can be found on Lynda's thread here

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=4&tid=34725679

context... not contevt

Great photos. That one of the agama lizard is really unusual.

Unfortunately, I'm a camera idiot and so can't offer any suggestions re: better color/light.

And nice that your wife snapped you crouching with the Maasai.

I love your leopard photos. Lake Nakuru is fantastic for leopard!

Thankyou Paul, those were really good photos - worth the wait! I will post the link to this thread in the index, probably tonight as I 'should' really be working now.... but just couldn't resist a peek at the photos.
Your fabulous sense of humour even shows through in your one line comments on the pictures!

I think your photos are great. There are some very interesting and unusual ones too. I've never seen giraffe playing with wildebeest bones before! I really like the giraffe with waterbuck, the secretary bird, the agama, the baboons overlooking Nakuru, the weaver and kingfisher. Was the agama photo taken on the Serena grounds? There were agamas all over the place there. What a nice close up of the dik dik. Was that at Nakuru? I've never been able to get good close photos of dik dik. Where's the matatu?

The key to better photos is more safaris

Thanks for sharing your pictures. I especially liked the ones taken at Lake Nakuru.

Paul, thanks for sharing your photos.

It started well with a topi on the first photo. # 4 looks like a steenbok to me as well. The carnivorous giraffes look very disconcerting. I hope they don’t start hunting. I really liked the lion couple in the “after” picture – and the jackal. Nice to see the van and the wife and yourself with the Maasais. I never can get enough of lion cubs and cheetahs. That agama really knew how to pose for a photo. I’d say the strange looking animals in # 30 are young elands. Leopards are always amazing. I loved the dik dik close up. I think your baboon pictures are the nicest I’ve ever seen. I’m not an expert, but I’d say # 50 is a lilac-breasted roller and # 53 a Eurasian bee-eater.
Asante sana.

Some lovely shots you got! I particularly like the one of the jackal, the dik dik, the first rhino shot, the weaver making the nest, the (white-fronted?) bee-eater on the diagonal branches and the three elephant bottoms in ever-decreasing sizes!

Thank you for your comments. I feel like a professional photographer winning an award from a team of extremely kind judges!

Patty
The agama lizard was taken hanging over our room balcony at the Serena (it's a one storey building in case anyone reading this is not aware). And the dik dik was indeed at Nakuru - the one we could not avoid getting too close to because it was standing right by the side of the narrow track we were driving on.
I am afraid I recorded neither the matatu or Mr G for posterity - a mistake for sure.

Nyamera
Caribou
I thought you would like the topi start - I remembered you like them.
Giraffes hunting? It is a scary thought. I will be giggling (in a gruff and manly way of course) all day about that and hope my coworkers will understand why it is so funny. Regretfully I think they might not understand the joke.

Young elands sounds right for #30; I think our guide said that at the time and it was in the same area we saw a new mother eland with the placenta still hanging from her bottom - but I was confused why they have the lines? Do some elands have lines or is it only the young? (This is a "books open" examination).

I am so glad you like my baboon pictures. Most people (including my wife) seem to focus on their bad behaviour but I see them as classic rebels without a cause rather than as English football hooligans.

Thank you for the bird info, but if it is lilac-breasted (also called Eurasian I think) why is the roller's breast pink? I know this is not a color blindness or "sun-cream on-the-lens" issue because I had a bird guide with me when I took those photos. The boat guide at Lake Baringo Club thought the same as you and so I will give you full marks anyway - if you can answer the color difference question we will consider it a bonus point.

Kavey
Thank you for the contribution to the "what-kind of bee-eater" issue. If I can find my bird book I will be able to confirm because it is definitely in there. Glad you enjoyed the elephant bottoms - I have plenty more!

Very nice pictures! Especially love the rhino with the flamingoes. I really want to see flamingoes on our next trip.

Kimburu, the perfect explanation – if you’re a wannabe expert like I am - for the colour pink: It’s an immature bird!

I’d say most elands have more or less visible lines, but sometimes you have to be really close to notice them. Probably, young elands have more distinct lines.

Nyamera
Score 101% (including bonus point). Thank you!

A late reply....

Re: I've never seen giraffe playing with wildebeest bones before!

They do that quite often and it's not about playing, it's about getting minerals. They actually chew and digest the bones.

Siro

Thanks siro.. actually our guide told us that, but it only came back to me much later - I should have added it and thank you for doing so.

Anyway,as Nyamera said, we just hope they don't start hunting

You don't happen to know the end of the mustery of the killer giraffe, by any chance, do you?
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=4&tid=34752654

mustery = mystery

I loved the rhino pictures - and the one of the dik dik. Some really nice landscape ones too. Thanks for sharing!

Kimburu: sorry, I can only use my imagination and sure will be watching out for those killergiraffes when in EA....

