Lynda - my photos for trip report
Jan 17th, 2006, 08:11 AM
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Lynda - my photos for trip report
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-d0z61l
Hope that this works for you all.I tried to follow the instructions on Phil's recent thread.
Advice on getting better colours in these conditions would be appreciated - some of the pictures look a bit drained of colour and I am new to the camera - a Canon S2. I could not look a them properly until I got back and so I didn't really improve that much while I was there - no night photos from Mountain Lodge because I wasn't able to get the hang of zoom photos on night settings in time and so just enjoyed watching.
Hope that this works for you all.I tried to follow the instructions on Phil's recent thread.
Advice on getting better colours in these conditions would be appreciated - some of the pictures look a bit drained of colour and I am new to the camera - a Canon S2. I could not look a them properly until I got back and so I didn't really improve that much while I was there - no night photos from Mountain Lodge because I wasn't able to get the hang of zoom photos on night settings in time and so just enjoyed watching.
Jan 17th, 2006, 08:14 AM
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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/threads...p;tid=34725679
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34725679
Jan 17th, 2006, 09:00 AM
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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.
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.
Jan 17th, 2006, 09:57 AM
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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!
Your fabulous sense of humour even shows through in your one line comments on the pictures!
Jan 17th, 2006, 10:00 AM
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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
The key to better photos is more safaris
Jan 17th, 2006, 01:25 PM
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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.
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.
Jan 17th, 2006, 02:28 PM
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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!
Jan 17th, 2006, 05:12 PM
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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!
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!
Jan 18th, 2006, 09:16 AM
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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.
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.
Mar 5th, 2006, 01:54 AM
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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
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
Mar 5th, 2006, 07:12 AM
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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/threads...p;tid=34752654
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/threads...p;tid=34752654
Mar 7th, 2006, 06:14 AM
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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.
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.
