Sleepy Eyes

I just love discovering a gem in my archives. Unlike what many people may think, I am not on safari for the better part of the year - I actually have 3-5 opportunities to go to the bush for periods of between 3 and 8 days every year, depending on leave roster at work, my Wild Eye schedule etc. So the majority of photos I put out on my blog and social media channels may actually have been taken some time ago. I'm actually just lazy in deleting excess images, so I have to inevitably go back into my archives to clean up some space. In doing so, I actually come across photos I'd forgotten I'd taken. They may not have grabbed enough of my attention in my initial processing binge after returning from that particular trip, but for whatever reason I didn't delete them initially as there was some sort of moment caught there.

Case in point, this image...


Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f4.0  |  1/500 SS  |  ISO-200

click on the photo to display at best resolution and sharpness

We came across this Verraux's Eagle Owl asleep in a mopani tree along the Mphongolo loop north of Shingwedzi camp in the Kruger National Park. The scene was cluttered and the bird was asleep, but something about the moment spoke to me, and I snapped it.

Fast forward to last week, when I was looking for a "fresh" photo to process for the popular "black and white challenge" that is viral among photographers on Facebook. I scrolled over this one again, and immediately saw the moment that spoke to me initially when tripping the shutter, and knew that it was a good candidate for monochrome...

After some tweaking in Photoshop and Nik Silver Efex I was happy.
The result??

click on the photo to display at best resolution and sharpness

Quite a different feel, mood and effect, right?
It's actually about more than the owl - and that's what I like.
It's not about what it evidently is - it's also about what else it is...
Photography should evoke more than it describes, if it's to be seen as an art-form...
I hope these statements above resonate with you?

Now, go dig up those gems in your own archive!
Until I write again...

Morkel Erasmus

Big Wings

Just a quick post this time around, folks. This is from my 2010 archives (I've got sooo many photos still unprocessed from then until now, so every now and again I dive into the depths of the archives).

I captured this photo of the Lesser Spotted Eagle in the Kruger National Park one afternoon. I have some photos of it perched on the stump, but quite liked this "takeoff" moment with the wings stretched up and the feet just leaving the perch. As far as technically perfect bird photography goes, the background is a bit busy - but I don't mind that much as it's a rare bird to photograph properly (it's a summer migrant to South Africa).

What do you think?

Techs:
Nikon D300s
Nikkor 200-400mm f4 VR @ 290mm
f5.6  |  1/1600 SS  |  ISO-800

click on the photo to view at proper sharpness and resolution

Have a lovely day!

Morkel Erasmus

Regal Eagle

There are many amazing birds of prey in Africa, but there is one that is undoubtedly the "king of the African sky" due to its beauty, splendour and hauntingly evocative, distinctive call. I am talking about the African Fish Eagle, of course.

During our recent Wild Eye photographic safari on the Chobe river that lies between Namibia and Botswana, we had some amazing encounters with these birds. This particular female was sitting on the edge of the river and we were able to glide our specialised photographic boat right up to her and capture some striking portraits. It's not every day you can be this close to a raptor in the wild and capture these images (the ones you normally see are taken of birds in captivity or in rehabilitation centres).

This photo is pretty much full frame at 36 megapixels, and the details are mind-blowing. I particularly love the tuft of feathers blown up by the wind on the crown of her head. I opened the aperture as wide as it can go to smooth out the green riverbank behind her and create a pleasing separation between subject and environnent. I was hand-holding my lens, so I pushed the shutter speed to a high enough value to compensate for possible camera shake.

I used the amazing Nik Color Efex 4 plugin to extract some more detail and contrast from the bird - since the conditions were overcast and the light was flat.

Techs:
Nikon D800
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f4.0  |  1/1250 SS  |  ISO-140

click on the photo to display at optimal sharpness and resolution

I hope you enjoyed this one. Have a superb day, my friends...

Morkel Erasmus

Kite Launch

One of the most common raptors to be sighted all over Southern Africa is the Black-shouldered Kite. They are often seen sitting on telephone poles and fence lines in the countryside, or hovering over grasslands as they scan for prey. I have seen them very close to urban areas on a number of occasions too. This photo was taken in the Kalahari desert, though. I was sitting patiently, watching this perched kite through my viewfinder, and waiting for the moment when it would alight from its perch and fly off. I was happy that the bird decided to do so before I disintegrated in the searing heat, and that it flew in my direction. By using a fast shutter speed, I was able to freeze the moment nicely and capture a couple of tack sharp frames of the take-off.

Techs:

Nikon D3s

Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

1.4x teleconverter

f5.6  |  1/2500 SS  |  ISO-560

Exposure Bias: +0.3 

click on the photo to display properly

I hope you all have a wonderfully festive New Year's celebration! Be safe, and remember to clock in here shortly after New Year's Day as I will be revealing my "Best of 2013" blog post (which has become somewhat of a tradition on my blog) - you can view last year's selection HERE.

Morkel Erasmus

Graceful Wings

There are few birds in Africa that evoke more in us than the African Fish Eagle. It has been my favourite raptor for years, and their haunting calls along Africa's waterways are an amazing reminder of the privilege we have to be on safari.

One of the best places to see and photograph them is on the Chobe river in Botswana. You can join us on a Wild Eye safari to this amazing oasis of wildlife where we will use a specialised photographic boat fitted with rotating chairs and mounted gimbal heads for your long lens, while based on a luxurious houseboat that can moor deep into the Chobe National Park for special access to key parts of the river in good light when other operators need to move out to make the "gate times". There's one date left in 2013 but 2014 dates are already laid out - I will be leading a trip from 12-16 March 2014. You can book and see all the details and info (plus images of the boat and houseboat) HERE.

click on the photo to display properly

This image was taken from the Wild Eye photographic boat. I just love how the light reflected off the water displays on the bird's open wings.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f8.0  |  1/2000 SS  |  ISO-2500
Exposure Bias +0.7

Have a great day, friends!

Morkel Erasmus

PhotoShare: Steppe Buzzard

So here's my first attempt at a mid-week random blog post with very little of me babbling and a nice photo attached. Rather than calling it "Photo of the Day" (because I can't guarantee that I'll find time to select and post one every single day), I will label it "PhotoShare"...(patent pending! hehe)

This was my very first sighting of a Steppe Buzzard, a summer migrant to South Africa. I photographed this beautiful raptor very early one overcast morning in the Kruger National Park on the road between the Orpen and Satara rest camps.

You will have noticed from my previous post that I started sharing my technical settings as captions underneath my photographs - this is for all you fellow photographers to either learn from or challenge my settings...with the low light here I had to rest the lens on a beanbag draped over the car window to ensure a sharp shot at the 400mm focal length.

Enjoy!

f4.0  //  1/125 SS  //  ISO-800  //  Exposure bias -0.3  //  Focal Length 400mm

Morkel Erasmus