Hi Paul, I really enjoyed your photos too! My faves were the closeups of the rhino in the mud, the leopard walking thru tall grass, and giraffe with crater in the background and the bird in mid-air. Although many of us are a step above amateur photographers, we still have to contend with taking photos of animals with the light shining directly down upon them. This will cause exposure and shadow problems in nearly every instance. I got bored with the ground colors in my safari photos. Good software can really warm up those colors - increase red and yellow tones slightly, after correcting your exposure.

Here are a few principles I learned in my class with Phil Douglis - I'll pass them on although I haven't put them into practice much yet.

Phil (who, by the way, would probably have commented on these but I believe he is in China right now) taught me to focus and expose on the brightest part of the frame photo (using a spot meter) and then correct the resulting darkness with photo editing software. So for example, for your pair of cheetah lying in shadow, you would focus on the bright grass right behind them. This of course does not always work the way we want to see our pictures. But I'm certainly going to try it on my next safari in June. Maybe taking one the way Phil taught me, then another my 'old' way, so I can learn which really works for me. That's the great thing about digital!

Next, for outdoor shots, he recommended setting the white balance at 'cloudy' or the corresponding setting for your camera.

Phil also said to cut most of the sky out of your picture, unless it's got great clouds or features at the time, or it will probably 'burn out'- as in the one of you in front of the flamingos, or the 'bomas in Kenya'. All in all, I thought you did that VERY well - good job. But if you need to get the sky in your picture, he said to focus on it somewhere near your subject, so that the subject would come out dark (but fixable on the computer) while the sky would be properly exposed.

Next, Phil confirmed that one of the hardest problems we face is taking night shots of moving animals. He does not believe in flash photography at all. He recommended that I use the 'burst' mode on my camera (it takes several shots at once - not sure what the generic term is), and to try to anticipate where the animal will be walking and focus just a bit ahead. Quite a challenge!

Then, I asked James Weis from Eyes on Africa, who does use the flash at night (and is an excellent photographer). He uses this product:
http://www.moosepeterson.com/gear/betterbeamer.html - which is supposed to extend your flash for zoomed photos. I'm thinking of trying it. Once again, I want to find my own truth about what I want in my pictures, flash or not.

Do you have software? Because you might have fun re-working some of your shots.

Thank you very much for sharing Lin. Those are great ideas, and I can see you are coming from the place I am at right now. The software I use is not that great and after looking at Phil's Web site and reading some of the discussions there I am thinking of buying some and doing as you suggest - it is certainly another perspective and well worth trying. The ones I posted are not much manipulated (except in the camera itself). The advice on night photography is great and I can't wait to get home tonight to try it out on the cats!

By the way Lin, the Phil I referred to at the top of this thread is "Philw" and the instructions were for posting pictures. However, I have recently been taking a closer and closer look at Phil Douglis' posts and the Web site, and so if you understood I was referring to Phil D, it is really a wonderful and lucky coincidence

(I won't call it a misunderstanding because from the wording of my post your understanding is the correct one - a very limited number of people would understand exactly what was meant)!

Paul, how funny that I just assumed you meant Phil Douglis. What I would like to do at some point, and maybe you could get there faster, is to post some of my best shots on the website www.pbase.com, and then link it to Phil's page by asking him to review them. He loves to do that. Not only will you get some great professional advice, but you will also hook up with photographers from all over the world with their perspectives- which is a great learning experience. Happy shooting with the cats!

How did I miss this from back in Jan?

Your rhinos were outstanding, the pair, with the lake and birds in the background.

The pair of giraffes looks like an offering is being made. That baboon shot with the flamingos and lake in the background in down right romantic. Some nice lion action with very young cubs. Since dik diks are normally shy, your face shot is amazing. The 3 eles walking away would make a good "the end" shot. The colors look good to me and so does everything else about the shots.

Lin, you are so kind - and so, obviously, is Phil. I have visited pbase and it really is excellent.

Lynn
I put in a couple in there in whcih the colours are are bit washed out (compared to reality anyway) but most are chosen to go with the trip report. There are another 1200 you didn't see. A good example is the lion with the wildebeest kill; it is taken at the same time as the picture of the jackal and about 20 meters apart, but the colours in the jackal picture are fantastic whereas those in the picture of the lion are either washed out or over-intensified by the early mornign sunlight. I know the light is a big factor, but what I was wondering how to compensate for that - at least partially - since this is early morning and clearly going to be a common lighting situation. Or does everyone have this problem and only show the pics that came out like the jackal?

My comments are as a picture taker and not a true photographer. I think most post the best "jackal shots" and throw out or delete the vast majority of all snaps.

I do recall that handsome black backed jackal!

The light does make such a difference and when that's not there, the pictures are just not the same. I think the photo enhancing software can help. I don't do a lot with it.

The only real solution I've found to photos that did not meet my standards was to haul myself back to Africa and try try again.