Waterbuck Wink

I was trawling through my archives tonight, making space for new files by deleting files that are now 2+ years old that I haven't touched yet, when I came across this photo.

The species depicted is a Common Waterbuck, found throughout much of Southern Africa. The photo was taken in the Kruger National Park late one afternoon in March 2012 - a few minutes after sunset.

There are two things I want to point out here. The first is obviously the pose - I had a couple that just showed this female's facial portrait outline. They were deleted. This one, a crucial moment in this sighting, is something quirky and I kept it. She was merely trying to ward a fly off by batting her one eyelid, but the photo takes on a whole new implied meaning with this expression, don't you think?

click on the photo to view at proper resolution and sharpness

The other thing of note - is the ISO setting. The light was pretty much gone, and to get sufficient depth-of-field I needed to stop down the aperture. For some reason I had a high shutter speed too, so this necessitated the ISO setting.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
1.4x teleconverter
f8.0  |  1/1250 SS  |  ISO-9000

I love being able to make images at these ISO settings, images that are actually usable! Just recently a photo of mine was accepted by Gallo Images, a high profile stock library in South Africa that's affiliated with Getty Images in the USA, which was taken at ISO-7200! The low light capability of the Nikon FX sensor enables me to really push the limits when it comes to photographing in the dusk hours of the day.

Some of you may be thinking that it looks better because it's a downsized and processed photo. There's some truth to that, as downsizing reduces apparent noise and I did run some selective noise reduction on the background - but the clincher for me is not whether there is noise/grain, but what amount of fine detail, contrast and dynamic range is captured at these settings and in these conditions. Here is a 100% crop of the eye, meaning it was cropped down to this resolution of just below 800px wide, no downsizing done and zero other processing done except for my RAW exposure adjustments in Lightroom.

click on the photo to view at proper resolution

Yes, there is noise present, but there's also oodles of detail for me to work with.
Folks - trust your cameras! Trust the technology that went into making the sensor and the electronics that convert the light captured into a usable image. Push yourself to make images at times that you previously put the camera down because of "lack of light".

Until next time!

Morkel Erasmus

The Magic of Mana Pools

Wow, has it been a while since I wrote a proper blog post! I'm afraid this one will also be short-ish. I still want to do a proper write-up or trip report as it were about my recent maiden trip to the magical piece of Africa that is Mana Pools, but I thought for now let me just share some images with you that might give you an idea of why I am so enamoured with the place after this visit.

Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe is a recognised UNESCO World Heritage site. It's a place of amazing beauty...with ancient forests filled with Ana and Acacia trees, floodplains with huge termite mounds, iconic wildlife and of course, the Zambezi river coursing along its northern border.

The place has a primal feel to it...it really made me feel like I was walking in a piece of Africa that time had forgotten, something reminiscent of the Africa described by legends like Livingstone and Hemingway. I was awe-struck and inspired by every moment of my 4-day stay.

One big advantage for photography here is that you are allowed to leave your vehicle and explore on foot. This obviously creates the opportunity for some very unique images and angle on your photos...but this is not something to be done without the presence of someone who knows African wildlife behaviour and how to react to potentially dangerous situations. We had amazing encounters with African Elephants, African Wild Dogs, a large male Lion and many more.

Here are a few images to try and convey what I experienced...

My photographic companion on this trip was Marlon du Toit, who plies his trade as a FGASA Level 3 Guide/Ranger in the Singita group (currently at Singita Sabi Sands). Our host and guide was Will Jansen, whom I can highly recommend for his knowledge of the area, his hospitality, his personality and just about everything he did to get us there, in the right spots for the best shots, and safely back again.

Unfortunately, there are a number of severe threats to this pristine location...the most notable being the granting of mining exploration rights (in classical dubious African fashion) for heavy mineral deposits in two tributary rivers along the Park's borders. Read more here at the official Avaaz petition, and please do sign your name, as this will go some way towards creating awareness and a call to action from the various role-players. This place deserves to be protected for future generations, and it deserves to be left in this primal pristine condition!

CLICK HERE

Until next time...keep those cameras ready!

Morkel Erasmus